Corporate Social Responsibility of Indian Companies

This study has two objectives. First, it examines the role of stakeholder salience and stakeholder management strategy as antecedents of CSR. Second, it assesses the influence of CSR on the financial and non-financial performance of firms. Data were collected from 150 senior-level managers including CEOs in Indian manufacturing companies. A framework for assessing CSR was developed with respect to six primary stakeholder groups—employees, customers, investors, community, natural environment, and suppliers. Findings reveal that the favorable strategy towards each stakeholder group increases the corresponding CSR. Increased salience of each stakeholder group also enhances the corresponding CSR. When both salience and strategy are considered, salience fully or partially offsets the influence of strategy on CSR. CSR, in turn, has significant influence on both financial and non-financial firm performance. It is a more potent determinant of non-financial performance compared to financial performance of firms.