A Comparison of the Association between Corporate Social Responsibility and Strategic Alliances: U.S. versus Canada

• In Event: Public Interest/Taxation/International Accounting

Abstract

Throughout the last three decades, there has been a globalization of business that has led to an increase in stakeholders’ demands that firms participate in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. One way firms can signal their commitment to CSR is to participate in strategic alliances. Using a new database, Sustainalytics Global Platform, that calculates scores of CSR activities of firms in both the U.S. and Canada using a consistent methodology, we examine CSR in both countries and the impact of strategic alliances on CSR. We find that CSR scores are significantly higher overall for Canadian firms as compared to U.S. firms. Further analysis shows that this significance is more prevalent for non-strategic alliance firms than strategic alliance firms. Additionally, though we find no relationship between the formation of strategic alliances and CSR in Canada, we do find that for U.S. firms the formation of strategic alliances results in higher Total, Governance and Environment CSR scores. Our findings indicate that there are national differences in the way CSR activities are perceived, as U.S. firms appear to be using strategic alliances to signal their commitment to CSR while Canadian firms use other means to signal CSR commitment.

Authors

• Lois Schafer Mahoney, Eastern Michigan University

• Susan P Convery, Michigan State University

• Kristen Gregory, Eastern MIchigan University

• Linda Thorne, York University