A Study of How CSR Rankings are Affected in a Globalized Economy

• In Event: Breakfast with Research Roundtable Forum Session

Abstract

We are in a time of globalization, as a result there is a “rapid growth in trade, financial transactions, and cross country ownership” of assets (Tengblad and Ohlsson, 2010). As globalization has increased, the number of companies in different industries using corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities has grown. Increasingly, companies are communicating their activities through CSR reports that outline corporate initiatives to access and take responsibility for the company’s effect on the global environment and impact on social welfare. In this paper, we examined how a globalized economy affects Environmental, Social, Governance, and Total CSR rankings in six regions: (1) North America, (2) South America, (3) Latin America, (4) Asia-Pacific, (5) Africa, and (6) Europe. We collected CSR scores using Sustainalytics Global Platform (SGP) data for each region. Then we compared differences in Environmental, Social, Governance, and Total CSR scores between each region. The results of the statistical analysis showed that Africa and Europe consistently had the highest CSR scores, while Latin America and Asia-Pacific had the lowest.

Author

• Victoria Fisher, Eastern Michigan University