Strategic Levers of Corporate Social Responsibility: A Supply-Demand Mapping Analysis

Research on the correlation between corporate social responsibility and corporate financial performance has been inconclusive and often contradictory. Thus, the question of whether consumers really care about CSR becomes crucial (Öberseder, Schlegelmilch and Gruber, 2011). Theory suggests that financial gains would materialise should the attributes of CSR supplied match consumer demand. But CSR demand is likely to be latent and thus hard to define. In a quest to match CSR demand and supply, this study synthesizes consumeroriented CSR research in one framework that focuses on how consumer demand for CSR can be defined based on consumer behavior analysis and how CSR supply as strategic levers of responsibility could match the demand. The study further explores current adoption of these levers by analysing the present supply of responsibility as reported by large companies. A comparison of CSR themes in corporate reports with the model highlights the requirement for further research to define and measure optimal use of the proposed levers. This study proposes an approach to bridge the gap in academic theory between the promise of responsibility as a scarce and valuable resource and the reality of an unclear link between corporate social and financial performances.

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