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Cited by 7,641Corporate Social Responsibility ReportingCorporate Identity and ReputationEnvironmental Sustainability in Business

Corporate Social and Financial Performance: A Meta-Analysis

Orlitzky, Marc, Schmidt, Frank L., Rynes, Sara L.·2003·Organization Studies
DOI 10.1177/0170840603024003910
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Abstract

Most theorizing on the relationship between corporate social/environmental performance (CSP) and corporate financial performance (CFP) assumes that the current evidence is too fractured or too variable to draw any generalizable conclusions. With this integrative, quantitative study, we intend to show that the mainstream claim that we have little generalizable knowledge about CSP and CFP is built on shaky grounds. Providing a methodologically more rigorous review than previous efforts, we conduct a meta-analysis of 52 studies (which represent the population of prior quantitative inquiry) yielding a total sample size of 33,878 observations. The meta-analytic findings suggest that corporate virtue in the form of social responsibility and, to a lesser extent, environmental responsibility is likely to pay off, although the operationalizations of CSP and CFP also moderate the positive association. For example, CSP appears to be more highly correlated with accounting-based measures of CFP than with market-based indicators, and CSP reputation indices are more highly correlated with CFP than are other indicators of CSP. This meta-analysis establishes a greater degree of certainty with respect to the CSP-CFP relationship than is currently assumed to exist by many business scholars.

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  • Several other meta-studies find a more robust positive relation between CSR performance or activities and financial performance.

    “Several other meta-studies find a more robust positive relation between CSR performance or activities and financial performance (e.g., Orlitzky et al. 2003; Busch and Friede 2018; Atz et al. 2020).”

    From Mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting: economic analysis and literature review (2021) · cites this paper as Orlitzky et al. 2003

  • The deployment of AI can entail both opportunities and risks.

    “As with any new technology, the deployment of AI can entail both opportunities and risks.110”

    From Artificial Intelligence and Sustainable Decisions (2023) · cites this paper as [110]

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Authors
Orlitzky, M., Schmidt, F. L., & Rynes, S. L.
Affiliations
  • The University of Sydney (AU)
  • University of Iowa (US)
ORCID
Orlitzky, Marc
Venue
Organization Studies
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2003-03
Volume
24
Issue
3
Pages
403-441
ISSN
  • 0170-8406 (ISSN-L)
  • 1741-3044
DOI
10.1177/0170840603024003910
OpenAlex
W2164639462
Cited by
7,641
References
134
Citations by year
2026: 255 · 2025: 380 · 2024: 416 · 2023: 450 · 2022: 463 · 2021: 512 · 2020: 475 · 2019: 469 · 2018: 475 · 2017: 440 · 2016: 439 · 2015: 439 · 2014: 450 · 2013: 401 · 2012: 398
FWCI
23.03
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
  • Organization Studies (publishedVersion)
  • Iowa Research Online (University of Iowa) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Corporate Identity and Reputation
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Environmental Sustainability in Business
Keywords
corporate social performance, corporate financial performance, corporate environmental performance, corporate social responsibility, environmental responsibility, corporate reputation, accounting performance, market-based performance measures, CSR-performance relationship

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