Misery Loves Companies: Rethinking Social Initiatives by Business
Abstract
Companies are increasingly asked to provide innovative solutions to deep-seated problems of human misery, even as economic theory instructs managers to focus on maximizing their shareholders' wealth. In this paper, we assess how organization theory and empirical research have thus far responded to this tension over corporate involvement in wider social life. Organizational scholarship has typically sought to reconcile corporate social initiatives with seemingly inhospitable economic logic. Depicting the hold that economics has had on how the relationship between the firm and society is conceived, we examine the consequences for organizational research and theory by appraising both the 30-year quest for an empirical relationship between a corporation's social initiatives and its financial performance, as well as the development of stakeholder theory. We propose an alternative approach, embracing the tension between economic and broader social objectives as a starting point for systematic organizational inquiry. Adopting a pragmatic stance, we introduce a series of research questions whose answers will reveal the descriptive and normative dimensions of organizational responses to misery.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Corporate social and environmental initiatives often take a subordinate role to a firm's profitability goals.
“corporate social and environmental initiatives often take a subordinate role to a firm's profitability goals (Margolis and Walsh, 2003)”
From Strategic Silence: Withholding Certification Status as a Hypocrisy Avoidance Tactic (2018) · cites this paper as Margolis and Walsh, 2003
Cites
The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits
Friedman, M. (2007) · Corporate Ethics and Corporate Governance · doi:10.1007/978-3-540-70818-6_14 · Cited by 11,529 · see citing works
Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach
Nussbaum, M. C. (2000) · Cambridge University Press · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511841286 · Cited by 6,103 · see citing works
An investigation of corporate social responsibility reputation and economic performance
Herremans, I. M., Akathaporn, P., & McInnes, M. (1993) · Accounting, Organizations and Society · doi:10.1016/0361-3682(93)90044-7 · Cited by 391 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Godfrey, P. C. (2005) · Academy of Management Review · doi:10.5465/amr.2005.18378878 · Cited by 2,839 · see citing works
Stakeholder Theory: <i>The State of the Art</i>
Parmar, B. L., Freeman, R. E., Harrison, J. S., Wicks, A. C., Purnell, L., & de Colle, S. (2010) · Academy of Management Annals · doi:10.5465/19416520.2010.495581 · Cited by 2,755 · see citing works
Corporate responsibility and financial performance: The role of intangible resources
Surroca, J., Tribó, J. A., & Waddock, S. (2010) · Strategic Management Journal · doi:10.1002/smj.820 · Cited by 2,252 · see citing works
Scherer, A. G., & Palazzo, G. (2011) · Journal of Management Studies · doi:10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00950.x · Cited by 2,131 · see citing works
Barnett, M. L. (2007) · Academy of Management Review · doi:10.5465/amr.2007.25275520 · Cited by 2,060 · see citing works
Dhaliwal, D. S., Radhakrishnan, S., Tsang, A., & Yang, Y. G. (2012) · The Accounting Review · doi:10.2308/accr-10218 · Cited by 1,916 · see citing works
Corporate social responsibility and shareholder reaction: The environmental awareness of investors
Flammer, C. (2013) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2011.0744 · Cited by 1,744 · see citing works
Toward a Theory of Paradox: A Dynamic equilibrium Model of Organizing
Smith, W. K., & Lewis, M. W. (2011) · Academy of Management Review · doi:10.5465/amr.2009.0223 · Cited by 1,631 · see citing works
Entrepreneurship in and around institutional voids: A case study from Bangladesh
Mair, J., & Marti, I. (2009) · Journal of Business Venturing · doi:10.1016/j.jbusvent.2008.04.006 · Cited by 1,567 · see citing works
The long‐term benefits of organizational resilience through sustainable business practices
Ortiz‐de‐Mandojana, N., & Bansal, P. (2016) · Strategic Management Journal · doi:10.1002/smj.2410 · Cited by 1,260 · see citing works
Paradox research in management science: Looking back to move forward
Schad, J., Lewis, M. W., Raisch, S., & Smith, W. K. (2016) · Academy of Management Annals · doi:10.5465/19416520.2016.1162422 · Cited by 1,385 · see citing works
Luo, X., & Bhattacharya, C. B. (2009) · Journal of Marketing · doi:10.1509/jmkg.73.6.198 · Cited by 962 · see citing works
Lai, C.-S., Chiu, C.-J., Yang, C.-F., & Pai, D.-C. (2010) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-010-0433-1 · Cited by 852 · see citing works
The impact of corporate social responsibility on consumer trust: The case of organic food
Pivato, S., Misani, N., & Tencati, A. (2008) · Business Ethics: A European Review · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8608.2008.00515.x · Cited by 700 · see citing works
Strategic Silence: Withholding Certification Status as a Hypocrisy Avoidance Tactic
Carlos, W. C., & Lewis, B. W. (2018) · Administrative Science Quarterly · doi:10.1177/0001839217695089 · Cited by 393 · see citing works
Beyond Good Intentions: Designing CSR Initiatives for Greater Social Impact
Barnett, M. L., Henriques, I., & Husted, B. W. (2020) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/0149206319900539 · Cited by 358 · see citing works
Benner, M. J., & Tushman, M. L. (2015) · Academy of Management Review · doi:10.5465/amr.2015.0042 · Cited by 343 · see citing works
Delmas, M. A., & Pekovic, S. (2013) · Journal of Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1002/job.1827 · Cited by 341 · see citing works
Hawn, O., Chatterji, A., & Mitchell, W. (2014) · doi:10.2139/ssrn.2418300 · Cited by 339 · see citing works
Generating global brand equity through corporate social responsibility to key stakeholders
Torres, A., Bijmolt, T. H. A., Tribó, J. A., & Verhoef, P. (2012) · International Journal of Research in Marketing · doi:10.1016/j.ijresmar.2011.10.002 · Cited by 323 · see citing works
Seeing the Forest and the Trees: How a Systems Perspective Informs Paradox Research
Schad, J., & Bansal, P. (2018) · Journal of Management Studies · doi:10.1111/joms.12398 · Cited by 266 · see citing works
Janney, J. J., & Gove, S. (2011) · Journal of Management Studies · doi:10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00984.x · Cited by 252 · see citing works
CSR ‘sustainability’ practices and firm performance in an emerging economy
Sardana, D., Gupta, N., Kumar, V., & Terziovski, M. (2020) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120766 · Cited by 238 · see citing works
Two Dimensions of Corporate Sustainability Assessment: Towards a Comprehensive Framework
Schneider, A., & Meins, E. (2012) · Business Strategy and the Environment · doi:10.1002/bse.726 · Cited by 155 · see citing works
Corporate responsibility: Reflections on context and consequences
Halme, M., Roome, N., & Dobers, P. (2009) · Scandinavian Journal of Management · doi:10.1016/j.scaman.2008.12.001 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
Corporate social responsibility and earnings forecasting unbiasedness
Becchetti, L., Ciciretti, R., & Giovannelli, A. (2013) · Journal of Banking & Finance · doi:10.1016/j.jbankfin.2013.05.026 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
From Taken‐for‐Granted to Explicit Commitment: The Rise of<scp>CSR</scp>in a Corporatist Country
Höllerer, M. A. (2013) · Journal of Management Studies · doi:10.1111/joms.12029 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Embedding environment and sustainability into corporate financial decision‐making
Siegrist, M., Bowman, G., Mervine, E., & Southam, C. (2020) · Accounting & Finance · doi:10.1111/acfi.12533 · Cited by 87 · see citing works
Asiaei, K., Bontis, N., Barani, O., & Jusoh, R. (2021) · Journal of Management Control · doi:10.1007/s00187-021-00317-4 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Jurgens, M., Berthon, P., Papania, L., & Shabbir, H. A. (2010) · Industrial Marketing Management · doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2010.02.016 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Lin, W. L., Lee, C., & Law, S. H. (2021) · Business Strategy and the Environment · doi:10.1002/bse.2662 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Esposito, P., & Antonucci, G. (2022) · Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management · doi:10.1002/csr.2223 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
The sustainability of open source commons
Curto-Millet, D., & Corsín Jiménez, A. (2023) · European Journal of Information Systems · doi:10.1080/0960085x.2022.2046516 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
- Authors
- Margolis, J. D., & Walsh, J. P.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- ORCID
- Walsh, James P.
- Venue
- Administrative Science Quarterly
- Publisher
- JSTOR
- Published
- 2003-06
- Volume
- 48
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 268-305
- ISSN
- 0001-8392 (ISSN-L)
- 1930-3815
- OpenAlex
- W1985721027
- Cited by
- 5,130
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 162 · 2025: 203 · 2024: 224 · 2023: 209 · 2022: 254 · 2021: 302 · 2020: 300 · 2019: 287 · 2018: 290 · 2017: 282 · 2016: 320 · 2015: 324 · 2014: 327 · 2013: 323 · 2012: 316
- FWCI
- 160.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Administrative Science Quarterly (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management and Organizational Studies
- Keywords
- corporate social initiatives, corporate social responsibility, shareholder wealth maximization, stakeholder theory, corporate financial performance, organizational theory, human suffering
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
