A Dollar for a Tree or a Tree for a Dollar? The Behavioral Effects of Measurement Basis on Managers' CSR Investment Decision

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Church, Bryan K.; Jiang, Wei; Kuang, Xi (Jason); Vitalis, Adam
• 署名单位: Renmin University of China; Jinan University; University System of Georgia; Georgia Institute of Technology; University of Waterloo
• 刊物名称: ACCOUNTING REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-4826
• DOI: 10.2308/accr-52332
• 发表日期: 2019
• 页码: 117-137
• 关键词: corporate social-responsibility; control-systems; nonfinancial disclosure; employee selection; NORMATIVE CONDUCT; descriptive norms; FOCUS THEORY; sustainability; strategy; IMPACT

摘要

We experimentally investigate how managers' decisions to invest discretionary resources in the company's corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives are affected by whether the investment decision is denominated in financial or nonfinancial measures (i.e., the measurement basis used for decision making). We posit that nonfinancial measures bring attention to the society-serving nature of CSR investments, thus activating the pro-CSR social norms of the company and managers' personal CSR norms. Norm activation, in turn, influences managers' investment decisions to the extent that social norms are congruent with personal norms. As predicted, we find that the level of CSR investment is higher under a nonfinancial measurement basis than under a financial measurement basis, but only when the manager is personally supportive of CSR. Supplemental analysis indicates that CSR-supportive managers continue to invest more under a combined financial/nonfinancial measurement basis than under a financial measurement basis only. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.