CEOs and Corporate Social Performance

Many authors would agree with Davis (Freeman, 1984; McWilliams and Siegel, 2000; Margolis and Walsh, 2001; Bansal, 2005; Mahoney and Thorne, 2005; Waldman and Siegel, 2008). This suggests that Friedman’s (1970) famous prescription, that in simply obeying the law a company satisfies their social responsibility, is insufficient. As a result, it is becoming increasingly important to understand the causes and motivations behind different approaches to corporate social responsibility. Although corporate social responsibility and social performance are not always synonymous with ethical and moral leadership, the strong correlation between these constructs is widely recognised (Swanson, 2008:231). Indeed, Berenbeim suggests that ‘most of the world does not distinguish between Corporate Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility when it comes to determining what it means for a company to be ethical’ (Berenbeim, 2006:501). Rather than focusing on an elaborate theoretical justification of this perspective, this chapter embraces this perspective in its methods and interpretation of findings.