Speaker: Dr Jimi Kim, UNSW Business School, University of New South Wales
Title: Is Firm Growth Needed for Corporate Social Responsibility?
Date: Thu, 18th May 2023
Time: 12pm – 2pm
Venue: Building 24, Copland, Seminar Room 1106
Professor Lin Cui is the host of this visit.
ABSTRACT
Many scholars have argued that there is a positive relationship between firm profitability and corporate social responsibility (CSR). They argue that more profitable firms are more able to invest in CSR and that more CSR leads to higher profits – in a positive feedback loop. But, what about firm growth? The same logic for firm profits could apply to firm growth, but we argue that there is an important caveat: Firm growth demands executives’ attentional and financial resources from organizations, which are limited. The more attentional and financial resources pay to firm growth, the less resources available for CSR. Further, this relationship is moderated by performance variability, which diminishes attentional resources, and financial slack, which provides financial resources and releases executive attention. We analyzed a sample of 4,305 firms from 2002 to 2020 across 46 countries and found support for our hypotheses. Our findings suggest that there are costs to firm growth not just to the planet, but to the firm.
BIO
Dr. Jimi Kim is a Lecturer at UNSW Business School. Her research interests include corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and corporate governance. She has been exploring what drives organizations to integrate the interests of stakeholders into strategy formulation. She has published in the Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Business Ethics, Corporate Governance: An International Review, and Business & Society. She received her Ph.D. from Temple University, Philadelphia. Prior to joining academia, Jimi worked as a manager for over five years, executing mergers and acquisitions, and global investments.