Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

5-1991

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Business Administration

Major Professor

H. Dudley Dewhirst

Committee Members

Gerald E. Fryxell, John H. Lounsbury, Joyce E. A. Russel

Abstract

This study investigated how executives differ in the way they respond to the expectations of different constituencies or stakeholder groups, and examined whether those differences were related to variations in corporate social performance (CSP). Data was collected from 222 chief executive officers of Fortune 500 companies. The results indicated that executives differ in the priorities they attach to different stakeholder groups, and those differences were related to differences in corporate activities. CEO customer orientation, community orientation, and governmental orientation were significantly and positively associated with level of corporate contributions, while stockholder and employee orientation were negatively related. Community and stockholder orientation were significantly and positively associated with level of human resource activity, and governmental orientation was significantly and positively associated with level of PAC activity. CEO stakeholder orientation was not significantly related to any of the corporate reputation ratings. Industry categorization, past financial performance, and firm size were also examined as predictors of CSP. While they contributed additional explanatory power, the primary stakeholder relationships remained. The results demonstrated the importance of considering top executive's attitudes to explain and predict organizational performance.

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