Matching Items (2)
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- All Subjects: Corporate Social Responsibility
- Creators: Bundy, Jonathan
Description
How do firms differentiate themselves from others, and how do audiences respond to their distinctiveness? Optimal distinctiveness theory suggests that an intermediate level of distinctiveness in a single point or a balance in the level of distinctiveness across multiple points is most beneficial to a firm as it addresses both competition and conformity pressures. However, empirical studies have found positive, inverted U-shaped, and U-shaped relationships between distinctiveness and audience evaluation. Using CSR strategy as a research context, I develop a theory of two forms of distinctiveness—positioning distinctiveness and topic distinctiveness—and explore each form’s unique and interactive effect on audience evaluation. Building on cognitive categorization research, I argue that positioning distinctiveness, or the extent to which the pattern of resource allocation across an established set of strategic decisions differs from that of category prototypes, will have a positive relationship with subsequent audience evaluation. However, topic distinctiveness, or the extent to which a firm differentiates itself from others by introducing new practices to its category, will show an inverted U-shaped relationship with audience evaluation. I also examine how positioning distinctiveness moderates the effect of topic distinctiveness and predict that audiences will assess a firm’s topic distinctiveness more positively when a firm has a high level of positioning distinctiveness in its main topic domain. In addition, I investigate how strategic distinctiveness in business strategy and environmental-level factors moderate the effects of positioning and topic distinctiveness by influencing audiences’ demands for differentiation and conformity. Utilizing the sample of S&P 500 firms from 2001 to 2018, I empirically examine the hypothesized relationships. By analyzing annual CSR reports using state-of-the-art natural language programming and topic modeling techniques, I develop a novel measure of topic distinctiveness in CSR strategy. This dissertation contributes to the optimal distinctiveness literature by simultaneously examining multiple forms of distinctiveness and by unpacking the conditions under which demands for conformity and differentiation may vary.
ContributorsPark, Eunyoung (Author) / Lange, Donald (Thesis advisor) / Bundy, Jonathan (Committee member) / Semadeni, Matthew (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Firms are increasingly being held accountable for the unsustainable actions of their suppliers. Stakeholders, regulatory agencies, and customers alike are calling for increased levels of transparency and higher standards of corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance for suppliers. While it is apparent that supplier performance is important, it remains unclear how the stock market weighs the CSR performance of a supplier relative to that of a focal firm. This dissertation focuses on whether these relative differences exist. In addition to capturing the magnitude of the difference in market impact between focal firm and supplier CSR events; I analyze the ways in which these differences have changed over time. To capture this evolution, CSR events ranging over a period from 1994 to 2013 are examined. This research utilizes an event study methodology in which the announcement of over 2,300 CSR events are identified and analyzed to determine the subsequent stock market reaction. I find that while the market evaluated negative supplier CSR events less harshly than events occurring at the buying firm in the early years of the sample, by the turn of the millennium this “supplier discounting" had disappeared. The analysis is broken down by CSR event "type". Findings demonstrate that negative CSR events, particularly those revolving around worker or customer safety, generate the most significant abnormal return. The findings of this dissertation produce valuable managerial insights along with interpretation. Resources are scarce, and understanding where a firm might best allocate their resources to avoid financial penalties will be valuable information for corporate decision makers. These findings present clear evidence that some of these resources should be allocated to supplier CSR performance, not just towards the CSR performance of the focal firm.
ContributorsRogers, Zachary S (Author) / Carter, Craig (Thesis advisor) / Dooley, Kevin (Committee member) / Singhal, Vinod (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016