Barbara R. Bartkus

Having, giving, and getting: Slack resources, corporate philanthropy, and firm financial performance

This study investigates financial correlates of corporate philanthropy in Fortune 1000 companies using structural equation modeling. The results suggest that cash flow (one of the most discretionary types of organizational slack) has a significant impact on a firm’s cash donations to charitable causes, but monetary donations do not affect firm financial performance. These findings support the accepted view of corporate philanthropy as a discretionary social responsibility and the traditional thinking about firm giving in the business and society literature—that doing well enables doing good. Contrary to some contemporary thinking, the findings imply no significant effect on profits from corporate generosity.

Comparing Big Givers and Small Givers: Financial Correlates of Corporate Philanthropy

In a departure from the traditional studies of corporate philanthropy that focus on board composition, advertising, and social networks, the authors investigate the financial correlates of corporate philanthropy. The research design controls for firm size and industry while observing firms from a variety of industries. The sample contains matched pairs of generous and less generous corporate givers. The authors find, as hypothesized, a positive relationship between a firms cash resources available and cash donations, but no significant relationship between corporate philanthropy and firm financial performance, regardless of whether corporate philanthropy is measured as cash payouts or the aggregate contributions that charities actually receive, and regardless of whether financial performance is gauged using accounting measures or market measures. Whereas the link between available resources and corporate philanthropy is well accepted in the literature on corporate social responsibility, it has been rarely tested and never so definitively found as in this research.

Governance and corporate philanthropy: Restraining Robin Hood?

Although corporate decision makers may justify charitable contributions on strategic grounds, extremely large corporate philanthropic contributions may beperceived by shareholders as unnecessary. If stockholders attempt to limit corporate philanthropy, then governance mechanisms should put a cap on giving amounts. Using a matched-paired sample to control for industry and company size, theauthors compared big givers and small givers. The authors find that blockholders and institutional owners limit corporate philanthropy. This suggests that high levels of corporate philanthropy may be perceived as excessive by influentialstockholders, and some governance mechanisms act to curtail it.

Employee ownership as catalyst of organizational change

The creation of an employee ownership plan is viewed as the catalyst enabling a sociotechnical change process. Identifies several key factors as mediating links between employee ownership plans and organizational effectiveness: the initiator’s purpose of the employee ownership plan; perceptions of ownership; level of participative decision‐making systems; and organizational culture. These elements are affected by the introduction of employee ownership arrangements and can be specific areas in which organizational development consultants can focus effort to facilitate change generated by the initiation of an employee stock plan.

Do Large European, US and Japanese Firms Use Their Web Sites To Communicate Their Mission?

While many firms have developed web sites, very little is known about how these sites are being used to communicate business strategy-related information to various constituencies. The purpose of this study was to examine whether large European, Japanese, and United States firms use their web sites to communicate their mission statements to stakeholders. The study found that mission-type statements can eventually be found on 66.7 per cent of the web sites of European firms, 50 per cent of Japanese firms, and 66.3 per cent of US firms. However, fewer than 10 per cent of companies, regardless of region, include mission statements on customer, employee, investor, or supplier pages.