Análisis de un modelo de antecedentes y consecuencas de la responsabilidad social en el contexto del sector agroalimentario almeriense

Resum

The fundamental purpose of this work is to contribute to the existing debate regarding the impact that the companies’ orientation towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has on different performance measures. For this, we propose a conceptual model, based on the stakeholders’ theory and we conceptualize the CSR as a wide and multidimensional construct made up of seven dimensions: employees, partners, customers, farmers, environment, community and competition. In addition, there is an extended conception of business performance including both tangible variables such as financial performance and exporting performance, and intangibles variables such as perception and reputation and stakeholders satisfaction. It is also intended to analyze the impact that these companies’ orientation towards CSR has on their innovative capacity and how does it favor the different types of performance mentioned above. Another aim of this work is to analyze the extent to which the orientation towards the CSR may be favored by the companies’ capacity to acquire, assimilate and employ new knowledge in terms of CSR, as well as by the importance that their managers give to ethics and social responsibility. The research context of this study is the agri-food sector in the province of Almería. This sector has been the focus of attention of numerous researchers due to the relevance that social and environmental aspects have had in its development. To test the proposed model, the partial least squares technique (PLS-SEM) was applied to data collected by means of a survey from a sample of 107 companies which represent 81.4% of the turnover of the sector analyzed. Results show that companies’ orientation towards CSR is positively and significantly related with their innovative capacity, their financial performance, their image and reputation and with the level of their stakeholders’ satisfaction. However, the existence of a positive and meaningful relationship between the companies’ orientation towards CSR and their exporting performance is not confirmed. Results also show that there is a positive and meaningful relationship between companies’ innovative capacity and their financial performance, their exporting performance and their image and reputation. Nevertheless, the existence of a positive and meaningful relationship between companies’ innovative capacity and the level of their stakeholders’ satisfaction, is not confirmed. Finally, the results of this research show that these companies’ capacity to absorb knowledge in terms of CSR is positively and significantly related with their orientation towards CSR. Also, the importance their managers give to ethics and social responsibility is positively and significantly related with companies’ orientation towards socially and environmentally responsible practices. Further research could study the model based on others stakeholders perceptions (e.g. customers, employees and providers), by using a longitudinal research design and exploring other contexts.