| This paper investigated the phenomenon of corporate social performance (CSP) by exploring its foundations and current research emphasis. Various methods and problems associated with assessing CSP were discussed as were the linkages to financial performance.; Corporate social responsibility (CSR), a subset of CSP, has four components: economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities. These four components were studied from the perspectives of two different orientations (narrow and broad) and were statistically analyzed for differences between them and for relationships with certain variables of financial performance.; The results demonstrated a significant difference between narrow and broad social orientations, a dependency relationship between the ethical component of CSR and the two financial variables of debt and operating costs, and a linear relationship between the economic component of CSR and overall financial performance. The analysis and conclusions presented here should aid in the understanding of an elusive topic. |
