Collectivism, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Resource Advantages in Retailing

Abstract  Is corporate social responsibility (CSR) linked to performance-related instrumentality or real moral concerns? Does CSR create resource advantages? Reasons for and results of CSR remain unclear. We choose a leading retail company in a Confucian, collectivist, and high power distance society and ask whether managers are naturally oriented toward societal actions. We study managerial perceptions regarding the importance and the performance of CSR in relation to other management factors. Drawing on Hunt’s (2000, A General Theory of Competition: Resources, Competences, Productivity, Economic Growth (Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA)) resource advantage theory, we find that the perceived importance of CSR is only fair vis-à-vis other management factors, but its high performance makes it a core resource for the company.