New article on firm strategic orientations towards social value creation.
22 Apr 2024
Do firms that talk about social value also create it?
22 Apr 2024
Do firms that talk about social value also create it?
de la Cruz Jara, M. F., Spanjol, J., & Doppstadt, T. (2024). Strategic social value orientation and sustainability performance: A commensuration perspective. Organization Studies, online first.
In our latest publication in Organization Studies , we investigate what a strategic orientation towards social value creation entails and whether it differentiates firms in terms of their sustainability performance.
Together with Jelena Spanjol and Theresa Doppstadt, Marcelo F. de la Cruz provides a conceptualization of strategic social value orientation consisting of three behavioral (leading the business with purpose, support of stakeholders, focus on consequences) and one shared belief (mutuality) components. Utilizing a novel linguistic, content-analytic measure of strategic social value orientation, the research analyzes annual letters to shareholders and sustainability ratings across 1580 firm-year observations, indicating that firms with a stronger strategic social value orientation show greater sustainability performance.
Our article explores commensurability of strategic attention towards social value creation, suggesting that future research prioritize more fine-grained assessments of social value, sustainability strategies and performance.