The influence of organizational culture on the integration of CSR activities. Quantitative research within the Dutch oil and energy branch

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2019-09-19

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en

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The topic of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become of more importance for organizations. The growing interest in this topic is due to the increasing pressure of stakeholders for organizations to become more sustainable. In the field of CSR, the role of organizational culture was underrepresented in literature. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the contribution of organizational culture in integrating CSR in organizations. Based on the resource-based view of firms, organizations with a “unique” organizational culture that contributes to the integration of CSR are different from their competitors and create a source of competitive advantage that can improve the organizational performance. This study investigates whether the organizational culture can contribute to the integration of CSR activities in order to differentiate from competitors, by looking at four variables of organizational culture that were proven to increase the organizational performance; mission, adaptability, consistency and involvement. Next to organizational culture, the role of transformational leadership has been researched as this type of leadership can contribute to the integration of CSR and organizational culture by provide meaning for employees, set long term goals, and raise the awareness among employees regarding the importance of valued outcomes such as CSR. Based on a survey of 43 companies in the Dutch oil and energy branch, the current study found that organizational culture contributes to CSR integration positively. Of all cultural aspects, mission has the most influence on CSR integration. Furthermore, although a linear relationship was expected between transformational leadership and CSR integration, this study showed a non-linear relationship between these variables. On the base of these findings, it is argued that companies should recognize the importance of organizational culture when integrating CSR and they should take into account, next to the positive effects of transformational leadership, the negative effects of transformational leadership as well.

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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen

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