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October 2007
 It seems that every month there's a new set of surveys related to corporate social responsibility: the role of corporate citizenship in recruiting and retaining employees, the attitudes of business leaders toward corporate social responsibility, trends in social reporting, the public's attitudes toward climate change and what they expect business to do about it.
Why do we all like these surveys so much? Let's face it – there's nothing like a good set of survey statistics to prove the point you're trying to make. And it seems that, no matter what that particular point is, you can find the statistics to support it.
In the realm of corporate citizenship, the surveys are typically produced by polling companies, consulting firms, and yes, The Center's own research arm. Some provide an outside-in look at the public’s expectations of corporate citizenship and at the comparative views of investors, consumers, and opinion leaders, as well as current and future members of the workforce. Others afford an inside-out picture of how managers think about citizenship, set their company’s agenda, and put it into practice.
To try and make sense of all this data, The Center's Philip Mirvis has produced a new working paper, What Do Surveys Say About Corporate Citizenship? This paper reviews the many surveys on corporate citizenship — our own as well as those of GlobeScan, GolinHarris, the Reputation Institute, PricewaterhouseCoopers, McKinsey & Co., Cone Inc., Fleishman Hillard and others — to focus on select facets of citizenship that can be better understood, interpreted, and managed through survey data. These include:
- What is the role of business in society?
- What does citizenship mean to business leaders?
- Are companies good corporate citizens?
- Is citizenship a contributor to corporate reputation?
- Does citizenship help companies recruit and retain employees?
- Does citizenship matter to consumers?
- Are people socially responsible?
- What drives citizenship in companies?
- How do social issues factor into corporate citizenship?
- How do companies manage sociopolitical issues?
- Can social issues be opportunities for business?
- How do views of corporate citizenship differ around the world?
- What's on the social agenda in the U.S.?
- How is citizenship managed in companies?
- What's involved in "Next Generation Corporate Citizenship?"
- Can surveys help companies manage citizenship?
What Do Surveys Say About Corporate Citizenship? presents a look at these findings followed by general thoughts on company-specific surveys on citizenship and how they can assist a business.
The paper also highlights some of the pitfalls of depending too heavily on surveys, pointing out that while surveys can be informative, instructive, and useful for companies in developing and assessing their citizenship agenda, they can also be uninformative, downright misleading, and a frightful waste of time and money.
It also warns against confusing correlation and causation. For example, a favorite study item for years has been the relationship between social responsibility and financial performance. But it is not always clear what causes what: companies with good financial performance, for example, also have more monies — and perhaps mindshare — to invest in CSR-type activities. Hence, it can be argued that good financial performance leads to social responsibility, rather than the other way around.
Sorting through all the studies can be a difficult task; What Do Surveys Say About Corporate Citizenship? makes it a little easier.
» Download What Do Surveys Say About Corporate Citizenship? (pdf; free registration and login required)
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