Moving Anecdotes to Data

December 2007

As we go to press with our third State of Corporate Citizenship report, I am even more appreciative of how valuable this information has become over the years in providing a window into a field on the move.

It is pretty obvious that corporate citizenship has moved into early or late adolescence, depending on how you want to look at it. By any measure its ascendency is indisputable.

As companies discover and reinvent their citizenship to meet the complex and demanding times for business in the 21st century, sustainability initiatives, social entrepreneurship, strategic philanthropy, innovative community involvement, and investment lead the way. However, core issues of meeting and exceeding the expectations of social investors, increasingly active NGO communities, environmental activists, dynamic web-based electronic communities, and growing employee sentiment are all swirling around today's company as it attempts to compete for market share, brand value, and reputation.

One of the characteristics of such rapid and undisciplined growth is that it tends to be somewhat messy, unorganized, and difficult to categorize. The growth and development of corporate citizenship is quite organic, rather than following any script or preordained plan. Much of what we observe is hidden from public view, siloed and isolated, and not well documented. Despite the more recent development of social and environmental reports, little is know about the nature and characteristic of this new corporate citizenship.

This situation is what gave rise six years ago to the State of Corporate Citizenship in U.S. survey, a unique partnership between The Hitachi Foundation and the Boston College Center to provide a systemic look at how corporate citizenship was evolving.

The Hitachi Foundation, under President Barbara Dyer, has been a unique voice within the foundation world on corporate citizenship, especially issues related to economically distressed communities. The vision of this project was to develop a semi-annual survey of small, medium and large companies across the country to provide information on how companies were responding to social, environmental, and community issues. Additionally, it would be an opportunity to assess perceptions and attitudes of business leaders. By tracking this every two years, we would have a benchmark that could help us better understand the trends, as well as the landscape of corporate citizenship.

As the director of a Center that focuses exclusively on corporate citizenship, I am continuously amazed at how incomplete our knowledge is around the evolving field.

Despite having an incredible window into the state of affairs through the Center’s interactions with over 350 corporate members, our executive training that provides 20 courses that bring 20-30 of these companies around a table for three days at a time, our webinars that open up windows to discuss cutting edge issues, and three networks that bring companies together around critical issues, I am still out of breath trying to keep up with all the developments, innovations, and changes occurring in this rapidly developing arena.

This was the driving force for the survey: to create a benchmark with a reputable sample of companies that would keep us on top of developments and the changing perceptions and attitudes of corporate leaders. There are so few mechanisms that can move anecdotes to data, or that can take a step back through a survey process to examine the underlying trends beginning to shape corporate citizenship in the United States. (The data from previous surveys going back to 2003, as well as the early returns of this year's survey, were invaluable as source material for our just-released book Beyond Good Company.)

I always like the first peek at the data when it comes in, reminding me of those days as a kid opening presents under the tree. A few surprises always emerge, and it is exciting to see not only how the field is progressing, but where it is challenged.

Every two years as we prepare the questionnaire we include some new questions to probe a current interest or emerging issue. This year, for example, we are quite interested in the social contract and the changing roles of business, government and the civil sector. Out of that came some new perceptions of the corporate sector around shared responsibility that are emerging as key issues for corporate citizenship over the next few years.

Another unanticipated outcome of this survey is that it has served as a catalyst for the Center's next survey project, The State of Corporate Citizenship Practice. The State of Practice, which will build off the State of Corporate Citizenship, speaks to a need for data about how citizenship is being practiced within companies, from how it is structured and what it encompasses, to the competencies being employed and the strategies that are driving it. The first State of Corporate Citizenship Practice will be conducted in 2008 and continue to alternate years with the State of Corporate Citizenship.

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