Linking Corporate Social Responsibility, Innovation and Company Performance: A Theoretical Investigation

This study seeks to conduct a semi-systematic literature review on the causal relationships between CSR, innovation, and company performance, and to provide a summary of the findings. The aim of the literature review on CSR, innovation, and company performance is to select and analyse existing literature in a partially structured manner. The study has identified 527 sources through Harzing’s Publish or Perish software and after additional screening has selected 11 empirical papers for content analysis. Most of the studies found that there are positive direct and indirect causal relationships between CSR, innovation, and company performance. The results of this study provide further evidence of a positive causal relationship between CSR and innovation, with companies that have more established CSR initiatives exhibiting greater innovation capabilities and introducing more new products or services. However, the results also reveal a general lack of consensus on some key aspects of the causal relationships, and inconsistencies in the field of CSR, innovation, and company performance. The present study offers a theoretical contribution to the existing scope of research on the relationships between CSR, innovation, and the economic performance of companies. As such, it provides researchers and practitioners with an additional source of summarized knowledge to better understand the relationships between the variables under study and to create and implement successful strategies that foster corporate sustainability and economic advantages.