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The lack of a robust, widely accepted theory on corporate social responsibility has meant that business leaders are often unaware, or doubtful, about the presence of social responsibility across a wide spectrum of business practices in which it is manifested. Since undergraduate students on management-related degree programs are future business leaders, it is important to enquire into the knowledge they have on this subject. To this end, a sample was selected of students from universities in ten Spanish-speaking Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. A structured questionnaire was used to measure their knowledge of 18 social responsibility practices representative of three dimensions of the concept: internal responsibility, responsibility towards external stakeholders of the value chain and responsibility towards the environment. It was found that there is a widespread lack of knowledge about the business practices that constitute social responsibility actions, that some practices are better known than others (the best known are those related to the environment while the least known are those related with the external stakeholders of the value chain), and that the extent of this knowledge depends on the country where the universities are located. In addition, it was found that the relationship between knowledge and country is not mediated by gender, age, work experience, degree program studied, or year of study. These results suggest that the teaching of social responsibility in Latin American universities does not place equal emphasis on all dimensions of the concept, and that this teaching differs from one country to another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research work on the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and financial performance has been going on for seven decades. Even when the prevailing studies are those that found a positive influence of social responsibility on financial performance, strong conclusive results are still unavailable. Some explanations for this situation are based, among other reasons, on the fact that the variables have a relation mediated by multiple factors. Additionally, it is still unknown whether the results obtained can be extrapolated to all types of companies since the majority of studies have focused on large companies listed on the stock exchange. This research studied how one of those factors (stakeholder satisfaction) mediated in companies of different sizes (including SMEs) and different types of companies (publicly listed companies or private ownership companies). A questionnaire was used, including indices relative to (1) the degree of development of the company's social responsibility policies, (2) the changes in the satisfaction of four key stakeholders (employees, customers, suppliers, and shareholders) and financial performance (sales and profitability). Findings show the existence of a correlation between social responsibility and financial performance and also that such a relationship is mediated by the satisfaction of stakeholders. That relationship was also found to be independent of company sizes and the type of company This research work is intended to be a contribution towards that field of study, as it has detected a relationship between variables in medium-sized and private ownership companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A range of research has found a positive relationship between Internal Social Responsibility and the organizational commitment of employees, but the possible participation of other variables that mediate in this relationship needs to be studied in greater depth. The purpose of this paper is to assess whether this relationship is mediated by two widely studied factors in organizational management: employee satisfaction and organizational climate. Information provided by a nonprobabilistic sample of companies that have incorporated Social Responsibility into their operations in Uruguay was analyzed. A questionnaire was used that includes indicators on: specific Internal Social Responsibility practices, three dimensions of organizational commitment (identification, engagement, and membership) and the two control variables (job satisfaction and organizational climate). It was found that Internal Social Responsibility correlates positively with two aspects of organizational commitment (identification and engagement), that this relationship is independent of the two control variables in the case of identification, but that it is mediated by them in the case of engagement. These results suggest that the relationship between Social Responsibility and organizational commitment is complex and that other factors intervene, therefore, in research and management, the role of these factors should be taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The number of companies that create management (high or middle) to lead Corporate Social Responsibility issues is growing. Despite the importance of this organizational innovation, there is a lack of evidence about whether these managements effectively contribute to the application of social responsibility. The objective of this document is to study this problem. It is studies whether companies with Social Responsibility Managers have more developed their social responsibility than those without them. A database of Uruguayan companies was used, which includes information on 107 practices related to the different dimensions of social responsibility and on the use of five management support tools (strategic planning, code of ethics, sustainability report, volunteering and intersectoral alliances). Through statistical tests, it was found that the application of responsibility differs in few aspects between companies with and without a manager. This result questions the usefulness of these managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Companies that embrace corporate social responsibility (CSR) tend to adopt certain general practices, such as: establishing social responsibility areas, preparing codes of ethics, publishing social or sustainability reports, joining organizations that promote social responsibility, or starting their own foundations. The question then arises as to whether these general practices actually influence the responsible behavior of companies. This article explores the relationship between the application of these general CSR practices and the level of development of internal social responsibility (ISR). To study this relationship, information was drawn from the system of CSR indicators (CSRI) overseen by the Cristian Association of Business Managers (Asociación Cristiana de Dirigentes de Empresas, a self-evaluation system in which Uruguayan companies participate annually. The CSRI uses 25 indicators to measure the level of ISR development and record the application of eight general CSR practices. After carrying out a review of the literature, the 25 indicators were organized into nine dimensions of ISR: employees' human rights; informing employees about issues that affect them; occupational health and safety; internal environment; personal and professional development; employment protection; voluntary provision of benefits; union relations; and fair pay. After analyzing the statistical correlation between the application of general CSR practices and the level of development of social responsibility across the nine dimensions, the results indicate the following: three general practices positively correlate with the development of ISR in all its dimensions (including CSR in strategic planning, involving the management team in CSR issues, and joining an organization that promotes CSR); one practice (preparing a code of ethics) correlates with half of the dimensions; and the other four practices (publishing a social or sustainability report, assigning a full-time employee to CSR management, having a CSR team or area, and possessing a foundation) correlate with none or almost none of the dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]