Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T19:22:15.478Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Company They Keep: How Formal Associations Impact Business Social Performance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Terry L. Besser  and
Nancy J. Miller
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Business networks, which include joint ventures, supply chains, industry and trade associations, industrial districts, and community business associations, are considered the signature organizational form of the global economy. However, little is known about how they affect the social performance of their members. We utilize institutional theory to develop the position that business social performance has collectivist roots that deserve at least as much scholarly attention as owner/manager characteristics and business attributes. Hypotheses are tested using multilevel analysis on data gathered from 898 members of twenty-nine business associations. Support is provided for institutional theory’s explanation for business social performance. Members of business associations are likely to conform to the pattern of social performance prevailing in their association, but not necessarily to the articulated values of the association. The potential of business associations to influence members’ social performance should be considered by agencies that start and support them as mechanisms for regional and local economic development.

Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , July 2011 , pp. 503 - 525
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aldrich, H., Rosen, B., & Woodward, W. 1987. The impact of social associations on business foundings and profit: A longitudinal study. In Churchill, N. C., Hornaday, J. A., Kirchhoff, B. A., Krasner, O. J., and Vesper, K. H.. Wellesley (Eds.), Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research: 154–68. Babson Park, MA: Babson College.Google Scholar
Batzell, E. B. 1979. Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia: Two protestant ethics and the spirit of class authority and leadership. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Besser, T. L. 2002. The conscience of capitalism: Business social responsibility to communities. Westport, CT: Praeger.Google Scholar
Besser, T. L., and Chee, K. H. 1998. How size of town affects doing business in Iowa. Distributed by the Rural Development Initiative, Iowa State University Department of Sociology, Ames.Google Scholar
Besser, T. L., & Miller, N. J. 2010 “Trust, high and low risk cooperative exchanges, and perceived benefits in formal business networks.” The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 11(2): 101–12.Google Scholar
Besser, T. L., & Miller, N. J. Forthcoming. “The structural, social, and strategic factors associated with successful business networks.” Entrepreneurship and Regional Development.Google Scholar
Brass, D. J., Butterfield, K. D., & Skaggs, B. C. 1998. “Relationships and unethical behavior: A social association perspective.” Academy of Management Review, 23(1): 14–31.Google Scholar
Buchholtz, A. K., Amason, A. C., & Rutherford, M. A. 1999. “Beyond resources: The mediating effect of top management discretion and values on corporate philanthropy.” Business and Society, 38: 167–87.Google Scholar
Building Business Investment in Community. 2002. The business of giving back: 2002 survey of business giving and community involvement. St. Paul, MN: Building Business Investment in Community.Google Scholar
Bureau of Industry Economics. 1995. “Beyond the firm: An assessment of business linkages and associations in Australia.” Research Report 67. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.Google Scholar
Burlingame, D. F., & Kaufmann, D.A. 1995. Indiana business contributions to community service. Indianapolis: Indiana University Center on Philanthropy.Google Scholar
Campbell, J. L. 2006. “Institutional analysis and the paradox of corporate social responsibility.” The American Behavioral Scientist, 49(7): 925–38.Google Scholar
Carroll, A. B. 1998. “The four faces of corporate citizenship.” Business and Society Review, 100(1): 1–7.Google Scholar
Chan, D. 1998. “Functional relations among constructs in the same content domain at different levels of analysis: A typology of composition models.” Journal of Applied Psychology, 83: 234–46.Google Scholar
Coleman, J. S. 1988. “Social capital in the creation of human capital.” American Journal of Sociology, 94 (Supplement): S95–S120.Google Scholar
Corolleur, F., & Courlet, C. 2003. “The Marshallian industrial district, an organizational and institutional answer to uncertainty.” Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 15: 299–307.Google Scholar
Cossentino, F., Pyke, F., & Sengenberger, W. (Eds.). 1996. Local and regional response to global pressure: The case of Italy and its industrial districts. Geneva: International Institute of Labour Studies.Google Scholar
Curran, J., Jarvis, R., Blackburn, R. A., & Black, S. 1993. “Associations and small firms: Constructs, methodological strategies, and some findings.” International Small Business Journal, 11(2): 13–25.Google Scholar
Davis, A. E., Renzulli, L. E., & Aldrich, H. 2006. “Mixing or matching?: The influence of voluntary associations on the occupational diversity and density of small business owners’ networks.” Work and Occupations, 33(1): 42–72.Google Scholar
Dijkstra, J. K., Lindenberg, S. & Veenstsra, R. 2008. “Beyond the class norm: Bullying behavior of popular adolescents and its relation to peer acceptance and rejection.” Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 36: 1289–99.Google Scholar
DiMaggio, P.J. & Powell, W.W. 1983. “The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields.” American Sociological Review, 48: 147–60.Google Scholar
Eckstein, S. 2001. “Community as gift giving: Collective roots of volunteerism.” American Sociological Review, 66(6): 829–51.Google Scholar
Farrell, H. & Knight, J. 2003. “Trust, institutions, and institutional change: Industrial districts and the social capital hypothesis.” Politics and Society, 31(4): 537–66.Google Scholar
Fukuyama, F. 1995. Trust: The social virtues and the creation of prosperity. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Galaskiewicz, J. 1997. “An urban grants economy revisited: Corporate charitable contributions in the twin cities 1979–1981, 1987–89.” Administrative Science Quarterly, 42: 445–71.Google Scholar
Grabher, G. (Ed.). 1993. The embedded firm: On the socioeconomics of industrial associations. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Granovetter, M. 1985. “Economic action and social structure: The problem of embeddedness.” American Journal of Sociology, 91(3): 481–510.Google Scholar
Greve, A., & Salaff, J. W. 2003. “Social associations and entrepreneurship.” Entrepreneurship, Theory, and Practice, Fall: 1–22.Google Scholar
Gulati, R., Nohria, N., & Zaheer, A. 2000. “Strategic associations.” Strategic Management Journal, 21, Special Issue: 203–15.Google Scholar
Hanna, V., & Walsh, K. 2002. “Small firm associations: A successful approach to innovation.” R & D Management, 32(3): 201–07.Google Scholar
Hatch, M. J. 1993. “The dynamics of organizational culture.” Academy of Management Review, 18(4): 657–93.Google Scholar
Haunschild, P. R. & Miner, A. S. 1997. “Modes of interorganizational imitation: The effects of outcome salience and uncertainty.” Administrative Science Quarterly, 42: 472–500.Google Scholar
Hodgkinson, V. 1995. “Key factors influencing caring, involvement and community.” In Schervish, P. & Hodgkinson, V. (Eds.), Care and Community in Modern Society: 21–50. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Hu, L. & Bentler, P. M. 1995. “Evaluating model fit.” In Hoyle, R. H. (Ed.), Structural Equation Modeling: Concepts, Issues, and Applications: 76–99. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Huggins, R. 1998. “Local business co-operation and training and enterprise councils: The development of inter-firm associations.” Regional Studies, 32(9): 813–26.Google Scholar
Human, S. E. & Provan, K. G. 1996. External resource exchange and perceptions of competitiveness within organizational associations: an organizational learning perspective. In Reynolds, P. D., Birley, S., Butler, J. E., Bygrave, W. D., Davidsson, P., Gartner, W. B., and McDougall, P. P. (Eds.), Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, Proceedings of the 16th Annual Research Conference: 240–67. Babson Park, MA: Babson College.Google Scholar
Inkpen, A. C., & Tsang, E. W. K. 2005. “Social capital, associations, and knowledge transfers.” Academy of Management Review, 30(1): 146–65.Google Scholar
Johannisson, B. & Ramirez-Pasillas, M. 2002. “The institutional embeddedness of local inter-firm associations: A leverage for business creation.” Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 14: 297–315.Google Scholar
Kane, E. J. 1989. The S & L insurance mess: How did it happen? Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute Press.Google Scholar
Kedia, B. L., & Kuntz, E. C. 1981. “The context of social performance: An empirical study of Texas banks.” In Lee Preston, E. (Ed.), Research in Corporate Social Performance and Policy (3rd ed.). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.Google Scholar
Kim, J., & Mueller, C. W. 1978. Factor analysis: Statistical methods and practical issue. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Kline, R. B. 2005. Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (2nd ed.). New York: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Knaup, A. E. 2005. “Survival and longevity in the business employment dynamics database.” Monthly Labor Review, 128(5): 50–56.Google Scholar
Kreft, I., & De Leew, J. 1998. Introducing multilevel modeling. London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Kuppens, S., Grietens, H., Onghena, P., Michiels, D., & Subramanian, S. V. 2008. Individual and classroom variables associated with relational aggression in elementary-school aged children: A multilevel analysis. Journal of School Psychology, 46: 639–60.Google Scholar
Logan, J. R., & Molotch, H. L. 1987 Urban fortunes: The political economy of place. Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Longenecker, J. G., & Moore, C. W. 1987. Small-business management (7th ed.). Cincinnati: Southwestern.Google Scholar
Malecki, E. J., & Tootle, D. M. 1996. The role of networks in small firm competitiveness. International Journal of Technology Management, 11: 43–57.Google Scholar
Marchington, M., & Vincent, S. 2004. Analyzing the influence of institutional, organizational and interpersonal forces in shaping inter-organizational relations. Journal of Management Studies, 41(6): 1029–56.Google Scholar
Martin, S. A. 1985. An essential grace. Toronto: McClelland and Steward.Google Scholar
McElroy, K. M., & Siegfried, J. J. 1985. The effect of firm size on corporate philanthropy. Quarterly Review of Economics and Business, 25(2): 18–26.Google Scholar
McElroy, K. M., & Siegfried, J. J. 1986. The community influence on corporate contributions. Public Finance Quarterly, 14(4): 394–414.Google Scholar
McPherson, J. M., & Rotolo, T. 1996. Testing a dynamic model of social composition: Diversity and change in voluntary groups. American Sociological Review, 61: 179–202.Google Scholar
Navarro, P. 1988. Why do corporations give to charity? Journal of Business, 61(1): 65–93.Google Scholar
Nielsen, R. P. 2003. Corruption associations and implications for ethical corruption reform. Journal of Business Ethics, 42: 125–49.Google Scholar
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). 1999. Boosting innovation: The cluster approach. Paris: OECD Proceedings.Google Scholar
Ostrom, E. 2000. Collective action and the evolution of social norms. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 14(3): 137–58.Google Scholar
Parkhe, A., Wasserman, S., & Ralston, D. A. 2006. New frontiers in association theory development. Academy of Management Review, 31(3): 560–68.Google Scholar
Perry, M. 1999. Small firms and association economies. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Piore, M. J., & Sabel, C. F. 1984. The second industrial divide: Possibilities for prosperity. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Portes, A., & Sensenbrenner, J. 1993. Embeddedness and immigration: Notes on the social determinants of economic action. American Journal of Sociology, 98(6): 1320–50.Google Scholar
Powell, W. W., Koput, K. W., & Smith-Doerr, L. 1996. Interorganizational collaboration and the locus of innovation: Associations of learning in biotechnology. Administrative Science Quarterly, 41: 116–45.Google Scholar
Putnam, R. D. 2000. Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Ramsay, M. 1996. Community, culture, and economic development: The social roots of local action. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Raudenbush, S. W., & Bryk, A. S. 2002. Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods (2nd ed.). California: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Schein, E. H. 1985. Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Schein, E. H. 1996. Culture: The missing concept in organization studies. Administrative Science Quarterly, 41: 229–40.Google Scholar
Scott, W. R. 1995. Institutions and organizations. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Scott, W. R. 2008. Approaching adulthood: The maturing of institutional theory. Theoretical Sociology, 37: 427–42.Google Scholar
Sentse, M., Scholte, R., Salmivalli, C., & Voeten, M. 2007. Person-group dissimilarity in involvement in bullying and its relation to social status. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 35: 1009–19.Google Scholar
Smith, D. H. 1994. Determinants of voluntary association participation and volunteering: A literature review. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 23(3): 243–63.Google Scholar
Snijders, T. A. B., & Bosker, R. J. 1999. Multilevel analysis: An introduction to basic and advanced multilevel modeling. London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Szarka, J. 1990. “Networking and small firms.” International Small Business Journal, 8(2): 10–22.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. K., Smith, H. L., & Hood, J. N. 1993. Charitable contributions by small businesses. Journal of Small Business Management, 31(3): 35–51.Google Scholar
Tolbert, C. M., Lyson, T. A., & Irwin, M. 1998. Local capitalism, civic engagement, and socioeconomic well being. Social Forces, 77(2): 401–28.Google Scholar
Treviño, L. K., & Youngblood, S. A. 1990. Bad apples in bad barrels: A causal analysis of ethical decision-making behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75: 378–85.Google Scholar
U.S. Census Bureau. 2002 economic census and statistics of U.S. businesses. www.census.gov/epcd/www/smallbus.html.Google Scholar
U.S. Small Business Administration. 2006. Advocacy small business statistics and research. http://app1.sba.gov/faqs/faqindex.cfm?areaID=24.Google Scholar
Useem, M. 1991. Organizational and managerial factors in the shaping of corporate social and political action. Research in Corporate Social Performance and Policy, 12: 63–92.Google Scholar
Performance Useem, M., & Kutner, S. I. 1986. Corporate contributions to culture and the arts: The organization of giving and the influence of the chief executive officer and of other firms on company contributions in Massachusetts. In Dimaggio, P. J. (Ed.), Nonprofit enterprise in the arts: Studies in mission and constraint: New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Uzzi, B. 1999. Embeddedness in the making of financial capital: How social relations and associations benefit firms seeking financing. American Sociological Review, 64: 481–505.Google Scholar
Valor, C. 2005. Corporate social responsibility and corporate citizenship: Towards corporate accountability. Business and Society Review, 110(2): 191–212.Google Scholar
Verba, S., Schlozman, K., & Brady, H. 1995. Voice and equality: Civic voluntarism in American politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Walsh, J. P., Weber, K., & Margolis, J. D. 2003. Social issues and management: Our lost cause found. Journal of Management, 29(6): 859–81.Google Scholar
Weaver, G. R., Treviño, L. K., & Cochran, P. L. 1999. Integrated and decoupled corporate social performance: Management commitments, external pressures, and corporate ethics practices. Academy of Management Journal, 42(5): 539–52.Google Scholar
Wilson, E. 1980. Social responsibility of business: What are small business perspectives? Journal of Small Business Management, July: 17–24.Google Scholar
Wilson, J., & Musick, M. 1997. Who cares? Toward an integrated theory of volunteer work. American Sociological Review, 62(5): 694–713.Google Scholar
Zaheer, A., McEvily, B., & Perrone, V. 1998. Does trust matter? Exploring the effects of interorganizational and interpersonal trust on performance. Organization Science, 9(2): 141–59.Google Scholar
Zekeri, A. A. 1999. Community-ness of a major economic development effort in a biracial community in Alabama. Journal of Rural Studies, 15(2): 159–69.Google Scholar

A correction has been issued for this article:

Erratum