How Does the Financial Performance of a Business Relates to It CSR Activities - Research Proposal Example

Running Head: Research Proposal Research Proposal: Identify a Researchable Problem The paper identifies a research problem in relation to a topic to be investigated. It explains how the selected problem guides the research study. Depending on the research problem, primary and secondary research questions are formulated, which will be appropriately used in the quantitative research design for the study. Research Problem The impact and the area of the multinational businesses are increasing in the world economy, which have also raised the demands for social responsibility in the operations of these multinational businesses. Hence, the concern for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is rising. Businesses are concentrating towards the progress of a sense of CSR as well as focusing on their basic values to promote their products and sustain their consumers (Enquist, Johnson and Skalen, 2005). Despite the extensive development of the CSR concept, there is an ongoing debate since long that the basic goal of a business is to maximize the profit for its stakeholders while the promotion of CSR increases stockholder’s investment (Friedman, 1962). Nevertheless, numerous past studies have established that CSR really augments the businesses’ financial performance in the long run. The topic has a lot of scope of research and development since the association between the CSR and the firm’s financial performance has been very controversial and had been argued by many scholars, for instance Pava and Krausz (1996) related CSR to company’s performance while Ullmann (1985) does not relate these two together. Since any of the company’s actions some how or the other influences its performance thus it can be said that the performance of a company does depend over its CSR actions. Primary Research Question The primary research question formulated for the above mentioned research problem is: How does the financial performance of a business relates to it CSR activities? Secondary Research Question In order to investigate the above mentioned primary research question, I have formulated the following secondary research questions that will be helpful for a quantitative investigation of the study. How CSR activities of a business influence the perceptions of its customers for its brand? How the identified customer perceptions influence the business’s performance? Methodology I intend to use a quantitative research method, which basically focuses on the facts and practicalities of the subject under consideration. The basic objective of selecting this design approach is the nature of this study that leads towards the evaluation or quantification of the company’s performance on the basis of its customers’ perceptions about the brand that is, in turn, influenced by its CSR activities. It is necessary to acquire the on-ground knowledge of businesses’ performances and their strategies so as to determine the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility over the financial performance of a business. Keeping in view the objective of the study, I thought it to be the best to acquire the data related to the CSR and the turn-over of various businesses and then assess the collected information to reach to the conclusion of the study. The post-positivistic principle is the philosophical research approach that underpins this investigation (Marczyk et al., 2005). The post-positivistic research philosophy will help us to find out the Do s and Don’ts of a business. This approach is dependent over different philosophies such like social contract theory, virtue ethics, post modernism and Habermasian critical theory (Vogt, 2007). I intend to adopt the post positivistic philosophical design in this study since it will provide the contextual dimension of reality to the investigation that will lead us to challenge and re-invent scientific theories through empirical research (Steinberg, 2008). I will carry out an empirical research so as to acquire the desired information on the view-points of the customers in relation to the businesses’ corporate social responsibility activities as well as on their corresponding financial performances. The information that will be collected as a result of the empirical study will then be categorically recorded for further analysis. Samples Two samples will be created from two empirical studies which are the company study and the customer study. In the company study, I intend to select companies from the clothing sector on the basis of specific criterions. The criterions for this selection should be based upon the size, target groups and diversified turnover of the companies. Moreover, the selected companies should have their own brand. On the basis of these criterions, I will select 15 clothing companies. The selected companies will range from a turnover of USD 2.6 million and 5 employees to a turnover as big as USD 780 million and the number of employees as large as 3700 employees. After making the selection of the companies, I will need to establish which person(s) to contact in each of the selected companies to get the required and authentic information. It would be appropriate to contact the CSR managers in the company if it has one and in case, the company does not have a CSR manager then I will request the information department in that company to assist me in approaching the relevant person to provide me the required and correct information. In the customer study, I will select to employ 2 different focus groups. The focus group as a collective interview conducted in the form of a group as opposed to taken from individuals one by one and it is also a way to gather primary data. I selected focus group since it the appropriate form of interview if the researcher intends to establish new knowledge in relation to a particular phenomenon (that is CSR in my case) or in relation to the personal experiences of the group members. Furthermore, the members in case of a focus group can assist each other to produce thoughts in relation to a particular subject and thus, this takes the interview a step farther in comparison to an individual based interview. I believe that a focus group is an appropriate means for achieving the objective of this research since this study aims to develop an understanding on customer perceptions and their relationship with the CSR with the help of attaining the knowledge about the personal experiences of the group members. Ethical Considerations At present, ethical issues hold a very important position in research. Thus, every University is obliged by law to have Human Ethics Committees which examine all the studies carrying out under the name of the University. The basic purpose of this committee is to monitor the study by checking out issues that may interfere with the candidate’s right to not participate or with potential deception, harm or embarrassment to the candidates. A major problem is that potential candidates have been made well aware of what they are accepting to participate in. Even after the agreement, the candidates are allowed to cancel their participation at any stage or any time without prejudice. These two issues should be addressed in the consent form. Another ethical issue in empirical research is the disclosure of the identity of the respondents of the survey. The respondents should be informed about their right to withdraw their participation from the survey at any point of time and most importantly, their confidentiality should not be revealed without their consent. Participants may sometimes give false information in order to manipulate their sense of success which results in deception of the candidates. The ethical implication to this is if the acquired information is worth subjecting others to such deception. The research ethics committee has to debrief the candidates in order to approve their study. Also, a source for the assistance or counseling has to be provided if the candidate is adversely affected. It might be improbable but imagine what might occur when only people get psychologically hurt by believing that they were among the top 5 percent of the population but later get to know that it was all false. What they might do? How it might affect on their later behavior or relationships? Thus, consent forms are required to include names and contact numbers of the participants having problem in dealing with this issue. Note down in mind the issue of clearly telling the potential participant about the research without informing him/her about the deception manipulation. Ethics committees should have to present a very good reason for deception before allowing it. The advantage of the acquired information should clearly offset the risks related to deception and adequate preparation needs to be done with care for problems that might occur. The above ethical issues were raised by the researches in general. In relation to my study of understanding CSR in the context of its affect over customer perspectives and thereby, over the company’s performance, the potential ethical issues that can be seen in the practical field include: inadequately trained staff, lack of understanding, unavailability of reliable or trusted data and certain information on the types of CSR activities, policy, coverage, etc and success and approach of CSR programs. Now, this scenario is changing and the purview of CSR has been swiftly transforming from ‘doing social good’ in to ‘business necessity’. The CSR is building its ground for ‘business care’ and corporate houses have started believing in the well being of their workers that refers to their health, their community and environment which are all considered good for business. The above stated potential ethical issues, raised by this research on CSR and its affect over company performance, will be avoided through approaching the most eligible person in the selected organization who possess all the relevant knowledge and understanding on the subject of CSR and also, about the company performance. References Enquist, B., Johnson, M., & Skålén, P. (2005). A stakeholders view for a successful corporate social responsibility adoption. Service research center, Karlstads university, Karlstad Swed. Friedman, M. (1962). Capitalism and Freedom. University of Chicago Press, Chicago Marczyk, G. DeMatteo. D., & Festinger. D. (2005). Essentials of research design and methodology. Hoboken. NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Pava, M.L. & Krausz, J. (1996). The Association Between Corporate Social-Responsibility and Financial Performance: The Paradox of Social Cost. Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 15. Schmidt. N & Brown . J. (2009). Evidence-based practice for nurses. Sudbury. MA: Jones and Bartlett. Steinberg.W.J.. Statistics alive (2008). Thousand Oaks. CA: Sage Publications. Ullmann, A.A. (1985). Data in search of a theory: A Critical Examination of the Relationship Among Social Performance, Social Disclosure, and Economic Performance of U.S Firms. Academy of Management Review, vol. 10, i 3. Vogt P.W. (2007). Quantitative Research Methods for professionals. Boston: MA: Allyn and Bacon. Read More