Skip to main content
Log in

Measuring Corporate Social Performance in France: A Critical and Empirical Analysis of ARESE Data

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article studies the idea of Corporate Social Performance (CSP) from a critical perspective using empirical elements derived from analysis of year 2000 ARESE data. ARESE is the French first mover “social rating agency” providing quantified data about the Social Performance of French companies. The paper starts out by reviewing leading CSP models and discussing problems inherent to the measurement of this construct before going on to present and analyse ARESE data - whose suitability for existing models will be discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • ADEME, EPE and ORSE: 2001, Le Guide Des Organismes D’Analyse Sociétale ADEME Editions, Paris.

  • B. R. Agle P. C. Kelley (2001) ArticleTitleEnsuring Validity in the Measurement of Corporate Social Performance: Lessons from Corporate United Way and PAC Campaigns’ Journal of Business Ethics 31 271–284

    Google Scholar 

  • P. Arlow M. G. Gannon (1982) ArticleTitle‘Social Responsiveness, Corporate Structure and Economic Performance’ Academy of Management Review 7 IssueID2 235–241

    Google Scholar 

  • K. E. Aupperle A. B. Carroll J. D. Hatfield (1985) ArticleTitle‘An Empirical Examination of the Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Profitability’ Academy of Management Journal 28 IssueID2 446–463

    Google Scholar 

  • A. B. Carroll (1979) ArticleTitle‘A Three Dimensional Conceptual Model of Corporate Social Performance’ Academy of Management Review 4 497–505

    Google Scholar 

  • A. B. Caroll (1994) ArticleTitle‘Social Issues in Management Research. Expert’s View, Analysis and Commentary’ Business and Society 33 IssueID1 5–29

    Google Scholar 

  • A. B. Carroll (1999) ArticleTitle‘Corporate Social Responsibility Evolution of a Definitional Construct’, Business &Society 38 IssueID3 268–295

    Google Scholar 

  • Conseil Economique et Social: 1974, ‘Etablissement D’un bilan social’, étude présentée par la section des activités sociales sur le rapport de M. Yves Chaigneau, le 21 novembre 1973, Journal officiel de la République française, avis et rapports du Conseil économique et social, n° 16 du 9 mai 1974.

  • Conseil Economique et Social: 1999, Le Bilan Social, avis adopté le 26 mai 1999 sur le rapport présenté par M. Jean Gautier, Journal officiel de la République française, avis et rapports du Conseil économique et social, n° 9 du 3 juin 1999.

  • N. Churchill (1977) ArticleTitleLes degrés de la mesure sociale Revue Française de Gestion, n° 12-13 34–35

    Google Scholar 

  • M. B. E. Clarkson (1995) ArticleTitle‘A Stakeholder Framework for Analysing and Evaluating Corporate Social Performance’ Academy of Management Review 20 IssueID1 92–117

    Google Scholar 

  • K. Davis (1973) ArticleTitle‘The Case For and Against Business Assumption of Social Responsabilities’ Academy of Management Review 2 IssueID3 70–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Decock-Good, C.: 2000, Des Déterminants De la Responsabilité Sociétale. Thése de doctorat en sciences de gestion, Université de Paris-Dauphine.

  • C. Decock-Good (2001) ArticleTitleL’engagement Mécénique Des Entreprises: Mesure de L’une Des Expressions De Leur Responsabilité Sociétale Finance Contrôle Stratégie 4 IssueID4 29–57

    Google Scholar 

  • Déjean and Oxibar: 2003, ‘An Alternative Approach to Evaluate Corporate Social Performance’, Paper Presented at European Accounting Association Congress, April, Sevilla.

  • European Foundation for Quality Management: 1999, Assessing for Excellence – a practical Guide for Self-Assessment (EFQM, Brussels).

  • G. Férone C. -H. (d’)Arcimoles P. Bello N. Sassenou (2001) Le Développement Durable, Des Enjeux Stratégiques Pour l’Entreprise Éditions d’Organisation Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • R. E. Freeman (1984) Strategic management : A stakeholder approach Pitman Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Frederick: 1976/1994, ‘Classic Paper: From CSR 1 to CSR 2: The Maturing of Business and Society Thought’, Business & Society 33(2), 150–164.

  • V. W. Gerde R. E. Wokutch (1998) ArticleTitle‘Twenty five years and Going Strong A Content Analysis of the First 25 years of the Social Issues in Management Division Proceedings’ Business & Society 37 IssueID4 414–446

    Google Scholar 

  • S. B. Graves S. Waddock (1994) ArticleTitle‘Institutional Owners and Corporate Social Performance’ Academy of Management Journal 37 IssueID4 1034–1047

    Google Scholar 

  • R. Gray R. Kouhy S. Lavers (1995) ArticleTitle‘Corporate Social and Environmental Reporting’, Accounting Auditing and Accountability Journal 8 IssueID2 47–77

    Google Scholar 

  • J. J. Griffin J. F. Mahon (1997) ArticleTitle‘The Corporate Social Performance and Corporate Financial Performance Debate Twenty-Five Years of Incomparable Research’ Business & Society 36 IssueID1 5–31

    Google Scholar 

  • B. W. Husted (2000) ArticleTitle‘A Contingency Theory of Corporate Social Performance’ Business & Society 39 24–48

    Google Scholar 

  • A. J. Hillman G. D. Keim (2001) ArticleTitleShareholder Value, Stakeholder Management and Social Issues: What’s the Bottom Line’ Strategic Management Journal 22 125–139

    Google Scholar 

  • Igalens, J. and Peretti, J. M. (1980). Le Bilan Social de I’Entreprise (Presses Universitaires de France, Paris).

  • J. Igalens (Eds) (1992) ‘‘Bilan Social’’, in Helfer and Grsoni (eds.) Encyclopédie du Management Vuibert, Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Igalens M. Joras (Eds) (2002) La responsabilité sociale de l’entreprise. Comprendre rédiger le rapport annuel (Édition d’Organisation). Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Inspection Générale des Finances: 2002, Rapport d’enquête sur la finance socialement responsable et la finance solidaire. N°2001-M-044-01. Ministére de l’Economie et des Finances.

  • P. Kok T. Wiele R. McKenna A. Brown (2001) ArticleTitle‘A Corporate Social Responsibility Audit within a Quality Management Framework’ Journal of Business Ethics 3 285–297

    Google Scholar 

  • I. Maignan O. C. Ferrell G. T. M. Hult (1999) ArticleTitle‘Corporate Citizenship: Cultural Antecedents and Business Benefits’ Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 27 455–459

    Google Scholar 

  • I. Maignan O. C. Ferrell (2000) ArticleTitle‘Measuring Corporate Citizenship in Two Countries: The Case of the United States and France’ Journal of Business Ethics 23 283–297

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Margolis W. Walsh (2001) People and Profits? The Search for a Link Between a Company’s Social and Financial Performance Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Mahwah, NJ

    Google Scholar 

  • Walsh Margolis (2003) ArticleTitle‘Misery Loves Companies: Whither Social Initiatives by Business?’ Administrative Science Quarterly 2003 48 268–305

    Google Scholar 

  • J. E. Mattingly D. W. Greening (2002) ‘Corporate Social Performance Orientations: An Exploratory Investigation of Dimensionality and Taxonomy Underlying the KLD Company Profiles Database’ D. Windsor S. A. Welcomer (Eds) Proceedings of the Thirteenth annual Meeting Proceedings of the Thirteenth annual Meeting of the International Association for Business and Society Proceedings of the Thirteenth annual Meeting 96

    Google Scholar 

  • B. M. Mitnick (1993) ‘Organizing Research in Corporate Social Performance: The CSP System as a Core Paradigm’ Proceedings of the International Association for Business and Society San Diego 2–15

    Google Scholar 

  • B. M. Mitnick (2000) ArticleTitle‘Commitment, Revelation and the Testament of Belief: The Metrics of Measurement of CSP’ Business & Society 39 IssueID4 419–465

    Google Scholar 

  • Moskowitz (1972) ArticleTitle‘Choosing Socially Responsible Stocks’ Business & Society Review 1 71–75

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Pasquero (2002) ‘Les Défis De la Gestion Responsable’ in M. Kalika (Éd.) Les Défis du Management, (Éd. Liaisons, coll. Entreprises et carriéres, Paris), pp. 31–48

    Google Scholar 

  • M. L. Pava J. Krauzs (1996) ArticleTitle‘The Association Between Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance : The Paradox of Social Cost’ Journal of Business Ethics 15 321–357

    Google Scholar 

  • Peretti, J. -M., and P. Roy: 1977, ‘Faut-il Des Sociétés à Responsabilité Illimitées ?’, Revue Française de Gestion pp. 12–13.

  • L. Preston D. E. P. O’Bannon (1997) ArticleTitle‘The Corporate Social–Financial Performance Relationship A Typology and Analysis’, Business & Society, 36(4) 419–429

    Google Scholar 

  • L. E. Preston J. E. Post (1975) Private Management and Public Policy: The Principle of Public Responsibility Prentice-Hall Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey

    Google Scholar 

  • T. M. Porter (1994) ‘Making Things Quantitative’ M. Power (Eds) Accounting and Science Natural Inquiry and Commercial Reason. (Cambridge University Press New York) 36–56

    Google Scholar 

  • T. M. Porter (1995) Trust In Numbers: The Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life Princeton University Press Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • R. M. Roman S. Hayibor B. R. Agle (1999) ArticleTitle‘The Relationship Between Social and Financial Performance Repainting a Portrait’, Business & Society 38 IssueID4 109–125

    Google Scholar 

  • T. Rowley S. Berman (2000) ArticleTitle‘A Brand New Brand of Corporate Social Performance’ Business & Society 39 IssueID4 397–418

    Google Scholar 

  • B. M. Ruf K. Muralidhar K. Paul (1998) ArticleTitle‘The Development of a Systematic, Aggregate Measure of Corporate Social Performance’ Journal of Management 24 IssueID1 119–133

    Google Scholar 

  • B. M. Ruf K. Muralidhar R. M. Brown J. J. Janney K. Paul (2001) ArticleTitle‘An Empirical Investigation of the Relationship Between Change in Corporate Social Performance and Financial Performance: A Stakeholder Theory Perspective’ Journal of Business Ethics 32 143–156

    Google Scholar 

  • D. Sharfman (1996) ArticleTitle‘The Construct Validity of The KLD Social Performance Data Ratings’ Journal of Business Ethics 15 IssueID3 287–297

    Google Scholar 

  • D. L. Swanson (1995) ArticleTitle‘Addressing a Theoretical Problem by Reorienting the Corporate Social Performance Model’ Academy of Management Review 20 IssueID1 43–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • D. L. Swanson (1999) ArticleTitle‘Toward an Integrative Theory of Business and Society: A Research Strategy for Corporate Social Performance’ Academy of Management Review 24 IssueID3 506–521

    Google Scholar 

  • A. Ullman (1985) ArticleTitle‘Data in Search of a Theory: A Critical Examination of the Relationship Among Social Performance, Social Disclosure and Economic Performance of US firms’ Academy of Management Review 10 540–557

    Google Scholar 

  • S. A. Waddock S. B. Graves (1997) ArticleTitle‘The Corporate Social Performance–Financial Performance Link’ Strategic Management Journal 18 IssueID4 303–319

    Google Scholar 

  • S. L. Wartick P. L. Cochran (1985) ArticleTitle‘The Evolution of the Corporate Social Perfromance Model” Academy of Management Review 10 IssueID4 758–769

    Google Scholar 

  • R. E. Wokutch E. W. McKinney (1991) ArticleTitle‘Behavioral and Perceptual Measures of Corprorate Social Performance’, in J. E. Post (ed.) Research in Corporate Social Performance and Policy 12 309–330

    Google Scholar 

  • D. J. Wood (1991) ArticleTitle‘Corporate Social Performance Revisited’ Academy of Management Review 16 IssueID4 691–718

    Google Scholar 

  • D. J. Wood R. E. Jones (1995) ArticleTitle‘Stakeholder Mismatching: A Theoretical Problem in Empirical Research in Corporate Social Performance’ International Journal of Organizational Analysis 3 229–267

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Igalens, J., Gond, JP. Measuring Corporate Social Performance in France: A Critical and Empirical Analysis of ARESE Data. J Bus Ethics 56, 131–148 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-004-3529-7

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-004-3529-7

Keywords

Navigation