The cultural roots of corporate responsibility

Characteristics of national cultures have often been claimed to influence the role of business in society and the very notion of corporate responsibility itself. Does culture affect the discrepancies in social and environmental performance of companies around the globe? This article investigates the question by developing a theoretical argument for why culture should impact corporate social and environmental performance. Four hypotheses are derived which relate perceived level of corporate responsibility to cultural attitudes toward power distance, individualism, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance. Our hypotheses are tested by analyzing unique proprietary data on 580 firms from 23 North American, European and Asian countries. Empirical support for a cultural influence on corporate responsibility is found.