When does it pay to be good - A contingency perspective on corporate social and financial performance: would it work?

The findings on corporate social and financial performance research has exposed the universal approach as tenuous and questionable, so the current approach of corporate social and financial performance research has been subject to severe criticism. Instead of exploring a universal corporate social and financial performance link, scholars have called for a contingency perspective in order to determine the conditions and context that catalyzes positive connections between the constructs. This study systematically reviews the literature on the moderators exploited in corporate social and financial performance research and finds, by and large, that a positive corporate social and financial performance association dominates, although the relationship is stronger in advanced economies and institutionalized contexts. Although research on the contingency perspective has progressed, theoretical support for this relationship is thin, and the lack of appropriate research design and stereotyped constructs thwart its positive implications. A review of the literature shows that although organizational factors seem to moderating the corporate social and financial performance relationship strongly yet industry and country factors also 4 tend to affect this association. Important consistencies included that a dynamic business environment reinforces the corporate social and financial performance relationship. Differentiation in social responsibility practices moderates the responsibility-performance link, but not often positively. The effect of R&D intensity is equivocal, and advertising intensity did not strengthen this relationship across the level. Avenues for future research conclude our discussion. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.