‘Corporate Social Responsibility and New Economy Corporations: Interrelations and Impact on Innovative Capacity’

Sebastián Bruque Cámara; Raquel Puentes Poyatos and Juan José Jiménez Delgado, University of Jaén

Globalization and digital convergence in the knowledge society pose complex ethical, legal and social problems. To avoid them, companies are abandoning their old forms of governance and management in favor of a new model – known as corporate social responsibility (CSR) – which respects stakeholders and provides a strategic approach to steer decision-making and operational management, creating long-term value and contributing significantly to the achievement of a sustainable competitive advantage.

At the same time, the spread of the Internet through the business world has given rise to a new sector comprising the so-called new economy firms (NEFs), characterized by the intensive use of information and communication technologies and the shared goal of creating value and the appropriation of the value created. This project sets out to explore the interrelations between corporate social responsibility and the management model of new economy firms, in order to facilitate a fruitful dialogue between existing contributions in the CSR field and those touching on the management principles and practices employed by NEFs.

 The working hypothesis behind the proposal is that, in this kind of company, CSR actions will impact on their innovative capacity, introducing management practices aligned with dimensions supportive of their sustainability. The idea, specifically, is to analyze whether the adoption of CSR by new economy firms leads to the implementation of ethical and environmental practices and advanced human resource management practices as well as the development of more regular and comprehensive training plans. To this end, we will conduct a quantitative survey of a sample of large firms based in Science and Technology Parks in Spain.