Economic performance and corporate social responsibility: a contribution to the analysis of the relationship of these variables in the case of the largest open companies Brazilian

Abstract

Several publicly traded companies worldwide have used social responsibility practices as a strategy to improve the return on their actions, ie, generate more profits for their shareholders. In this perspective, the purpose of this article is to test the theory that relates economic performance to corporate social reputation in the case of the largest publicly traded Brazilian companies. Economic performance is measured by the VEA and the VMAs, while corporate reputation is measured dichotomously, that is investigating the 100 largest publicly traded companies by market capitalization, listed and not listed on the BM&FBovespa ISE. By applying logistic regression results indicate a positive and significant relationship between economic performance and corporate social reputation. This result is consistent with the findings of previous research on the subject. Thus, it is concluded that for the case of the 100 largest publicly traded Brazilian companies, applies the theory of the relationship between economic performance, reputation, corporate social and economic performance. It is inferred that because some of the companies surveyed are already in the international market, reputation corporate social strategy can be used to improve the return on their shares and thus to expand their businesses.