Corporate Social Responsibility and Inter-Organisational Trust in a B2B Context

Egle Staniskiene, Zivile Stankeviciute, Asta Daunoriene

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the paper to reveal the linkage between the customer perception of the supplier’s CSR and inter-organisational trust in a B2B context.

Methodology/Approach: The paper conceptualises the customer perception of CSR activities as a latent second-order factor composed of three dimensions: CSR towards environment and community; CSR towards employees; and CSR towards customers. Three-dimensional understanding of inter-organisational trust, is applied in this paper. A quantitative study was conducted.

Findings: As it was expected, the findings revealed that the customer perception of supplier’s CSR, namely CSR towards environment and community, towards employees and customers, generates inter-organisational trust that could be divided into competence trust, benevolence trust and integrity trust.

Research Limitation/implication: Seeing that the paper uses a sample from a single country, it has a limitation due to its restrictive generalisability (especially having in mind that the research was done in a low-trust societal context). Moreover, the paper does not incorporate the characteristics of organisations, and the future research could elaborate on the issues of how the perceived CSR and its impacts on inter-organisational trust vary depending on organisational financial performance, market share, and so forth.

Originality/Value of paper: The paper challenges the researchers and managers to move towards more sophisticated assessments concerning the way the customer perception of CSR affects inter-organisational trust in a B2B context, which might lead to improved organisational performance and sustainability.

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Authors

Egle Staniskiene
Zivile Stankeviciute
Asta Daunoriene
asta.daunoriene@ktu.lt (Primary Contact)
Author Biographies

Egle Staniskiene, Kaunas University of Technology School of Economics and Business

A professor at School of Economics and Business, Kaunas University of Technology, PhD in Social Sciences. Research interests: sustainable development, circular economy, quality management systems, sustainable university, higher education quality research, new teaching methods and interdisciplinary research. Her experience in the field of sustainable development represents scientific publications and presentations in international scientific conferences. She is an author of more than 50 scientific publications, participated in more than 20 national and international projects. She is teaching sustainable development, quality management, sustainable development policy and economic study courses at University.

Zivile Stankeviciute, Kaunas University of Technology School of Economics and Business

A lecturer at School of Economics and Business, Kaunas University of Technology, PhD in Social Sciences. Research interests: sustainable development, human resource management.

Asta Daunoriene, Kaunas University of Technology School of Economics and Business

An associated professor at School of Economics and Business, Kaunas University of Technology, PhD in Social Sciences. Research interests: sustainable development and quality management in general.

Staniskiene, E., Stankeviciute, Z., & Daunoriene, A. (2019). Corporate Social Responsibility and Inter-Organisational Trust in a B2B Context. Quality Innovation Prosperity, 23(2), 46–63. https://doi.org/10.12776/qip.v23i2.1244
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