Linking Corporate Social Responsibility, Brand Activism, and Corporate Reputation

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and, more recently, brand activism have become important topics in business strategies, with companies playing an increasingly prominent role in socio-political life and addressing a wide range of social issues. However, the legitimacy of spending capital for investments in CSR and activism actions is not yet fully accepted by the business and academic world, with several companies and authors considering these expenses unnecessary. As such, this chapter aims to highlight Portuguese empirical research that demonstrates how companies' social and environmental responsibility actions can impact their corporate reputation, based on a quantitative investigation carried out to 613 consumers of a company in the Portuguese energy sector. The results showed that CSR is one of the factors that has the greatest positive impact on corporate reputation, thus contributing to a better understanding of how companies' social investments can be a source of competitive advantage and benefit corporate performance.