Sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Performance in the Spanish Wine Sector

Abstract

This paper analyzes the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of a sample of wineries in Spain and its effect on the companies’ performance. We used a questionnaire created with a validated scale that includes environmental and social dimensions. The final sample was made up of 127 firms that participated in the National Wine Fair (FENAVIN) in 2019, and this was analyzed using a cluster analysis and means contrast to verify whether a CSR-performance relationship exists. The performance was measured using the average return on assets (ROA) for the prior three years. The results obtained do not support the general opinion that enterprises involved with CSR achieve better results. On the contrary, we found that wineries that are more environmentally responsible are the least profitable and that those with more socially responsible behavior do not have a significant CSR-performance relationship.