Responsabilidade Social Corporativa: Custos e Disposição a pagar

Mariana Fernandes Pereira

Key information

Authors:

Mariana Fernandes Pereira (Mariana Fernandes Pereira)

Supervisors:

Ana Sofia Mascarenhas Proença Parente da Costa (Ana Sofia Mascarenhas Proença Parente da Costa); Maria Margarida Martelo Catalão Lopes de Oliveira Pires Pina (Margarida Catalão Lopes)

Published in

November 30, 2022

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a fundamental concept for the creation of long-term value in companies. Thus, there is a growing and differentiated concern to include CSR in companies on daily basis. In fact, companies concerned with integrating it are more valued by stakeholders. This investigation intends to analyse whether the marginal costs of a company producing a socially responsible product are increasing and whether the willingness to pay by consumers decreases in the level of CSR, for all categories (Environment, Employees, Community, and Governance). The aim is to verify the existence of an equilibrium level for investment in CSR for each of the categories. Following the literary analysis, two studies were carried out: one that estimated the marginal costs associated with a socially responsible product, and another based on Experimental Economics, inquiring how much consumers are willing to pay for a particular product (health insurance or coffee pods). It is concluded that companies have room to invest more in CSR categories so that the equilibrium is reached, with the Community category being the closest to that point. Although there were respondents who were indifferent or even penalise companies for their initiatives, the promoters had a greater impact on the benefit extracted from the investment made by companies. Furthermore, it can be concluded that the Community, Employees, and Governance categories received more awards in the case of health insurance and that the Community, Employees, and Environment categories received more awards for respondents in the case of coffee pods.