Organizational structure, slack resources and sustainable corporate socially responsible performance

Abstract

Abstract The current research on the slack–performance relationship pays attention mainly to a set of overlapping slack natures, such as being sticky or absorbed, without sufficient consideration of variables related to the internal structure of a given organization. We posit that this weakness may prevent us from further understanding how different slack resources (the slacks) influence firms' corporate socially responsible performance (CSR). Combining the resource‐based view of the firm with a perspective of international integration, we propose a new model explaining how structural‐related variables may interact with the slacks and influence firms' CSR. Analyzing data from publicly listed US firms (2002–2012), we obtain evidence supporting the importance of organizational integration structure for understanding the slack–performance relationship.