The Relationship between Corporate Social and Financial Performance

The Relationship between Corporate Social and Financial Performance
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The Relationship between Corporate Social and Financial Performance
Introduction
The primary aim of the research proposal is to study the relationship between corporate social and financial performance. In particular, corporate social responsibility entails various aspects, including market behavior, respect for the environment, human resources, societal commitment, and respect for human rights in the workplace. In addition, financial performance involves return on assets, return on equity, and market-to-book ratio (Hirigoyen & Poulain-Rehm, 2015). The research question is to find out how corporate social performance relates to financial performance. The main objective that addresses my methodology is how corporate social affects the financial performance.
Research Design
In particular, to accomplish the research, the most appropriate research design is mixed methods. The research strategies used are online surveys and case studies from secondary sources. The best research methods are qualitative and quantitative, and data will be collected using questionnaires. The secondary data will comprise the firm’s financial performance. Physical interviews will also be conducted to gather qualitative data from participants in some organizations. Orlitzky et al. (2003) depict that corporate virtue occurring in the form of social responsibility facilitates the positive financial performance of an organization (Orlitzky, Schmidt, & Rynes, 2003). Additionally, longitudinal and cross-sectional studies are crucial to gain proper evidence to meet the research question.
Setting
Quantitative data will be obtained online from secondary resources, where permission is not needed since they are open-based sources. When it comes to the physical interviews, permission must be granted for interviewers to achieve the set objectives. In that light, researchers must be permitted by relevant organizational departments to interview willing participants. The small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) that will be investigated during the study are Gusto, Genesis Trading, and BlueVine. In addition, the large organizations include Apple Inc. and Walmart. The research will be focused on identifying the relationship between corporate social and financial performance. The reason would be to understand how these two factors influence each other. There exist no general ethical issues with the setting. However, ethical issues with the data might arise from poor data storage, protection, and access by unauthorized parties. As such, these problems will be avoided to ensure that the study achieves its objectives.
Participants
The right participants for the study are medium-sized and large organizations. These firms understand the importance of corporate social responsibility, and it is easier to see how this aspect influences their financial performance. About 20 participants will be involved to gather data that can be analyzed, interpreted, and generalized. The best sampling strategy is random, to ensure that the organizations selected are from different regions and sectors (Perrini, Russo, Tencati, & Vurro, 2011). The best way to reach out to these respondents would be through questionnaires via email or phone calls. The data collected from these firms will be recorded appropriately to avoid ethical issues. For instance, participants’ actual names will not be entered in the database and instead codes will be used. Additionally, unauthorized personnel will not be allowed to access the recorded data since proper users’ authentication and authorization will be implemented.
Materials
The research needs various materials, including questionnaires, phone call interview schedules, and devices for recording. The gathered data will be recorded on a secure database to hinder unauthorized personnel from accessing it. Besides, the name of participants will be anonymous and codes will be used instead to enhance privacy (Soana, 2009). Researchers will only use the data collected from respondents for the study only and it will not be shared with any third-party companies.
Data Collection/Procedure
First, researchers will get approval from the respondents that they are willing to participate in the study. Second, interviews or questio...