The impact of the crisis on corporate responsibility: the case of UN global compact participants in the USA

Purpose – This paper seeks to understand what impact the current economic and financial crisis has had on the business and non‐business sector's corporate responsibility (CR) efforts, as well as to describe the critical obstacles being reported to such efforts. It proposes to do this by examining one key CSR initiative, namely, the United Nations Global Compact (GC). Design/methodology/approach – A two‐part empirical investigation was conducted on a sample of GC participants (US signatories). The first method comprises a comprehensive survey completed mainly by company CEOs. The second approach involves content analysis of CEO statements (extracted from CSR reports – fiscal years 2007‐2009), which describe new strategies for managing under challenging economic and financial times. Findings – It was found that the CSR efforts of participants of the GC that have integrated their CSR into their policies, programs, performance, and goals, and those with lesser conformity with the active principles of the GC will be affected more by the economic crisis. The paper also reports on the challenges, opportunities, and new strategies for managing during the downturn. Research limitations/implications – While the study focuses on a relatively small sample of CSR‐driven organizations, it is shared with a framework that investigates CSR initiatives in distress and suggest anchors for future research. Originality/value – To the best of one's knowledge, this research is the first effort to understand the implications of the current economic crisis on the CSR initiatives of GC participants in the USA. In addition to investigating the practical concerns of managers in times of crisis, our research questions the role of the initiative itself in dealing with these concerns.