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Certification des activités de responsabilité sociale des compagnies dans des marchés oligopolistiques .
Author(s) -
Manasakis Constantine,
Mitrokostas Evangelos,
Petrakis Emmanuel
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
canadian journal of economics/revue canadienne d'économique
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.773
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1540-5982
pISSN - 0008-4085
DOI - 10.1111/caje.12012
Subject(s) - corporate social responsibility , certification , business , incentive , social welfare , welfare , oligopoly , accounting , social responsibility , profit (economics) , industrial organization , marketing , public economics , public relations , market economy , economics , microeconomics , management , political science , law
Abstract We investigate the impact of alternative certifying institutions on firms’ incentives to engage in costly Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities as well as their relative market and societal implications. We find that the CSR certification standard is the lowest under for‐profit private certifiers and the highest under a Non Governmental Organization (NGO), with the standard of a welfare‐maximizing public certifier lying in between. Yet, regarding industry output, this ranking is reversed. Certification of CSR activities is welfare enhancing for consumers and firms and should be encouraged. Finally, the market and societal outcomes of CSR certification depend crucially on whether certification takes place before or after firms’ CSR activities.