Do corporate sustainability performances differ from customers’ perceptions?

  • Antonio Buoso (Student)

Student thesis: Master's Thesis

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility is a highly complex matter and a new aspect for any business. In the last years, we have seen a dramatically increasing interest in and commitment to corporate sustainability around the world. Firms heavily invest to monitor, analyse and take advantage of environmental, social and governance performance. In this fast-changing environment, a strong reputation represents the most valuable asset for any corporation. Moreover, stakeholders declare that sustainability plays a crucial role in decision-making processes. In a world where information is abundant, it has become difficult for companies to communicate their sustainability activities, create useful differentiation from competitors, and thus take advantage from their investment. This work includes a theoretical approach with a review of researchers on CSR, sustainability and customer’s perceptions towards these aspects. In the empirical study, this work aims at confirming the existence of a gap between customer perceptions and companies’ performance as suggested by the “Sustainability Leadership Report: (2012). In order to prove and assess the magnitude of such gap, both primary and secondary data were used. Lastly, several face-to-face discussions with different profiles of stakeholders brought to light simple paths for companies in order to fill the gap and finally take full advantage of their investments in CSR.
Date of Award19 May 2016
Original languageEnglish
Awarding Institution
  • Universidade Católica Portuguesa
SupervisorSusana Frazão Ferreira Fernandes Pinheiro (Supervisor)

Designation

  • Mestrado em Gestão

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