Exploring the Relevance of Organizational Learning for CSR Strategy Implementation: Empirical Evidence from a Developing Economy

A series of recent studies have theoretically articulated the importance of organizational learning in formulating and implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. Yet, there is dearth of empirical investigations to examine the relevance of learning regarding the link between CSR strategy implementation and organizational performance. This research fills this gap. In so doing, it does not only investigate the direct link between CSR strategy implementation and firm performance but also examines the facilitatory role of organizational learning for the above-stated relationship. These relationships were examined by collecting data from the CSR strategists including CEOs, CSR committee members, designated officials, and human resource managers of the leading organizations of Pakistan. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on 391 responses. For the confirmatory factor analysis and partial least squares structural equation modeling, the final sample size consisted of 269 respondents. The results of this study have shown positive and direct relationship for CSR strategy implementation and organizational performance. With respect to the organizational learning, this study has found that learning has been an important underlying mechanism for the link between CSR strategy implementation and organizational performance. Moreover, this finding adds to the existing but limited empirical evidence regarding the pertinence of organizational learning in contemporary organizations. Our findings imply that CSR enablers and managers should devote attention and resources to develop appropriate organizational learning mechanisms to facilitate the implementation of their intended CSR strategies so that organizations can sustain their competitive advantages.