Global and local corporate social responsibility: a study of foreign entry mode choice in Spanish quoted firms

Purpose This study examines the relationships between the foreign entry mode (FEM) used by a company, its global corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the host country's local CSR environment in Spanish quoted firms. Additionally, it seeks to explore the moderating role of the host country's CSR in the relationship between firm's global CSR and FEM. Design/methodology/approach To test the proposed hypotheses, binary logistic regression is used with a sample of 418 foreign direct investment (FDI) operations between 2002 and 2008. This period is chosen with the aim of knowing what happened after the boom in Spanish investments abroad in the 1990s and the uncertainty of the early 2000s. Findings The results reveal firm patterns of behaviour regarding the FEM of companies and the two types of CSR according to the proposed hypotheses. Furthermore, it is found that the host country's local CSR may not only have a direct influence on the FEM decision but may also moderate the relationship between the firm's global CSR and firm's entry mode in a host country. Originality/value This is one of the first studies to propose as explanatory variables of FEM two types of CSR (firm's global CSR and host country's local CSR). This has been possible by the creation of an ad-hoc database with data from different information sources of FDI (Instituto Espanol de Comercio Exterior) and CSR [Eikon (TM) and AccountAbility National Corporate Responsibility Index (NCRI)].