research methodology范文
3. METHODOLOGY
【原文请点击：英国dissertation范文：论企业社会责任对企业发展的重要性】
3.1 Data collection
After some deliberation, we decided on asking for perceptual data from the middle management individual responsible for CSR activity at the firm. Previous studies have principally relied on aggregate measures of financial performance that have provided inconclusive evidence for a CSR-financial performance linkage. Accordingly, we have focused on the firm project level in order to discover how value is created by strategic CSR.
We began this paper by stating that ''Corporate social Responsibility in Tesco ''. As we argued earlier, there is no consensus that CSR can, or even should, be managed for profit, just as other business processes are managed for profit. As a result, well-intentioned CSR researchers have sought to find a way to demonstrate CSR profitability without having to claim that management takes strategic action to create value. This research agenda did not succeed because it could not specify how competitive advantage and value are created. In order to do so, we have chosen to focus on middle management, precisely because they are in the best position to explain the strategic intent of their portfolio of social action projects,
Working from managerial intent requires accepting certain trade-offs. By shifting to a more micro focus, we also leave behind more objective indicators of value creation. On the project level, one would almost have to engage in a cost-benefit analysis of each project in order to determine the value created. Firms do not yet engage in such fine-grained evaluation of their CSR projects. Given the current state of the art of CSR management and reporting, we decided that we needed to rely on the perceptions of the managers responsible for CSR regarding the strategic goals of CSR projects. Such perceptions of firm benefits and of the quality of stakeholder relations may be biased. In response to this issue, we have applied the necessary methods to control for possible bias.
Support for using perceptual managerial data rather than external stakeholders and other secondary databases come from the theoretical literature and from practical research issues. There is considerable theoretical support for using perceptual data if, in fact, managerial decision making is driven by the beliefs of top management, it makes sense to ask how management perceive the environment and the extent to which they believe they are responding to CSR challenges in a strategic fashion. It is crucial to test the extent to which top management seeks competitive advantage and value creation via CSR in an uncertain environment.
On a practical level, external databases of CSR and reputation surveys in UK principally ask top management which firms they most admire. The resultant reputation and CSR rankings overweight firm size and profitability. External stakeholder groups, in particular NGOs, rarely deal with a large cross-section of firms and either speak favourably of partners with whom they collaborate or negatively of large firms that have conflicts with specific stakeholders. However, the managers we questioned are well aware of their firm's PR and marketing programs for CSR and corporate reputation. These managers from the kinds of large companies we surveyed are well aware of their rankings in the CSR and reputation surveys. Our use of perceptual measures serves the purpose of telling us the extent to which managers seek to communicate with stakeholders and convince them that the firm is socially responsible.#p#分页标题#e#
In short, while external databases and stakeholders may provide insight into firm behaviour regarding social issues, these sources do not measure the strategic import of stakeholders for firms nor how firms seek to create value through CSR. This can only be done by asking top management itself. We are aware, nonetheless, of the limitations of our data and perceptual measures; our results must be handled with caution, inviting further research, awaiting the moment when more fine grained, objective data will be available.
A survey instrument was developed to measure the basic constructs of work place policies, environmental policies, market place policies, community policies and company values. We include the items used to measure these constructs in Appendix 1. Each of these items was measured using a five-point Likert scale. A small pilot study was then carried out and the preliminary results found the measures to be robust.
We have selected Tesco. Data collection was carried out from May to September 2009. We sent the survey to the firms in the database as measured by number of employees. We focused on Tesco extra because they were more likely to have engaged in CSR activity. We have visited the store to identify the management team would be the best person to respond to the survey. 10 surveys were completed either after the initial interview or as a result of the follow-up. This represents a response rate of 70%. As a further control, in approximately half of the cases, we spoke directly to the individual filling out the survey to confirm that they understood the purpose of the survey and would be able to provide accurate data. All the surveys were reviewed as well by two researchers for inconsistencies in the data, response patterns and outliers.#p#分页标题#e#
3.2 General lines of approach
We set out to research the reality on the ground to learn how Tesco had developed models of best practice around the issue of working and employment conditions. In view of the fact that the field of CSR is still vast and changing, and that there are no standards or guarantees laid down in this area, we were not concerned to know whether or not the companies studied deserved a seal of CSR approval. We simply sought to establish why and how they had acted, the opinions of the in-house stakeholders and, if possible, those outside the company, on what had been achieved, what future developments were planned and, if applicable, what limits had been encountered in implementing these models of good practice. Naturally our intention was subsequently to analyse these materials, to enable us to contribute original material to the debate on CSR in UK, describing both the general trends currently finding expression in each of the countries studied and the tools being put in place. We never lost sight of the obvious fact that in our case studies, we covered only part of the huge range of corporate situations in UK. To this end, we developed an approach demonstrating the following three characteristics:#p#分页标题#e#
3.2.1 An inductive approach
Based on the collection of case studies, on the basis of which we sought to discuss the question of the specific content currently derived on the ground from the concept of socially responsible practice, when applied to the areas of employment and working conditions. The cases analysed present socially responsible practices in the field of employment and working conditions, but they are not necessarily success stories or business cases worthy of being taught 'at school'. The very credibility of our method depended on our not seeking to make the situations analysed 'even more attractive'.
3.2.2 A transnational approach
Examining a range of situations in the UK, we were careful to take account of the contextual dimension of corporate social responsibility. Each national report reviews the way in which the question of CSR is formulated in its country and in the academic literature on the subject. Despite this degree of diversity, our work makes no claim to represent the whole wealth of experience existing in the EU Member States or the candidate countries. Nevertheless, it aims to look beyond the realities of the four countries studied and to take account of wider realities.
3.2.3 A sociologically inspired approach
Aiming not only to describe good practice in the companies studied, but also to analyse the interplay of the actors involved in planning, implementing and evaluating the practices concerned. With this in mind, discussion forums were organised to facilitate discussion of the results of our case studies in UK.
