MARKETING CULTURE AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: THE CASE IN SERVICE FIRMS IN SRI LANKA

Abstract

Literature on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) stresses the importance of establishment of a cultural orientation to guide decision making and problem solving to successful implementation of CSR. The marketing culture (MC) apparently enables firms to emphasize social concern than the firms that do not have this culture. The fundamental question is whether MC has measurable impact on CSR in services organizations. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of MC on the degree of CSR in Sri Lankan context with special reference to Service Firms. The major objectives, of this study are (1) Assess the degree of MC and CSR in Sri Lankan Service Firms, and (2) Examine the association between MC and CSR. The single cross sectional design was employed to collect data through a self administered questionnaire. Unit of analysis was the service firms in Sri Lanka, sample of which was randomly selected from the registry of the Colombo Stock Exchange-2007. Proxies were the service or service related managers of the business firms. The analysis shows that degree of MC and CSR varies across the service firms and that the association between MC and CSR is strong.

Key words: Organizational culture, Corporate Social Responsibility, Marketing Culture, Service Firms

For full paper: fmscresearch@sjp.ac.lk