Examining Corporate Social Orientations in an Emerging Country Context: A Study on India

Through this paper we examine the corporate social orientations (CSOs) of large firms in India and analyze them across industries to understand whether and to what extent firms’ stakeholder preferences differ with industry membership. Applying signal theory on an inter-temporal examination of CEO statements, we find significant industry differences both in prioritization as well as relative degree of orientation towards various stakeholders and issues. Our study emphasizes that while community and environment (towards whom bulk of the CSR activities are directed) continue to be the least addressed stakeholders across majority of firms in India, there are significant industry differences therein. These findings have vital implications for public policy experts in India who have legislated CSR on a uniform basis across industries.