A Novel Computational Framework for Comparing CSR Performance: Evidence from India

The present work has three broad objectives. First, it intends to develop a novel objective measurement framework for comparing corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance. The extant literature shows a plenty of work has been done for exploring the benefits of CSR. But there is a limitation of work that provides a multi-criteria based objective measurement of CSR performance in financial terms. The second objective of the current work is to examine the impact of the recent COVID-19 on CSR performance of Indian firms. Thirdly, the present study proposes a new hybrid multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) framework with multiple normalizations using two recent models such as Logarithmic Percentage Change-driven Objective Weighting (LOPCOW) and Proximity Index Value (PIV) methods. In line with the objectives set, the ongoing work defines a new set of indicating variables to compare CSR performance from the perspectives of major stakeholders such as customer, society, government, employee, environment and shareholders. Top 20 manufacturing firms listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)-100 in India have been selected for comparison. The study period is considered as FY 2019-20 (before pandemic) and FY 2020-21 (after pandemic). It is seen that the firms having higher market capitalization did well in their CSR performance. We observe that the overall CSR performance has not undergone any substantial changes. Further, post COVID-19 more firms from the drugs and pharmaceutical category could able to enter the top bracket. To test the reliability, a comparison with another MCDM models has been done and result is found satisfactory. The sensitivity analysis (SA) has also been conducted to investigate the stability in the outcome of the proposed model. The present work provides the policy makers a stable and reliable MCDM framework for analyzing and accessing their CSR performance with peers and evaluate their market standing to take decisions for future course of action.