It's All About Balance: Examining the Factors that Drive a Firm's Integrated Social Performance (thesis)
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Author
Ho, Katherine
Subject
Washington and Lee University -- Honors in Accounting
Leadership
Multiculturalism
Sustainability
Corporate governance
Corporations -- Finance
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Thesis; [FULL-TEXT FREELY AVAILABLE ONLINE] Katherine Ho is a member of the Class of 2023 of Washington and Lee University. This paper examines factors that enable corporations to act authentically on the values of human respect and dignity, thus achieving integrated social performance. Integrated social performance is realized when firms that take responsibility for how their actions affect all stakeholder groups and seek to make positive impacts for their supply chains, employees, and communities. I looked at three factors: leadership diversity, sustainability governance structures, and financial resources. My findings indicate the importance of sustainability governance structures and financial resources for achieving integrated social performance. On the other hand, the results were mixed for leadership diversity. Overall, my findings give more color to the feasibility of upholding the promise of Freeman's original stakeholder theory and suggest concrete steps that will allow corporations to do so.