The major components of corporate social responsibility

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a procedure for identifying a corporate social responsibility (CSR) model with best goodness‐of‐fit. This research constructed a model of which CSR was mainly influenced by four core components: accountability, transparency, competitiveness, and responsibility. Design/methodology/approach – The data presented in this study were collected from companies in the year 2009 in Taiwan using questionnaires, and in total 185 companies were analyzed. Structural equation modeling was applied to assess the proposed CSR model containing four latent factors and 13 observation indicators. Findings – The results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the correlation among four latent variables was significant, and the second‐order factor structure fit the observed data well. Research limitations/implications – The result supported the proposed model that four constructs played a dominant role toward CSR. Business leaders therefore could have clearer perspectives while facing challenges regarding CSR issues. Originality/value – The paper shows that while developing business strategies, companies taking accountability and transparency as priority would strengthen their competitiveness and generate responsibility and in turn lead to CSR. Companies would obtain great advantages in the long run.