Evaluating Published Research Problems
Julian Cook
RES/722
University of PhoenixEvaluating Published Research Problems
Quantitative Study
Background of Study/ Research Problem
According to Greer (2014) business owners and managers are motivated to engage in socially responsible behavior and social initiatives for a variety of reasons. This reference furthers by stating the main motivations include profitability, legitimacy, and sustainability, or moral, motivations. This quantitative study was designed to explore and discover valuable information concerning small business owners’ motivations for engaging in social initiatives (Greer, 2014). Utilizing a fragment on Norwegian organizations, the motivations of this original study depicted employee drivers of corporate managers and owners to interact in social initiatives. Reflecting the original study, this research broadens the initial data by analyzing the industry sector on small business manager's and owners and their encouragement to interact in social dynamism, utilizing Broom and Vidaver-Cohen's survey model. According to Greer (2014) the target population was owners and managers of businesses within the United States that employed between 1 and 100 full time employees. Greer (2014) also states the study found no significant differences in any of the motivations based on industry classifications, in addition, the study also found that the greater the number of full-time employees that a business.
Basis of the problem
According to Greers (2014) this quantitative, non-experimental study will examine the antecedents, or the motivators of CSR in small businesses within the United States, to identify the differences in U.S. small business owners and managers’ motives to engage in CSR activities and initiatives, based on industry and size of business. Incorporated in the CSR study two considerable gaps identified. First, the majority of studies on CSR and related fields have focused on the consequences of CSR rather than the antecedents (Greers, 2014). This reference also states the study of antecedents, primarily to gain a better understanding of the underlying values and motivations for why small business owners and managers embrace or resist the idea of seven implementing CSR initiatives in their business, is an important contribution to address this gap in the literature (Aguilera et al., 2007). Greers, 2014 suggest that, second, the majority of CSR research that has examined the antecedents has focused on large multinational companies and has virtually ignored this phenomenon in small businesses (Jenkins, 2009). This study focused on U.S. businesses with fewer than 100 full time employees (Greers, 2014).
Problem Through Design
The emerging societal awareness of CSR issues has led practitioners to innovate new strategies for companies to implement CSR initiatives and has placed a demand on researchers to test and validate these strategies (Taneja, Taneja, & Gupta, 2011). Referencing history, the preponderance of CSR research has focused on large publicly traded companies (Greers, 2014). Although small businesses constitute a dominant form of business organization in the United States by employing over 40 million Americans, previous CSR researchers have overlooked small businesses and their intimate connections within the communities where they operate (Headd, 2010; Lee, 2008). According to Greers (2014) researchers have only recently begun to look at case studies to analyze the barriers, challenges, and opportunities of strategic CSR implementation in small businesses. Greers (2014) states examinations of CSR implementation in small businesses have often not been separate from examinations of CSR implementation in medium and large-scale businesses. Bronn and Vidaver-Cohen (2009) conducted a study of more than 500 businesses to examine decision makers’ views about why their companies engaged in social initiatives. Their efforts were directed to organizations in