Do companies walk the talk: The case of foreign companies in Russia after aggression on Ukraine
Do companies walk the talk: The case of foreign companies in Russia after aggression on Ukraine

Summary/Abstract: Objective: The article examines the influence of prior corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and the reputation accrued from these efforts on the response of foreign companies operating in Russia during the country's invasion of Ukraine. Research Design & Methods: Our study includes all publicly traded corporations listed in the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute list of companies leaving and staying in Russia (CELI Yale list). We acquired corporate data for these companies from the LSEG Eikon database (formerly Refinitiv Eikon). To evaluate the impact of the explanatory variables on the type of the firm's reaction to the adverse event, we used multinomial logistic regression. Findings: Our study revealed that firms with a history of extensive social engagement and resulting superior CSR reputation tend to display a reduced inclination toward opportunistic behaviour and reluctance to maintain business as usual during adverse events. While analysing the relationship between prior CSR activities and the reaction to adverse events, we concluded that more socially responsible firms favour symbolic reactions. Moreover, our study shows the existence of a relationship between the form of the crisis reaction and a firm's CSR strategy profile. We found that an adverse event occurring in the same domain as the firm's CSR strategy profile triggers reactions aligned with that strategy. Implications & Recommendations: Our study provides evidence that supports the existence of the relationship between prior record of CSR activities and the reputation built upon those activities, and the firm's behaviour during the crisis. Contribution & Value Added: Our study enhances the understanding of the nature of the firm's reactions to adverse events. We concentrated in particular on the crisis caused by factors external to the firm. We contribute to the discussion of the permanency and cohesion of CSR actions, and the role of prior CSR activities and reputation, building upon these actions in the nature of the firm's reaction to negative events. Our results indicate that firms with better CSR reputation react to such events in a more socially responsible way. This finding suggests the existence of other motives for such actions beyond reputation protection, as has been suggested by the earlier studies. We demonstrate that a firm's reactions to a crisis are path dependent and dictated by its prior CSR strategy. Moreover, our study broadens the view on the relationship between the antecedents and consequences of CSR and shows that such a relationship is mutually enhancing.

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