Determining factors of a CSR strategy: The case of French socio-medical establishments

International audience; Purpose: The socio-medical sector, like many others, is developing CSR actions and strategies to answer new expectations of residents, families and stakeholders.

This research aims at proposing a model to show determining factors of CSR strategies, investigating the relations between a number of variables appertaining to CSR and evaluate their strength and their impact on some aspects of the performance of socio-medical organizations.

Methodology: The model rests on 18 hypotheses and uses a set of structural equations to measure the relations between the different variables.

Findings: The hypotheses proposed are largely validated and the model shows the determination of a number of factors on a CSR strategy by organizations.

However it appears that non-observed factors in this study also have an impact, which will be the subject of further research.

Globally the study shows that CSR strategies in these socio-medical establishments are more of an 'emergent' type than a 'deliberately planned' one.

Practical implications: This study can help socio-medical establishments to devise a CSR strategy and CSR actions, as very often they do not know well where to start from, where to go and how to evaluate the results.

Originality/value: This study is part of a vast programme to evaluate the strategy of sociomedical establishments in terms of CSR and assist them in conceiving and implementing a CSR strategy.

1 This paper uses the results of a survey carried out between 2012 and 2017 with the objective of promoting a CSR strategy adapted to homes for the elderly and care-at-home services.