Measuring the immeasurable? Constructing an index of CSR practices and CSR performance in 20 countries

Presuming that a company's institutional environment matters to its corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy, this article aims to contribute to the establishment of a more comparatively and structurally oriented framework for analysing CSR. To this end, the article develops two indexes: one measuring CSR practices and one measuring CSR performance in 20 OECD nations. The index construction is based on a formative measurement model, reflecting the degree to which companies of certain nationalities are over- or under-represented in major, global CSR initiatives and rankings, relative to the size of their national economies. The two indexes reveal striking differences between the 20 nations, indicating a need to address the impact of domestic structures on CSR. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.