The implications of slack heterogeneity for the slack-resources and corporate social performance relationship

In prior research which explores the relationship between organizational slack and corporate social performance (CSP) it is implicitly assumed that slack is homogeneous and positively affects CSP. In this study we build on recent research which argues that slack is heterogeneous and can be conceptualized as financial, human resources, and innovational in nature. We view the slack-CSP relationship from both organizational and agency theory perspectives. We propose that different slack conceptualizations and the contrary assumptions of aforementioned theories hold divergent implications for CSP. We test our hypotheses on a longitudinal sample of public corporations in the United States and confirm this divergent impact. Our results suggest that the relationship between organizational slack and CSP is more complex than previously understood. We discuss the implications of our findings for the slack-resource hypothesis of CSP. •Slack is heterogeneous and can be conceptualized as financial, human resources, and innovational in nature.•Contrary assumptions of organizational and agency theories about managerial behavior hold divergent implications for CSP.•We confirmed a negative impact of financial and innovational slack on CSP supporting the agency theory perspective.•We confirmed a positive relationship between human resources slack and CSP confirming organizational theory predictions.