Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management

Implementation of corporate social responsibility in Australian construction SMEs

Emma A. M. Bevan Ping Yung
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Implementation of corporate Corporate

social
social responsibility in responsibility
Australian construction SMEs
Emma A.M. Bevan and Ping Yung 295
School of Built Environment, Curtin University of Technology, Received 25 May 2014
Perth, Australia Revised 14 September 2014
Accepted 8 November 2014

Abstract
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implementation of corporate social
responsibility (CSR) related activities in small to medium sized construction enterprises within
Australia. Reasons behind the implementation level are also evaluated.
Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative and qualitative company level data from
28 Australian small to medium sized construction enterprises were collected using an in-depth
questionnaire. Levels of CSR implementation in three aspects, namely, environmental, social and
ethical, were measured. Each aspect was broken down into sub-areas and implementation scores
were aggregated and normalised. Awareness level and concern for economic aspect, the two
hypothesised reasons for level of implementation, were also measured. Non-parametric correlation
analyses were used to examine the hypotheses.
Findings – The findings suggest small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) incorporate some aspects
of CSR into their business activities even though they do not refer to the practices as CSR, as none of
them have a formal CSR policy in place. Most SMEs in the construction industry implement ethical and
economic aspect of CSR; however implementation across environmental and social issues is limited.
Non-parametric correlation analyses show that higher awareness of CSR issues leads to higher levels
of implementation and that concern about economic aspect is not a reason why CSR is not implemented
into business practices.
Research limitations/implications – Everett Rogers’ diffusion paradigm can also be applied to
CSR implementation, but more research works are required to theoretically and empirically examine
the relationships between CSR implementation and economic aspect.
Originality/value – It is apparent that there is a significant gap in the research regarding Australian
SMEs and sustainability issues as the majority of the literature is focused upon large organisations
even though the approaches taken by SMEs towards CSR are very different to those of large
corporations. The SME business sector is a significant sector in terms of its environmental, economic
and social impacts. Hence recognition of this sector is growing and is now becoming the focus of an
agenda to promote the implementation of CSR practices in SMEs. This paper aims to provide useful
and detailed information to add to what is currently an underdeveloped body of knowledge in this area.
Keywords Australia, Small to medium-sized enterprises, Ethics, Construction industry,
Environmental management, Corporate strategy
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) represents a continuing commitment by
an organisation to behave responsibly and ethically and contribute to sustainable
and economic development. It aims to minimise the negative impact of its business
activities, while maximising the positive impacts by improving a wide range of societal
Engineering, Construction and
and environmental problems and contributing to the local community and society Architectural Management
at large (Lindgreen and Swaen, 2010; Rundle-Thiele et al., 2008). Vol. 22 No. 3, 2015
pp. 295-311
It is clear that the activities undertaken by the construction industry can have a © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0969-9988
detrimental effect upon the environment. The industry uses large amounts of finite DOI 10.1108/ECAM-05-2014-0071
 ECAM resources and produces large amounts of waste. The built environment is long lasting
22,3 therefore the industry’s products can have a profound effect upon the communities in
which they are built (Zuo et al., 2012). The construction industry is also a major
contributor to the Australian economy and is a major source of employment.
Consequently the construction industry has a huge impact upon society, the
environment and the Australian economy and therefore has an ethical obligation to act
296 responsibly and build sustainably.
The industry is made up of a large majority of small to medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs) which employ less than 200 employees. Therefore collectively SMEs are very
significant players in the industry. Much of the research that has been undertaken on
CSR is aimed at “big” business; these large corporations are run very differently than
SMEs hence, research on CSR relating to SMEs is necessary. There is a noteworthy gap
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in the literature regarding SMEs and sustainability issues (Lucas, 2009) and therefore
research focused on CSR and the construction industry is much needed (Chiveralls
et al., 2011).
This paper seeks to make a contribution is this area. It aims to investigate the
implementation of CSR related activities in SMEs within Australia. Two reasons
behind the implementation level are also proposed and evaluated.
The rest of the paper will be arranged as follows. The next section will review the
literature on implementation of CSR in construction industry, with emphases on SMEs.
Then the research method will be explained and results presented and discussed.
The last section concludes.

Literature review
CSR in construction industry
It has been proposed that CSR in construction industry is growing in importance and is
becoming a fundamental issue, because of the impacts the industry has on the economy
(being a major contributor to GDP and the largest employment sector in Australia) and
on the environment and society (Loosemore and Phua, 2011; Murray and Dainty, 2013).
The concept of CSR is multifaceted and covers environmental issues, corporate
sustainability and employee welfare (Leao-Aguiar et al., 2005). CSR compels businesses
to evaluate the effect that their actions as a company or business have upon the
environment and the community (Barthorpe, 2010). There is an increasing demand for
information and increased accountability from businesses in the construction sector
regarding their business practices that affect society and the environment, the pressure
is to publicly show participation and commitment to CSR (Jenkins, 2006).
Literature suggested that this mounting pressure is coming from government,
business competitors, society, stakeholders, investors and clients (Font et al., 2012;
Haigh and Jones, 2006; Petrovic-Lazarevic, 2008; Sprinkle and Maines, 2010) and this
growing pressure is encouraging businesses to act in a socially responsible manner
whilst conducting their business practices. However the literature also implied that
companies are often compelled to act in a socially responsible manner due
to government legislation or the threat of it, to enhance their reputation and protect
their branding and gain a competitive advantage (Dummett, 2006; Haigh and Jones,
2006; Leao-Aguiar et al., 2005; Zhao et al., 2012).
Recent research suggested that the construction industry has a long way to go
regarding the implementation of CSR into business practice (Loosemore and Phua,
2011). Indeed, researchers suggested that SMEs rarely engage in formal CSR practices
(Moyeen and Courvisanos, 2012) and even if they do, they approach CSR in a highly
 practical manner and associate the practice with business strategy, therefore the Corporate
approaches taken by SMEs to CSR are business orientated (Santos, 2011). social
It is suggested that this lack of engagement with CSR is because the industry has
been slow to realise its obligations (Zhao et al., 2012). One reason is the misconception
responsibility
that it is costly in terms of time and money (Chiveralls et al., 2011). Another reason
proposed is the lack of accessibility to CSR tools, as most of them are designed for large
corporations (Kechiche and Soparnot, 2012). 297
A study undertaken by Santos (2011) investigated the strategies undertaken by
SMEs to incorporate CSR and concluded that approaches were informal and that there
was a general misunderstanding and lack of awareness of CSR by SMEs. This view is
supported by Chiveralls et al. (2011) who similarly suggested that one of the main
barriers to adoption of CSR practices within construction SMEs was a lack of
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awareness and understanding of the practice.

Therefore it was suggested that in the Australian construction industry, regulation
is the most likely driver for change rather than clients (Loosemore and Phua, 2011).
This has been echoed by Chiveralls et al. (2011) who similarly suggested that the
informal voluntary approach to CSR is not working and that the construction industry
would be best motivated by regulation as it is a compliance driven industry that is
unlikely to move beyond the minimum without a clear business case.

SMEs and CSR

The construction industry in Australia is made up by a majority of SMEs with more
than 94 per cent of construction businesses employing less than five employees
(Thorpe and Ryan, 2007). Due to the size of the SME business sector, SMEs play a key
role in the industry and their role is gaining recognition. There is an agenda amongst
various stakeholders to promote the implementation of CSR practices in SMEs
especially in relation to issues related to construction activities and their impacts on the
community (Wilson et al., 2011).
Murillo and Lozano (2006) in their study of SMEs approaches to CSR, reported that
the term CSR is not a concept in which SMEs feel comfortable with or that they can
identify with. However, Santos (2011) suggested that SMEs participate in CSR practices
without realising. Similarly, the Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility
(2013) claimed that many SMEs participate in CSR practices but do not call them “CSR”
as such.
The approaches taken by SMEs towards CSR are very different from those taken by
large corporations (Loosemore and Phua, 2011; Morsing and Perrini, 2009). It was also
suggested that attempting to implement CSR practices with the same approach for
both SMEs and large companies is inefficient (Jenkins, 2004).
Some researchers suggested that SMEs when compared to their larger counterparts
face more challenges in implementing CSR strategies (Moyeen and Courvisanos, 2012)
as they often have a limited resource base and fewer opportunities to obtain the
benefits from participating in CSR (Torugsa et al., 2012). They also do not have access
to information as readily as larger corporations (Kechiche and Soparnot, 2012).
Other researchers suggested otherwise. For instance, Sarbutts (2003) argued that in
comparison to large corporations, SMEs are in a good position to make the most of
benefit from CSR activities, as smaller businesses tend to have closer relationships with
the communities in which they operate, and therefore due to this close relationship,
SMEs are better equipped than large corporations to design CSR strategies that
address the needs of the local communities and the environment (Moyeen and
 ECAM Courvisanos, 2012). Another possible reason could be that SME managers have greater
22,3 autonomy over their counterparts in larger companies, as it is rarely necessary to seek
several levels of approval from within the organisation. Indeed, some construction
SMEs are better innovators than larger companies (Hardie and Newell, 2011).

Research rationale and design

298 Research rationale
CSR is a widely discussed and researched topic worldwide; however research relating
specifically to Australia is lacking (Truscott, 2007) and much of the research that has
been undertaken has focussed upon large multinational corporations rather than SMEs
(Jenkins, 2006; Loosemore and Phua, 2011; Santos, 2011; Stewart and Gapp, 2010).
The construction industry is made up of a high proportion of SMEs and the
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SME business sector is significant in terms of its environmental, economic and social
impacts (Kechiche and Soparnot, 2012; Morsing and Perrini, 2009). Despite of its
significant role, there have been few studies undertaken on CSR issues within SMEs
(Santos, 2011), there is a significant gap in current literature regarding Australian
SMEs and sustainability issues (Lucas, 2009) and there is also a lack of research
dedicated to CSR in the construction industry (Chiveralls et al., 2011). This paper
therefore seeks to make a contribution.
Previous studies have identified that there was a lack of knowledge and awareness
of CSR concept in Australian construction industry (Chiveralls et al., 2011). Some
authors have also measured the implementation of some social and environmental
CSRs, e.g. Lucas (2009). However, none has empirically tested the relationship between
awareness level and implementation level. This paper therefore fills the gap by using
correlation analysis to test the relationship between the two.

Hypotheses
The literature has identified that many SMEs do not fully understand the concept of
CSR (Chiveralls et al., 2011). This could be partially due to the absence of an exact
universally recognised definition of the term and partially due to that fact that in the
past CSR has been aimed at large corporations, hence the name “corporate” social
responsibility (Wilson et al., 2011). However literature on SMEs and CSR also suggested
that even though SMEs do not refer to the practices as CSR, many companies actively
participate in activities that come under the CSR umbrella (Santos, 2011). The level of
implementation, however, differs from company to company. It is suggested that
understanding and awareness of the CSR concept will affect the implementation level.
Naturally, if SMEs are not aware of the CSR concept, the probability that CSR is
implemented will be low, other things being equal.
The theoretical background originated from Everett Rogers’ studies and theories
about diffusion of innovations (Rogers, 2003). Over time, this diffusion paradigm has
spread to other fields, e.g. knowledge translation, technology transfer, etc. According to
the paradigm, knowledge (awareness) is the first stage, which leads to subsequent
stages of persuasion, decision, implementation and confirmation. Therefore the
following hypothesis is formulated:
H1. Low awareness of CSR leads to low implementation, the higher the level
of awareness the more CSR practices undertaken.
The construction industry has been slow to partake in CSR and incorporate CSR
strategies into business activities. Chiveralls et al. (2011) argued that the lack of
 enthusiasm to incorporate CSR into business practices is due to the misconception that Corporate
CSR is costly in terms of time and money and SMEs lack the financial resources to social
implement reasonable measures (Kechiche and Soparnot, 2012). Therefore concern
about cost can affect the level of implementation of CSR practices, as CSR is seen to be
responsibility
expensive to implement and there has not been a clear link made between
implementation and profits. The theoretical background originated from the
well-known economic principle, the law of demand which says the higher the price 299
of a good/service, the lower the demand for it. Hence, the following hypothesis is
formulated:
H2. Higher concern about economic aspect leads to lower implementation of CSR.
Method
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The hypotheses require the measurement of three variables, namely, the awareness
level, the implementation level and the level of concern for economic aspect. Multi-item
scales were used to measure these variables. The method has been widely used in the
literature on CSR, e.g. Maignan and Ferrell (2000, 2001), Lucas (2009), Galbreath (2010),
Font et al. (2012), etc. Data were collected through structured questionnaires.
Two measures of the awareness variable are used, one being subjective awareness,
the other objective awareness. For subjective awareness, participants were asked to
describe their level of understanding of CSR by selecting one of five options ranging
from “least knowledgeable” to “most knowledgeable”. For objective awareness,
participants were asked to indicate from a list which activities CSR includes.
The correct answer is that every item in the list of 19 is an activity related CSR.
The percentage of correct answers will be a measure of objective awareness.
The consistency of the two measures will be tested with non-parametric correlation
analysis. It is recognised that the 19 options listed in the questionnaire cannot possibly
cover each and every aspect of CSR. The purpose of the having an “objective” measure
is to test the reliability of the subjective measure. If it is reliable, the two measures shall
be positively correlated to some extent.
CSR consists of four main areas, namely, environmental CSR, social CSR, ethical
CSR and economic CSR. It can be safely assumed that every company will do their best
to perform the economic CSR, otherwise they will disappear. Indeed, shareholders will
keep close eyes on the economic performance of the companies. Even if the
implementation levels of economic aspect may differ slightly among survived
companies, the differences would presumably much smaller than those of
environmental, social and ethical CSRs. These latter three CSRs are concerning
wider social stakeholders who have limited control on the companies. As a result,
literature on CSR performance has concentrated on these three aspects. This tradition
has been followed in this paper as well.
Each of the three aspects will be further broken down into specific areas of
implementation according to an extensive literature review. The specific areas were
derived mainly from the following works, Maignan and Ferrell (2000, 2001), Lucas
(2009), Galbreath (2010), Santos (2011), Moyeen and Courvisanos (2012), Zhao et al.
(2012), etc. Previous studies, e.g. Santos (2011), Moyeen and Courvisanos (2012) aimed
only to identified the types and implementation levels of CSR practices. This study,
in addition to those, proposes methods to access the overall implementation levels in
three aspects of CSRs, and to identify the reasons behind the implementation levels.
The Environmental aspect is broken down into 19 areas, while the social and ethical
aspects into 24 and 20 areas respectively. Each area may have a maximum score of
 ECAM 1 and minimum score of 0. The answers to the questions are either dichotomous or five point
22,3 Likert scales. Dichotomous answers (1 for yes and 0 for no) are most suitable for questions
on existence of a policy. Likert scale answers are most suitable for questions involving levels
of implementation. The answers are scored according to the following rules:
• a level 5 scores 1;
• a level 4 scores 0.75;
300
• a level 3 scores 0.5;
• a level 2 scores 0.25; and
• a level 1 scores 0.
The scores for level of implementations for each of the three aspects will be calculated
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through the following formula:

Pn
Ai
Level of I mplementationj ¼ i¼1
n
where Ai denotes the ith area in a CSR aspect;n denotes the number of areas in a
CSR aspect (19 for environmental, 24 for social and 20 for ethical); j denotes the three
aspects (environmental, social and ethical).
The overall CSR implementation will be calculated through the following formula:
P3
j¼1 Level of I mplementationj
Overall CSR I mplementation ¼
3
Since one CSR aspect is not necessarily more expensive than the others, equal weights
were applied to each of them. This rule was applied in a number of previous studies,
e.g. Maignan and Ferrell (2000, 2001), Galbreath (2010), etc.
Level of concern for economic aspect will be measured through relative rankings
among the four aspects of CSR. Specifically, if importance of economic aspect is ranked
No. 1, the score will be 1; if No. 2, the score will be 0.66; if No. 3, the score will be 0.33,
if No. 4, the score will be 0.
Non-parametric correlation analyses (both Kendall’s rank correlation and
Spearman’s rank correlation) will be used to determine the level of association
between the respondent’s awareness level and the implementation level of CSR as
well as level of concern for economic aspect. If the awareness level is positively
correlated with implementation level, H1 is confirmed; otherwise it will be refuted. If the
level of concern for economic aspect is negatively correlated with implementation level,
H2 is confirmed; otherwise it will be refuted.
Other qualitative questions are also included to capture the information not included
in the above quantitative analyses. This includes reasons and barriers for
implementing a CSR policy, etc.

Data
The sample population for this study consisted of companies operating within the field of
construction in Australia and who are classified as SMEs. The Australian Bureau of
Statistics (2013) criteria were used to define a SME. Small enterprises employ between one
and 19 people and medium enterprises employ between 20 and 200 people. Therefore in
this research SMEs are enterprises that employ between one and 200 people.
 The questionnaire was developed based on the findings of an extensive literature Corporate
review and a combination of dichotomous and Likert scales were used. Even though social
the questionnaire was intended to collect quantitative data, open ended questions were
also asked to collect qualitative data that may generate unexpected insights which
responsibility
would not be otherwise available from quantitative data alone.
The questionnaire was administered by email invitation in September of 2013 and
the results were collected over a period of six weeks. To further ensure validity, a trial 301
questionnaire was administered before the questionnaire was finalised. Care has been
taken not to include respondents from the same company. The questionnaire was
extensive, containing some 26 A4 pages when printed out. A lot of potential
respondents attempted but gave up: 84 from a possible 250 nationwide responses were
received, representing a 33.6 per cent response rate. A total of 28 companies remained
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in the sample after responses with missing data were eliminated, resulting in a final
response rate of 11.2 per cent. This number, although not very impressive, is acceptable
because it is sufficient to generate significant results with the proposed non-parametric
tests and because the target population is companies, the number of which is far fewer
than that of people.

Results and discussion

Of all 28 companies that responded to the questionnaire; 57.2 per cent of respondents
were from companies which had 20 or less employees, only 3.6 per cent had more than
100 employees and none of the company’s included in this study employed more
than 150 people. The types of organisation that participated in this research
include builders (57 per cent), architects (14 per cent), developers (14 per cent) and
subcontractors (14 per cent). The respondents hold the following positions: project
manager (six), director (ten), contract manager (four), architect (three), quantity
surveyor (three) and supervisor (two).

CSR understanding and awareness

Figure 1 shows the distribution of subjective awareness level; 53.57 per cent of
participants declared that they only have little knowledge about the topic (Level 2
in the five-point Likert scale) and 7.14 per cent of participants have the least knowledge
(Level 1 in the scale). Only 3.57 per cent of participants claim to be very knowledgeable
(Level 5 in the scale) on the subject. This generally low level of awareness is consistent

60.00
53.57%
50.00

40.00
(%)

30.00

20.00 17.86% 17.86%

Figure 1.
10.00 7.14%
3.57% Distribution of
subjective awareness
0.00
1. Least 2. 3. 4. 5. Most level
Knowledgeable Knowledgeable
 ECAM with the previous findings in, e.g., Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility
22,3 (2013), Chiveralls et al. (2011).
Figure 2 shows the distribution of objective awareness level. The participants’
awareness of various aspects of CSR varies. For instance, most participants
(82.1 per cent) believed environmental responsibility is a part of CSR, while very few
(14.3 per cent) believed that supply chain practices should be included.
302 Table I shows the description of the subjective and objective awareness scores.
The results show that the minima, maxima and means of the two measures are fairly
consistent. However, the medians differ. This might possibly due to the fact that the
19 options in the objective awareness question cannot possibly cover every aspect
of CSR.
Non-parametric correlations analysis of the subjective awareness and objective
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awareness shows that there is a minor positive correlation between the two measures
(Spearman’s ρ: 0.329, Kendall’s τ: 0.258), both are significant at 10 per cent level
(0.087 and 0.092, respectively). It is recognised that 19 options in the objective
awareness question cannot possibly cover every aspect of CSR, the purpose of having
an objective measure is to make sure the subjective measure is consistent and reliable.
It is now confirmed that the subjective awareness level is reliable. This is expected as
the respondents are all professional people holding a senior position in a company.
Therefore only subjective awareness will be used to test the hypotheses.
CSR implementation
Existence of a CSR policy. Of the 28 SMEs who participated in the study none of them
had a formal CSR policy in place; however 32.1 per cent had an informal CSR policy.
This finding is consistent with a previous research finding that none of the ten SMEs

CSR Activities include...

Supply chain practices 14.30%
Impact on society 67.90%
Environmental awareness 67.90%
Community engagement 60.70%
Training & education 64.30%
Environmental management tools 39.30%
Greater use of renewables 39.30%
Employee wellbeing 53.60%
Social awareness 71.40%
Environmental responsibility 82.10%
Providing good work-life balance 60.70%
Product innovation 21.40%
Social procurement 32.10%
Openness in reporting 25%
Reputation management 35.71%
Figure 2. Stakeholder management 57.14%
Distribution of Risk Mitigation 32.14%
objective awareness Corporate volunteering 72.86%
level
Philanthropy 42.90%
 interviewed had an official policy dedicated to CSR (Chiveralls et al., 2011). It is also Corporate
consistent with the previous observations that SMEs rarely engage in formal CSR social
practices (Barthorpe, 2010; Moyeen and Courvisanos, 2012) and that their approach
to CSR are informal (Barthorpe, 2010; Santos, 2011). The respondent’s main reasons for
responsibility
engaging or wanting to engage in CSR in the future included:
• company reputation and image management;
303
• to improve efficiency;
• legal obligations;
• to give back to the community;
• because “it’s the right thing to do”;
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• longevity;
• promote employee loyalty and staff retention;
• to provide a better future for people; and
• help grow skills in the local community.
In all, 42.11 per cent of respondents reported that the company had no plans to develop
a CSR policy in the future. The main barriers to implementing a CSR policy were found
to be the lack of time, knowledge, funding, human resources and support from top
management. It was also noted that another major barrier to CSR implementation was
that the business benefits of CSR were not immediate.
CSR implementations. The environmental aspect of CSR section consisted of
19 questions covering environmental policies, supply chain management, waste
management, water use and sustainability, etc. Table II shows the distribution of the
responses for the 19 areas. Overall scores of these 19 areas show that on average the
companies implemented a half of the policies asked (mean 0.50; median 0.50). The range
is however very wide, with the lowest score being 0.14 and highest 0.91, respectively
(Table V). Compared with a survey conducted in New South Wales in Australia mainly
on retail SMEs, where the environmental CSR activities was scored 39.4 out of
44 (normalised to be 0.90) (Lucas, 2009), the findings in this paper show that
construction industry SMEs scores much lower.
The social aspect of CSR section consisted of 24 questions covering employee
developments and services, flexible working conditions, health and safety,
volunteering works, charitable activities, etc. Table III shows the distribution of the
responses for the 24 areas. Overall scores of these 24 areas show that on average the
companies implemented over a half of the policies asked (mean 0.61; median 0.63).
The range is much narrower than the environmental aspect, with the lowest score
being 0.44 and highest 0.89 respectively (Table V). Compared with a survey conducted
in New South Wales in Australia mainly on retail SMEs, where the social CSR activities

Level of awareness (n ¼ 28) Min. Max. Median Mean SD

Table I.
Subjective awareness 0.00 1.00 0.25 0.40 0.26 Level of objective
“Objective” awareness 0.16 0.95 0.45 0.48 0.22 awareness
 ECAM Environmental aspect implementation
22,3 (n ¼ 28) Yes (%) No (%) Don’t know (%)
Existence of an environmental policy in
place? 15 (53.6%) 13 (46.4%) 0 (0%)
Operation to any environmental
management standard such as ISO 14001
304 or equivalent? 6 (21.4%) 12 (42.9%) 10 (35.7%)
A person responsible for environmental
issues? 13 (46.4%) 11 (39.3%) 4 (14.3%)
Access to competent advice on
environmental issues? 16 (57.1%) 4 (14.3%) 8 (28.6%)
Environmental initiatives that has or does
carry out? 9 (32.1%) 19 (67.9%) 0 (0%)
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Supply of environmental information on

its products and services to stakeholders? 14 (50%) 7 (25%) 7 (25%)
Procedures to respond to and mitigate the
impact of any emergencies or events that
may harm the environment 16 (57.1%) 12 (42.9) 0 (0%)
Use of site waste management plan 17 (60.7%) 11 (39.3%) 0 (0%)
Existence of a recycling programme 23 (82.1%) 5 (17.9%) 0 (0%)
Existence of a plan to reduce water
consumption/wastage 13 (46.4%) 15 (53.6%) 0 (0%)
Existence of a policy to treat or dispose of
waste water 12 (42.9%) 16 (57.1%) 0 (0%)
Consideration of using alterative water
course (e.g. rain water harvesting) 12 (42.9%) 16 (57.1%) 0 (0%)
(1 ¼ least frequent; 5 ¼ most frequent) 1 (%) 2 (%) 3 (%) 4 (%) 5 (%)
Involvement of employees to help ensure
good environmental performance 2 (7.1%) 4 (14.3%) 0 (0%) 17 (60.7%) 4 (14.3%)
Consideration of potential environmental
impacts when designing new products
(e.g. Assessing energy usage, recyclability,
pollution generation)? 1 (3.6%) 5 (17.9%) 10 (35.7%) 8 (28.6%) 4 (14.3%)
Consideration of the environmental impact
of the materials? 1 (3.6%) 6 (21.4%) 12 (42.9%) 6 (21.4%) 3 (10.7%)
Use of recycled material or products or
energy from environmentally friendly
sources 2 (7.1%) 8 (28.6%) 13 (46.4%) 5 (17.9%) 0 (0%)
Measures to reduce the environmental
impact of transport associated with the
Table II. materials 5 (17.9%) 9 (32.1%) 9 (32.1%) 4 (14.3%) 1 (3.6%)
Level of Incorporation of water efficiency into
implementation – building design 5 (17.95) 4 (14.3%) 10 (35.7%) 6 (21.4%) 3 (10.7%)
environmental aspect Promotion of sustainable construction 2 (7.1%) 2 (7.1%) 15 (53.6%) 5 (17.9%) 4 (14.3%)

was scored 25.3 out of 30 (normalised to be 0.84) (Lucas, 2009), the findings in this paper
show that construction industry SMEs again scores lower.
The ethical aspect of CSR section consisted of 20 questions covering code of ethics,
unfair conduct, fraud, etc. The difficulties with these questions are that the respondents
might not be willing to answer the practice of his/her own company. Hence, the
question should be “have you witnessed/experienced something” instead of “has your
company conducted something”. Therefore this part only reflects the industry level
 Social aspect implementation (n ¼ 28) Yes (%) No (%) Don’t know (%)
Corporate
social
Training opportunities to people from the local community 19 (67.9%) 9 (32.1%) 0 (%) responsibility
Purchase of locally produced products 23 (82.1%) 1 (3.6%) 4 (14.3%)
Regular financial support to local community activities and
projects 21 (75%) 7 (25%) 0 (0%)
Ongoing support of any charity 12 (42.9%) 4 (14.3%) 12 (42.9%)
Employee involvement in volunteering activities during 305
work time 11 (39.3%) 17 (60.7%) 0 (0%)
Employees encouraged to volunteer out of work time 11 (39.3%) 17 (60.7%) 0 (0%)
Performance related pay system 17 (60.7%) 11 (39.3%) 0 (0%)
Policy of flexible working time 16 (57.1%) 12 (42.9%) 0 (0%)
Provision of maternal/paternal leave 12 (42.9%) 16 (57.1%) 0 (0%)
Policy of job sharing 6 (21.4%) 22 (78.6%) 0 (0%)
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Provision of child care services 2 (7.1%) 26 (92.9%) 0 (0%)

Allowing people to work from home 12 (42.9%) 16 (57.1%) 0 (0%)
Encourage employees to develop valuable skills and long
term careers 26 (92.9%) 2 (7.1%) 0 (0%)
Provision of training and development for employees 25 (89.3%) 2 (7.1%) 1 (3.6%)
Existence of a performance appraisal process 19 (67.9%) 9 (32.1%) 0 (0%)
Provision of company sponsored volunteer events 9 (32.1%) 19 (67.9%) 0 (0%)
Volunteer participation reflected in performance reviews 4 (14.3%) 24 (85.7%) 0 (0%)
Paid leave provided for employees who participate in
volunteer events 10 (35.7%) 18 (64.3%) 0 (0%)
Existence of health, counselling or prevention programs to
assist employees 8 (28.6%) 20 (71.4%) 0 (0%)
Initiatives aiming to make employees aware of health and
safety issues 13 (46.4%) 15 (53.6%) 0 (0%)
Provision of regular medical checks for employees 6 (21.4%) 22 (78.6%) 0 (0%)
Extra steps to mitigate or reduce the incidence of safety Table III.
risks 21 (75%) 7 (25%) 0 (0%) Level of
Record of all work related accidents 22 (78.6%) 6 (21.4%) 0 (0%) implementation –
Provision of personal protective equipment for employees 23 (82.1%) 5 (17.9%) 0 (0%) social aspect score

implementation instead of company level. Table IV shows the distribution of the

responses for the 20 areas. On average the implementation level is higher than
the above two areas (mean 0.76; median 0.80). The range is also quite wide, with the
lowest score being 0.29 and highest 1.00 respectively (Table V).
The overall implementations of CSR policies are reasonable (mean 0.63, median
0.62), with lowest score being 0.33 and highest 0.82 respectively (Table V). This is
contrasting to the fact that only 32.1 per cent of the companies surveyed have a formal
CSR policy.
These results are consistent with Santos (2011)’s observation that SMEs participate
in CSR practices without realising. The general CSR implementation level is reasonably
high (mean 0.63, median 0.62), despite of the fact that none of the companies surveyed
has a formal CSR policy.
Concern for economic aspect
When asked to rank the four main aspects of CSR (environmental responsibility, social
awareness, ethical issues and economics) on a scale of importance, 57.1 per cent of
respondents ranked economic aspect as most important, with only two respondents
ranking it fourth or of least importance (Table VI).
 ECAM Ethical aspect implementation (n ¼ 28) Yes (%) No (%) Don’t know (%)
22,3 Personally bound by a professional code of
ethics 22 (78.6%) 6 (21.4%) 0 (0%)
Existence of an ethical code of conduct for
employees 18 (64.3%) 9 (32.1%) 1 (3.6%)
Ethics being an important organisational goal 28 (100%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
306 Experienced or witnessed unfair conduct 5 (17.9%) 23 (82.1%) 0 (0%)
Experienced or witnessed negligence 8 (28.6%) 20 (71.4%) 0 (0%)
Experienced or witnessed conflict of interest 11 (39.3%) 17 (60.7%) 0 (0%)
Experienced or witnessed collusive tendering 5 (17.9%) 23 (82.1%) 0 (0%)
Experienced or witnessed fraud 4 (14.3%) 24 (85.7%) 0 (0%)
Experienced or witnessed confidentiality and
proprietary breach 3 (10.7%) 25 (89.3%) 0 (0%)
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Experienced or witnessed bribery 6 (21.4%) 22 (78.6%) 0 (0%)

Experienced or witnessed violation of
environmental ethics 4 (14.3%) 24 (85.7%) 0 (0%)
Experienced or witnessed tax evasion 5 (17.9%) 23 (82.1%) 0 (0%)
Experienced or witnessed sexist behaviour 9 (32.1%) 19 (67.9%) 0 (0%)
Experienced or witnessed payment issues
(such as late payments or withholding on
monies due) 12 (42.9%) 16 (57.1%) 0 (0%)
Experienced or witnessed abuse of position of
authority 4 (14.3%) 24 (85.7%) 0 (0%)
Experienced or witnessed over billing 6 (21.4%) 22 (78.6%) 0 (0%)
Policy to ensure honesty and quality in all its
contracts, dealings and advertising (e.g. Fair
purchasing policy, consumer protection) 11 (39.3%) 17 (60.7%) 0 (0%)
Procedures to prohibit all forms of corruption,
extortion and embezzlement 22 (78.6%) 2 (7.1%) 4 (14.3%)
ensure effective feedback or dialogue with
Table IV. customers, suppliers, etc. 19 (67.9%) 9 (32.1%) 0 (0%)
Level of
implementation – (1 ¼ least frequent; 5 ¼ most frequent) 1 (%) 2 (%) 3 (%) 4 (%) 5 (%)
ethical aspect score Ensure timely payment of suppliers invoices 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (7.1%) 16 (57.1%) 10 (35.7%)

Aspects of CSR (n ¼ 28) Min. Max. Median Mean SD

Table V. Environmental implementation 0.14 0.91 0.50 0.50 0.21
Level of Social implementation 0.44 0.89 0.63 0.61 0.11
implementation – Ethical implementation 0.29 1.00 0.80 0.76 0.18
overall Overall implementation 0.33 0.82 0.62 0.63 0.11

Aspects of CSR No. ranked as 0 No. ranked as No. ranked as No. ranked as 1 Mean Median
(n ¼ 28) (lowest) (%) 0.33 (low) (%) 0.66 (high) (%) (highest) (%) rank rank

Environmental
aspect 13 (46.4%) 9 (32.1%) 3 (10.7%) 3 (10.7%) 0.28 0.33
Social aspect 7 (25%) 9 (32.1%) 9 (32.1%) 3 (10.7%) 0.43 0.33
Table VI. Ethical aspect 6 (21.4%) 6 (21.4%) 10 (35.7%) 6 (21.4%) 0.52 0.66
Relative importance Economic
of CSR aspects aspect 2 (7.1%) 4 (14.3%) 6 (21.4%) 16 (57.1%) 0.76 1.00
 Overall in order of importance participants ranked the aspects of CSR in the Corporate
following order: social
(1) economic aspect of CSR (mean 0.76, median 1.00); responsibility
(2) ethics (mean 0.52, median 0.66);
(3) social awareness (mean 0.43, median 0.33); and
(4) environmental responsibility (mean 0.28, median 0.33).
307
The extensive literature review the authors conducted did not reveal any studies
attempted to rank the four aspects of CSR. Therefore no comparison with literature is
possible here. Although the results show that economic aspect was ranked the highest,
it does not necessarily mean those companies who ranked as so will not perform other
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aspects of CSR. The only way to know is through hypotheses testing.

Hypotheses testing
Table VII shows the results of non-parametric correlation analyses. Both Kendall’s
τ_b and Spearman’s ρ are reported. It can be found that the awareness level is
positively correlated with environmental aspect implementation (Kendall’s τ_b: 0.331;
Spearman’s ρ: 0.431, both significant at 5 per cent level). The awareness level is also
correlated with social aspect implementation (Kendall’s τ_b: 0.296; significant at
10 per cent level; Spearman’s ρ: 0.380, significant at 5 per cent level) and overall
implementation score (Kendall’s τ_b: 0.265; significant at 10 per cent level; Spearman’s
ρ: 0.329, significant at 10 per cent level).
However, the awareness level is not correlated with ethical implementation. It has
been mentioned above that respondents may not be willing to answer ethical problems
in their own company, and therefore the questions only asked whether they have
experienced these problems. Hence, ethical implementation only reflects industry level
implementation but not company level. Table V shows that ethical implementation in
the industry is generally high. Hence, it is understandable that company level
awareness score is not correlated with industry level ethical implementation.
As a result, awareness level is generally positively correlated with CSR
implementation level. The higher the awareness level, the higher the
CSR implementation level. H1 is therefore not refuted. The implication is that if the
awareness of SMEs on the CSR issues can be raised, the implementation level can be
higher. This is consistent with the suggestion of Chiveralls et al. (2011) that the main
barriers to adoption of CSR is a lack of awareness and understanding of the practice.
Our result suggests that awareness may well be a prelude to implementation.
This in turn means that Everett Rogers’ diffusion paradigm can also be applied to CSR
implementation.
The concern for economic aspect of CSR, however, is not correlated with the
implementation levels of any aspect of CSR. Therefore, H2 is rejected. The possible
explanation is that concern for economic aspect is embedded in every business. Indeed,
most companies (57.1 per cent in this survey), whatever the level of
CSR implementation, have rated economic concern as the most important aspect of
CSR. This does not, however, preclude them from implementing environmental,
social or ethical aspect of CSR. It is interesting to compare this result with that of
Hardie and Newell (2011), where it is found that level of company resources was not
related to level of innovation in construction SMEs.
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22,3

308
ECAM

correlation
Table VII.
Non-parametric
Awareness Env. Imp. Soc. Imp. Eth. Imp. Overall Imp. Economic concern

Kendall’s τ_b Awareness Correl. Coeff. 1.000 0.331** 0.296* −0.003 0.265* 0.078
Sig. (two-tailed) 0.028 0.056 0.983 0.078 0.644
Env. Imp. Correl. Coeff. 0.331** 1.000 0.297** −0.036 0.534*** −0.210
Sig. (two-tailed) 0.028 0.034 0.796 0.000 0.168
Soc. Imp. Correl. Coeff. 0.296* 0.297** 1.000 0.089 0.467*** −0.119
Sig. (two-tailed) 0.056 0.034 0.534 0.001 0.447
Eth. Imp. Correl. Coeff. −0.003 −0.036 0.089 1.000 0.386*** −0.066
Sig. (two-tailed) 0.983 0.796 0.534 0.005 0.672
Overall Imp. Correl. Coeff. 0.265* 0.534*** 0.467*** 0.386*** 1 −0.199
Sig. (two-tailed) 0.078 0.000 0.001 0.0053 0.190
Economic concern Correl. Coeff. 0.078 −0.210 −0.119 −0.066 −0.199 1.000
Sig. (two-tailed) 0.644 0.168 0.447 0.672 0.190
Spearman’s ρ Awareness Correl. Coeff. 1.000 0.431** 0.380** −0.005 0.329* 0.085
Sig. (two-tailed) 0.022 0.046 0.978 0.088 0.668
Env. Imp. Correl. Coeff. 0.431** 1.000 0.393** −0.033 0.698*** −0.261
Sig. (two-tailed) 0.022 0.038 0.866 0.000 0.179
Soc. Imp. Correl. Coeff. 0.380** 0.393** 1.000 0.124 0.617*** −0.140
Sig. (two-tailed) 0.046 0.038 0.530 0.000 0.478
Eth. Imp. Correl. Coeff. −0.005 −0.033 0.124 1.000 0.536*** −0.066
Sig. (two-tailed) 0.978 0.866 0.530 0.003 0.737
Overall Imp. Correl. Coeff. 0.329* 0.698*** 0.617*** 0.536*** 1 −0.238
Sig. (two-tailed) 0.088 0.000 0.000 0.0033 0.222
Economic concern Correl. Coeff. 0.085 −0.261 −0.140 −0.066 −0.238 1.000
Sig. (two-tailed) 0.668 0.179 0.478 0.737 0.222
Notes: *,**,***Correlation is significant at the 0.10, 0.05, and 0.01 level (two-tailed), respectively
 This finding shall not, however, be used to reject the law of demand, as CSR Corporate
implementation is not simply related to cost, they may offer many valuable benefits as social
well. In fact, findings on the relationships between social, environmental performances
and financial performance differed: theoretical frameworks and empirical evidences on
responsibility
positive, neutral, and negative relationships were all reported (Salzmann et al., 2005).
In Australian contexts, it has been found that CSR offers valuable benefits in employee
turnover, customer satisfaction and firm reputation (Galbreath, 2010). In contrast, 309
no relationship was found to exist between business success and social or
environmental responsibility of SMEs (Lucas, 2009). The finding in this paper offers
further insights into the CSR implementation in SMEs. SMEs implement some CSR
practices even if they concern economic aspect more than other CSR aspects.
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Conclusion
This paper aims to investigate the implementation of CSR related activities in SMEs
within Australia. CSR includes four aspects, namely, environmental, social and ethical,
and economic aspect. It is assumed that every company will implement the economic
aspect, as otherwise they would not be able to survive. The rest three aspects were
broken down into finer areas. The implementation level of each area was measured
with either a dichotomous or a five-point Likert scale. The individual scores were
aggregated and normalised to obtain the overall scores. Data were collected from
28 companies with the aid of an in-depth questionnaire.
It is found that SMEs incorporate some aspects of CSR into their business activities
even though they do not refer to the practices as CSR, as none of them have a formal
CSR policy in place. Most SMEs in the construction industry implement ethical and
economic aspects of CSR; however implementation across environmental and social
issues is limited.
Two reasons behind the implementation level have also been proposed, they are
CSR awareness level and concern about economic aspect. Hypotheses were made on the
relationships between these two reasons and the implementation levels. Non-parametric
correlation analyses were used to evaluate the hypotheses. It is found that higher
awareness of CSR issues leads to higher levels of implementation and that concern about
economic aspect is not a reason why CSR is not implemented into business practices.
The results suggest that Everett Rogers’ diffusion paradigm can also be applied to
CSR implementation. They also offer practical insights into the promotion of CSRs in
construction SMEs: raising awareness of construction SMEs on CSRs could well lead to
higher implementation of them. On the other hand, since positive, neutral, and negative
relationships between CSR implementation and economic aspects were all reported in
the literature, although this study offers a piece of further evidence to neutral
relationship, it shall not be regarded as conclusive to this question, and therefore more
research works are required to theoretically and empirically examine the relationships.
It is envisaged that this research will help raise awareness about CSR and encourage
SMEs who have limited participation in CSR activities to actively participate, whilst
realising the benefits for both business and society. There are also limitations though.
The sample consists of only 28 companies in Australia, while it is sufficient for the
correlation analysis adopted, more studies may be required to cross-check the results.
Given the sample size, we have chosen 10 per cent significant level as cut-off level.
The readers are reminded that type I error might be slightly higher in this study.
Moreover, the implicit assumption used in assessing the overall implementation
levels that each area carries equal weight might not hold.
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Corresponding author
Dr Ping Yung can be contacted at: pingpingyung@126.com

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