Project Description
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) refers to how firms take responsibility for their social, environmental, and ethical impact. Most existing CSR research focuses on firms in wealthy, developed countries such as the United States and Western Europe. In those settings, CSR is often used as a strategic or reputational tool. For example, firms in North America and Europe use CSR to improve their brand image, attract investors, or respond to stakeholder pressure. However, firms in emerging economies, such as those in Latin America, operate in very different environments. Governments may have limited capacity, public services may be weaker, and social inequality is often much higher. As a result, firms in these countries may engage in CSR for different reasons. For instance, these emerging economy firms may engage in CSR to fill gaps left by the state, support local communities, improve access to education or healthcare, or gain legitimacy and trust. The goal of this project is to examine country-level differences in firms’ CSR engagement across Latin American countries. As part of this SRS project, students will be responsible for collecting, merging, and cleaning data from multiple sources, including firm-level CSR scores, firm financial data, and country-level institutional indicators.
Prerequisites
Proficiency in Excel and the ability to work carefully with datasets, including collecting and cleaning data with a high level of accuracy.
Special Comments
Project Information (subject to change)
Estimated Start Date: 6/08/2026
Estimated End Date: 7/17/2026
Estimated Project Duration: 6 weeks
Maximum Number of Students Sought: 2
Research Location: Remote
Travel Required? No (If “yes”: )
Contact Information: Pooja Thakur-Wernz (email: pthakur-wernz@wlu.edu)