Corporate ethics as a factor for success – the measurement instrument of the University of Agricultural Sciences (BOKU), Vienna

Over the past decade, a growing number of companies have recognized the business benefits of corporate social responsibilities policies and practices. Their experiences are bolstered by a growing body of empirical studies which demonstrate that corporate social responsibility (CSR) has a positive impact on business economic performance, and is not harmful to shareholder value. There are six key responsibilities or dimensions of CSR and CSR is really how to manage these six responsibilities. Companies employing such a new values‐based business approach have found that it can improve financial performance, increase employees’ motivation and commitment to work, and enhance customer loyalty and corporate reputation. The model in use (theoretical language), is able to explain the impact of CSR with the help of a bundle of dependent variables. Measuring CSR also affects additional benefits. The “BOKU approach” defines the independent variables (objective language) for the CSR working model and shows the way to measure (correspondential language) the independent variables by auditing using a “reduced design”, Austriacism and a “mystery” shift to enhance the acceptance rate.