Journal of Cleaner Production 164 (2017) 1406e1418

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Evaluating companies' commitment to corporate social responsibility:

Perceptions of the SA 8000 standard
Federica Murmura*, Laura Bravi, Federica Palazzi
Department of Economics, Society, Politics, University of Urbino, Carlo Bo, Via A. Saffi 42, 61029, Urbino, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In today's global markets, issues related to environmental sustainability, ethics and the working envi-
Received 26 January 2017 ronment have greater importance on business performance.
Received in revised form The SA 8000 standard can be used as a tool to assess organizations' performance on the social
28 June 2017
dimension of sustainability and understanding its relevance, could become a key element for the
Accepted 9 July 2017
implementation of a sustainable strategy.
Available online 10 July 2017
Therefore, the aim of this research is to investigate the implementation experience of the Social
Accountability 8000 standard, through an empirical research on the motivations, the perceived benefits
Keywords:
Corporate social responsibility
and the barriers to implementation by companies in the Italian context. A survey was conducted, which
Corporate sustainability involved 1081 Italian certified companies through the submission of a questionnaire. A Principal
SA 8000 Component Analysis was applied to factors influencing motivations, benefits and barriers to SA 8000; to
Quality standard verify the reliability of the factor analysis, the Cronbach's alpha test was computed. Finally, a logistic
regression model has been used to assess whether the motivations and the perceived benefits contribute
to determine an overall positive judgment about SA 8000 implementation by firms.
The research shows how companies' SA 8000 certified are strongly oriented to the environment that
surrounds them, and pay much attention to all relationships in the supply chain. The respondent
companies seem to approach the standard not only for external reasons linked to the image and pro-
motion of themselves, but also for a real desire to improve their internal working environment. In
conclusion, it can be drawn from the research that the ethical SA 8000 standard may be used as a tool to
internalize the corporate sustainability, and develop a successful sustainable strategy if effectively
developed.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction intense with a proliferation of CSR definitions and approaches

In the global context, enterprises are called to make themselves
promoters of sustainable societies (DeSimone and Popoff, 2000),
carrying out a proactive role. The awareness of a Social Re-
sponsibility began in the 1950s with the publication of Bowen
(1953), in which he “refers to the obligations of businessmen to
pursue those policies, to make those decisions, or to follow those
lines of action which are desirable in terms of the objectives and
values of our society” (Caroll, 1999, p. 270). During the ’70 and ’80
years the debate about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: federica.murmura@uniurb.it (F. Murmura), laura.bravi@
uniurb.it (L. Bravi), federica.palazzi@uniurb.it (F. Palazzi).
about the role of business in the political and social arenas. The
stakeholder approach (Freeman, 1984) is able to personalize social
or societal responsibilities by identifying the specific groups or
persons' business considered in its CSR orientation (Caroll, 1999, p.
290). In contrast to the shareholder model (Friedman, 1962), in fact,
the stakeholder theory is based on the concept that the decisions
and the actions undertaken by corporations involve several sub-
jects, not only the shareholders: employees, customers, suppliers,
creditors, communities. Stakeholders are therefore groups or in-
dividuals who benefit from, or are harmed by, and whose rights are
violated or respected by corporate action (Freeman, 1999). Ac-
cording to the stakeholder theory, companies have a social re-
sponsibility that requires them to consider the interests of all
parties affected by their actions in the decision-making processes
(Bhadra, 2013).
Socially oriented companies are aware of mutual inter-

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.07.073
0959-6526/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 F. Murmura et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 164 (2017) 1406e1418
dependences among economic, social and environmental di-
mensions (Elkington, 2002, 2005) of the corporate activity, which
produces effects on the short, long and longer term (World
Commission on Environment and Development, Brundtland,
1987; Lozano, 2008).
The definition of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) seems to
embrace a vast number of concepts evolving towards sustainability:
it is traditionally framed as environmental concerns, public re-
lations, corporate philanthropy, human resource management and
community relations (Castka et al., 2004). This classification derives
from Caroll (1991), who defined CSR through four dimensional
pyramid; economic social responsibility, legal, ethical and philan-
thropic social responsibility. The base of the pyramid is made from
economic responsibility, while the legal, ethical and philanthropic
responsibilities arise out of it.
Over the years, the concept of CSR has gone through an evolu-
tion process within a shareholder-stakeholder debate (Bhadra,
2013). Corporate Sustainability is the evolution of corporate social
responsibility that applies sustainable development to the business
level and it represents the capability to satisfy the needs of the
firm's direct and indirect stakeholders (shareholders, employees,
clients, pressure groups, communities etc.) without compromising
the ability to meet the needs of future stakeholders (Dyllick and
Hockerts, 2002). The dimensions of sustainability are three: eco-
nomic, environmental and social. These three dimensions are
strongly interrelated and they influence each other. The long-term
sustainability requires business to maintain and feed the economic,
social and natural capital base. The social capital includes two
different types of capital: societal capital and human capital. The
last one concerns the respect of human rights, the capacity to
improve skills, motivation and loyalty of employees and partners
(Dyllick and Hockerts, 2002). Table 1 summarizes the evolution of
CSR through four different approaches (Garriga and Mele , 2004;
Del Baldo, 2012).
International standards may be a tool through which companies
are able to internalize the sustainability requests. These standards
deal with different aspects of the CS agenda and offer a certification
against specific requirements. Well-known examples of such
standards are the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the Fair Labor
Association (FLA), AccountAbility 1000 (AA 1000), and Social
Accountability 8000 (SA 8000) (Gilbert and Rasche, 2007). This
research will focus on the International SA 8000 standard, which is
considered to be a multi-stakeholder standard and the member
groups include not only businesses, but also certified bodies, non-
governmental organizations, academia and trade unions. The con-
stant involvement of stakeholders in the execution of social re-
sponsibility practices means that it becomes very difficult for
organizations to avoid following a standard (Stigzelius and Mark-
Herbert, 2009). In addition to being a necessity to answer to the
demands and needs of stakeholders, according to Welford et al.
(2003), adherence to social and environmental responsibility
through a standard is also a way to differentiate itself from other
Table 1
The evolution of CSR.
Approach The evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility
Instrumental Shareholder theory: business as instrument to maximize shareholder value
theories
Political theories Corporate constitutionalism, integrative social contract, corporate citizenship: role of business in the political and social arenas
Integrative Issues management, public responsibility, stakeholder management and corporate social performance: business has to operate in accordance with
theories social values; society interacts with firms and recognizes them legitimacy
Ethical theories Stakeholder normative theory based on the premise of universal rights and sustainable development: integrating the economic, environmental and
social aspects
1407
organizations. However, little empirical evidence is available to
indicate whether those companies that have adopted such standard
offer significantly better working environments in terms of safety,
health, freedom of association, and fair pay practices (Merli et al.,
2015; Panda and Mishra, 2013; Rohitratana, 2002; Stigzelius and
Mark-Herbert, 2009); moreover, there is no evidence in the liter-
ature about the motivations that prompt organizations to be SA
8000 certified.
The aim of this paper is to understand the perception of Italian
SA 8000 certified companies regarding this standard. It has been
decided to focus on the Italian market, because Italy has the largest
number of SA 8000 certified companies in the world. In detail,
motivations that prompted companies to the certification have
been investigated, evaluating also the perceived benefits and the
barriers to the implementation. Thereby, the research attempts to
cover the literary gap about enterprises' perception of SA 8000
standard and the effectiveness of its use.
The paper tries to answer the following research questions:
how is the experience of implementing the SA 8000 standard
assessed by Italian certified companies? What are the main mo-
tivations which prompted organizations to get the certification?
What are the perceived benefits and the main barriers to SA 8000
implementation? Answering these research questions may be
useful to assess the effectiveness of SA 8000 within the socially
responsible corporate attitude and also to understand the levers
on which to act to promote the diffusion of the standard as a CSR
tool.
The paper is structured as follows: section two reviews the
literature on motivations, benefits and barriers of SA 8000 in the
context of Integrated Management Systems; section three de-
scribes the methodology of the research; section four presents the
findings, and finally, a discussions and conclusions section is
followed.
2. Literature review
2.1. Integrated quality management system standards
On a global market with focus on innovation and product dif-
ferentiation, the challenge is to embed the responsiveness in In-
tegrated Management Systems (IMS) and in the organizational
culture, in order to adapt them to new demands as well as to in-
ternal and external conditions (Jørgensen et al., 2006). The idea of
an IMS consists of establishing correspondences and to combine
two or more independent management systems, in accordance
with ISO 9001 (Quality management), ISO 14,001 (Environmental
management), OHSAS 18,001 (Safety management) and SA 8000
(Ethical management). The main purpose of quality system
implementation is to prove to the customer the company's ability
to control all quality factors properly, which ensure the conformity
of certain quality measures to the specified requirements
(Murmura and Bravi, 2016).
1408 F. Murmura et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 164 (2017) 1406e1418
Peddle and Rosam (2004) argue that CSR is not different from
quality, both searching for success through careful balance and the
development of a sustainable strategy (Koplin et al., 2007). There-
fore, the SA 8000 standard, integrated within an IMS, supports the
implementation of a corporate strategy with the awareness of
ethical, environmental and quality aspects. The internal and
external forces that drive companies to develop a sustainable
strategy are several (Lozano, 2015). There is a need for an effective
way to handle risks of different nature (Ditlev-Simonen and Atle,
2011; Lozano, 2013) especially in light of former experiences with
negative publicity. Reactions amongst stakeholders, especially
negative ones, work as an effective driving force, as for example
when the corporate conducts have been perceived as unethical.
Also, companies upholding a strong brand and a good image is a
central issue (Frehs, 2003; Lozano, 2013). In fact sustainability
reporting has gained importance for the communication of com-
pany's values (Oskarsson and von Malmborg, 2005). In this context,
the SA 8000 standard can be used as a tool to assess organizations'
performance on the social dimension of sustainability and under-
standing its relevance, when developed inside an IMS, could
therefore, become a key element for the implementation of a right
sustainable strategy.
2.2. The international SA 8000 standard
CSR has become a business phenomenon that has spread within
the corporate world, especially among companies producing
labour-intensive, branded, consumer products that are manufac-
tured in low wage countries where human rights are often violated
(Beauchamp and Bowie, 2001; Bremer and Udovich, 2001; Mamic,
2004; Welford and Young, 2002). Attempts to improve working
conditions are expressed in the development of Codes of Conduct
(CoC) and adoption of global standards that fill the function of a
framework for enforcing the national laws (Adam and Rachman-
Moore, 2004; Sobczak, 2003; Welford and Young, 2002).
SA 8000 is one of these international certification standards. It
encourages organizations to develop, maintain and apply socially
acceptable practices in the workplace. It was created in 1997 by
Social Accountability International (SAI), which is an international
non-profit human rights organization with the mission to improve
workplaces around the world by developing and implementing a
socially responsible standard (http://www.sa-intl.org). SA 8000
covers human right issues including child labour, forced labour,
discrimination, health and safety, freedom of association and right
to collective bargaining, disciplinary practices, working hours and
remuneration.
Member groups of the SA 8000 include companies, certifying
bodies, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), trade unions and
academia. SA 8000 is thus considered as a multi-stakeholder
initiative (Henkle, 2005; Mamic, 2004; Stigzelius and Mark-
Herbert, 2009); it is viewed as the most globally accepted inde-
pendent workplace standard (Panda and Mishra, 2013), and the
data available about trend and diffusion of this International
Standard confirm its global spread.
Social Accountabilities Accreditation Services (SAAS) assists
SAI in making data available about SA 8000 certified organiza-
tions. Every quarter Certification Bodies are required to submit a
list of all currently certified SA 8000 organizations. SA 8000 is
auditable for a third-party monitoring system where producing
units receive certification when being compliant with the stan-
dard (Gobbels and Jonker, 2003). Facilities seeking to gain and
maintain certification must go beyond simple compliance to
integrate the standard into their management systems and
practices through a Plan-Do-Check-Act model (Henkle, 2005), as
it is done for the International Organization for Standardization
(ISO) standards (Larsen and Haversjo, 2001)
This list informs SAAS of any new organizations that may have
been certified, and from this data, SAAS can identify trends in
certification across industries and countries, as well as to see the
number of workers that are being impacted by certification. The
list includes those that have been reported to SAAS as currently
certified, it does not include companies no longer certified and
those whose certificates were reported as suspended. The data
updated at November 16, 2016 show that in the world there are
3919 certified facilities in 69 different countries, with 2,136,352
employees impacted by certification. Italy is the first country in
number of certified companies, with 1081 certified ones and an
average size of the organization of 242 employees, followed by
India (953 organization), China (654 organizations), Romania (112
organizations) and Bulgaria (91 organizations) (SAAS, 2016a,b).
But what are the main motivations which lead organizations to
support costs to be certified according to the guidelines of the SA
8000 and what are the main benefits and perceived barriers?
2.3. Motivation for following ethical standards
To undertake relations with stakeholders, a company must
establish and maintain procedures to communicate regularly
data, monitoring activities, results and other information to all
stakeholders. The accounting information regarding CSR is not
only meant as a tool to meet the needs and demands of society,
but also as a contribution to create value within the organization
proving to be socially responsible and to contribute to the crea-
tion of intangible assets (Dumitru et al., 2010). The constant
involvement of stakeholders in the execution of social re-
sponsibility practices means that it becomes very difficult for
organizations to avoid following the standards. In fact, a third
party such as buyers, for example, might prefer to buy products
from a company which meets certain rules (Stigzelius and Mark-
Herbert, 2009). Rohitratana (2002) examined the textile
manufacturing sector in Thailand, where the SA 8000 certification
was considered a challenge because, on the one hand, it repre-
sents a further request from importers to be met, while on the
other, it can ensure a healthy and desirable working environment
for workers. For a worldwide exporting country like Thailand, in
fact, the non-possession of the SA 8000 certification could be a
difficult hurdle to face when they should relate to certified
foreign companies. Stigzelius and Mark-Herbert (2009) investi-
gated the reasons and opportunities that drive companies to be
SA 8000 certified, identifying among the main reasons: the de-
mand from buyers; the reduction of costs; the reduction of lead
time of products; the increase in quality management; more
benefits for workers; the improvement of corporate reputation in
the market; the hope of an increase in business opportunities; a
better working environment; the attraction of new customers and
an improvement of the relationships between workers and
management team.
From the analysis of the literature about the drivers which led
Italian companies to SA 8000 implementation, there is the presence
of regional and local incentives, the reduction of risks related to
business and to the loss of market shares also a greater ease to win
tenders (Bassoli and Graziano, 2009). As in the international
context, even in Italy an external motivation which have prompted
companies to certification is the improvement of corporate image
and brand protection, while internal ones are the improvement of
efficiency and the prospect of better relationships with workers
(Bassoli and Graziano, 2009; Merli et al., 2015).
Differently from the results obtained in other international
examined contexts, in Italy, it was found among the main drivers to
SA 8000 the real need to be promoters of a new way of doing
 F. Murmura et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 164 (2017) 1406e1418
business (Bassoli and Graziano, 2009).
2.4. Benefits of implementing SA 8000
De Colle and Henriques (2014) highlighted some aspects that
organizations need to consider, in the adoption of international
standards, defining the so-called paradox of CSR standards rep-
resented by the emergence of counterproductive consequences
that can reduce the positive effects of CSR on organizational per-
formance. The paradox is thus stated: “The (thoughtful, respon-
sible and stakeholder-oriented) mind-set that CSR standards aim
to promote among standards users may be directly counteracted
by the (thoughtless, blind and blinkered) mind-set that standard
users tend to employ, the more they focus on implementing CSR
standards” (De Colle and Henriques, 2014). The paradox is
expressed as the result of three problems connected with each
other: the problem of misleading measurements, the erosion
problem of the responsibility, and, finally, that of a brain-dead
culture. It is difficult to measure issues such as support for hu-
man rights or the promotion of diversity; however, the risk is that
management and members of the organization adhere to the rules
of standards, without understanding the actions taken. In regards
to the cultural problem, De Colle and Henriques,. (2014) suggest
that standards of social responsibility are likely to encourage an
orientation towards the internal organization rather than to
stakeholders.
The benefits associated with SA 8000 certification have been
reported by Henkle (2005) in a study of suppliers to the multi-
national clothing company GAP Inc. as improved working envi-
ronment, enhanced workers and manager communication,
reduction of labor turnover and enhanced productivity. From a
buyer perspective, SA 8000 also provides more confidence with
suppliers and less risks associated with human rights violations.
As for the developing countries, in which, violations of national
laws are quite common, the presence of a voluntary standard of
international concern such as the SA 8000 provides the ability to
limit such violations in the global supply chain, to ensure the
protection of health and safety and to regulate working hours,
(Palley, 2005). SA 8000 is often requested by American and Eu-
ropean buyers who view this standard as an important system for
reaching higher social compliance. Certification with SA 8000 is
thus a tool for manufacturers to differentiate themselves, which
would attract new buyers and hopefully lead to a greater assur-
ance of future orders. However, compliance with SA 8000 was
presently not used as a strategic marketing tool by any managers,
which implies that there is potential for further marketing ac-
tivities. Even though most factory managers see the standard as a
long-term investment with expectations of future benefits, some
managers were also driven by a moral commitment, which en-
tails that they might not primarily assess the outcome solely in
terms of financial short- or long-term returns (Stigzelius and
Mark-Herbert, 2009). It is also important for organizations to
combine SA 8000 with other international standards (Jørgensen
et al., 2006; Murmura and Bravi, 2016), since liability in
connection with quality, environment, occupational health and
safety as well as social accountability is important for the
competitiveness and positive image of organizations (Jørgensen
et al., 2006). Certified management systems covering these
areas are an indication of responsibility and concern for stake-
holder relations from the organization. While a health and safety
system based on OHSAS 18,001 mainly focuses within the en-
terprise, CSR and SA 8000 have expanded the social responsibility
along the product chain (Jørgensen et al., 2006). In order to
contribute to sustainable development, organizations have to
expand social and environmental responsibility for their own
1409
production to the different actors up- and down-stream of the
product chain (Remmen and Thrane, 2004).
2.5. Barriers to SA 8000 implementation
The certification has also a number of limitations, first of all from
a financial point of view. The cost of acquiring a certification for a
company varies with the number of employees and the location,
which determines the man-days for a certification audit (Stigzelius
and Mark-Herbert, 2009). The cost for an audit may range between
$500 and $1500 per day (SAAS, 2016a,b). An SA 8000 certification
will last for 3 years and there will be surveillance audits every 6
months during this period (Stigzelius and Mark-Herbert, 2009). In
addition to the direct costs of certification, there are pre-
certification activities, such as improving health and safety facil-
ities and revision of wages as well as training and consultancy.
Previous research shows that the implementation of accountability
standards requires major investments that can be difficult to bear
for small and medium sized companies (Bremer and Udovich,
2001; Henkle, 2005; Welford and Frost, 2006). Bremer and
Udovich (2001) show that the cost of observing SA 8000 is not
negotiated with suppliers nor the future business with suppliers is
conditioned upon compliance with the standard.
According to Gilbert and Rasche (2007), three main problems
associated with SA 8000 standard co-exist, which are an insuffi-
cient justification which would be based on the rules to follow,
lack of guidance on how to set up a dialogue with stakeholders
and respect of the rule often as result of coercion instead of
voluntary.
A major internal challenge with SA 8000 is the increase in labour
costs in terms of higher wages and limited use of overtime work.
Buyers will not pay more for the products even if the company is
compliant with SA 8000, which is a major concern for most man-
agers. Finally another obstacle during the implementation process
found in the study of Stigzelius and Mark-Herbert (2009) is the
difficulty to communicate the standard to the workers. Even
though SA8000 is communicated through training, booklets and
posters in the local language, most of the workers had a very low
knowledge about the standard, both in factories that were under-
going an implementation and that were already SA 8000 certified.
3. Methods
This study was carried out through a survey conducted on the
total population of Italian SA 8000 certified organizations until
December 31st, 2015 that were 1081. All the information needed to
contact companies has been obtained from the SAAS database
through its website (http://www.saasaccreditation.org). The survey
began September 15th, 2016 and answers were accepted until
November 15th, 2016. The administration of the survey took place
by e-mail, while it took place by phone, in case an e-mail address
had not been found. 221 companies participated to the survey
reaching a response rate of 20.4%; therefore, the sample is repre-
sentative with a confidence level of 95% and a confidence interval
equal to 6%.
The questionnaire design is the following: the first section de-
fines the sample profile of companies; the second section in-
vestigates the motivations which led Italian companies to be SA
8000 certified, and the main perceived benefits and limitations of
this International Standard. Subsequently, section three in-
vestigates present and future social commitment of Italian
companies.
The quantitative research methodology used, has allowed to
investigate on a large scale the motivations that have prompted
Italian companies to be SA 8000 certified, identifying the main
1410 F. Murmura et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 164 (2017) 1406e1418
advantages and disadvantages that the standard has brought
within the company. However, the limitations may derive from the
fact that a qualitative analysis, through the analysis of one or more
case studies, could allow a more in-depth investigations of intrinsic
reasons associated with the standard.
SPSS 23.0 program, Statistical Package for Social Science has
been used for data processing. Descriptive analysis was performed
to describe the sample profile of respondent companies. A Principal
Component Analysis (PCA) followed by oblimin rotation (Jennrich
and Sampson, 1966) was applied to factors influencing motiva-
tions, benefits and barriers of SA 8000. In the estimation data
process, the variables with factor loadings less than 0.6 were
dropped from further analysis, because these are not considered
statistically significant. To verify the reliability of the factor analysis,
the Cronbach's alpha test was computed, taking into account only
alpha values greater than 0.60, as suggested by Nunnally and
Bernstein (1994).
Finally, a logistic regression model has been used (Bowen and
Wiersema, 2004; Hoetker, 2007) to assess whether the motiva-
tions and the perceived benefits contribute to determine an overall
positive judgment about SA 8000 implementation by firms. First
logistic regression model considers the motivations to predict the
positive judgment and it is estimated as follows.
Pr (OJ ¼ positive) ¼ logit (b0 þ b1 COMP_ADV þ b2 CUST_SUPP þ b3
WORK þ b4 EFF þb5 ECON þ b6 INCENT þ b7 PROM þ b8
MARK þ Ɛ) (1)
where:
- OJ (overall judgment) is 1 if the subjective assessment through
the Likert scale from 1 to 5is greater than 3; otherwise 0.
- COMP_ADV is the competitive advantage over competitors
assessed by a Likert scale from 1 to 5.
- CUST_SUPP is the greater impact on customers and suppliers
assessed by a Likert scale from 1 to 5.
- WORK is the improvement of the work environment assessed by
a Likert scale from 1 to 5.
- EFF is the improvement of business management efficiency
assessed by a Likert scale from 1 to 5.
- ECON is the achievement of economic benefits assessed by a
Likert scale from 1 to 5.
- INCENT is the presence of local or regional incentives assessed
by a Likert scale from 1 to 5.
- PROM is promoters of a new way of doing business assessed by a
Likert scale from 1 to 5.
- MARK is the demand from the market assessed by a Likert scale
from 1 to 5.
The second logistic regression model uses the perceived benefits
to estimate the probability of an overall positive judgment about SA
8000 implementation.
Pr (OJ ¼ positive) ¼ logit (b0 þ b1 HIR þ b2 MOT þ b3 TRASP þ b4
SUPP þb5 LOY þ b6 EMP þ b7 IMAG þ b8 ECON_B þ b9 LAB þ b10
ABS þ Ɛ) (2)
where:
- OJ (overall judgment) is 1 if the subjective assessment through
the Likert scale from 1 to 5 is greater than 3; otherwise 0.
- HIR is the facilitated hiring assessed by a Likert scale from 1 to 5.
- MOT is the increase in staff motivation assessed by a Likert scale
from 1 to 5.
- TRASP is the increase in transparency towards stakeholders
assessed by a Likert scale from 1 to 5.
- SUPP is the greater control over the supply chain assessed by a
Likert scale from 1 to 5.
- LOY is the improvement in customer loyalty assessed by a Likert
scale from 1 to 5.
- EMP is the improvement of the relationships with employees
assessed by a Likert scale from 1 to 5.
- IMAG is the improvement of corporate image and reputation
assessed by a Likert scale from 1 to 5.
- ECON_B is the achievement of economic benefits assessed by a
Likert scale from 1 to 5.
- LAB is the reduction of labour conflicts assessed by a Likert scale
from 1 to 5.
- ABS is the reduction in absenteeism assessed by a Likert scale
from 1 to 5.
4. Findings
4.1. Sample profile and CSR behaviour
In the first part of the research, the profile of the responding
organizations has been defined, and their behaviour towards the
issue of CSR has been analyzed (Table 2).
Among the 221 SA 8000 certified organizations that participated
in the survey, two thirds were service companies (75.6%), mostly
small (36.2%) and medium (33.5%) sized. The 137 which have
specified their turnover, the majority (67.9%) have from 1 million to
50 million Euro in revenue. Considering their reference markets,
only 25.3% of respondents operate outside Italy, and among them
the majority work in European markets (20.4%); 30.3% of them have
been certified during less than three years, while a small but rele-
vant percentage (8.6%) have been certified for a long time, some of
them by exactly by 18 years; the remaining part of the respondents
(61.1%) has the standard by a period of time ranging from 3 to 10
years.
In the whole sample. 91.9% of organizations that are SA 8000
certified have an internal referent for the International Standard,
which in most cases coincides with the Quality Manager of the
organization (21.3%), or the Administrative Manager (16.5%); in 15%
of cases it is the figure of the General Director or of the Integrated
Management System Manager to manage the certification, while
there is a specific person that manage SA 8000 in the 12.2% of or-
ganizations. Moreover, 95.0% of companies claim to carry out the
periodical monitoring of their Social Responsible activities. In 90.3%
of cases the ethical SA 8000 standard is combined to additional
certifications within an Integrated Management System, in partic-
ular 90.3% of organizations have the Quality Management System
standard ISO 9001, and more than one organization in two has also
the Environmental Management System standard ISO 14,001
(70.3%) and the Health and Safety System standard OHSAS 18,001
(59.7%); finally, a small percentage of the sample (3.2%) only has the
ethical SA8000 standard.
The respondents indicated that in 87.3% of cases they are
engaged in reporting their own CSR commitment to their stake-
holders through the support to voluntary associations (48.9%) sport
associations (48.2%) and associations for cultural events (46.8%),
followed by citizens' associations (20.1%) and research centers
(19.4%). In addition to the support of social initiatives, other tools
used for communicating their social responsibilities are their own
web site (85.0%), social reports (70.0%) and sustainability reports
(36.4%).
 F. Murmura et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 164 (2017) 1406e1418 1411

Table 2
Sample profile.

n %

Type of company Manufacturing 54 24,4

Services 167 75,6

Turnover <1 mln Euro 25 18,2

1 mln - 10 mln Euro 52 38,0
10 mln - 50 mln Euro 41 29,9
>50 mln Euro 19 13,9

Size Micro 21 9,5

Small 80 36,2
Medium 74 33,5
Large 46 20,8

Reference Market Italy 165 74,7

Italy and Europe 45 20,4
International Markets 11 4,9

Time of certification Less than 3 years 67 30,3

Between 3 and 10 years 135 61,1
More than 10 years 19 8,6

4.2. Descriptive statistics
The descriptive statistics allow us to better understand the
motivations, which have encouraged firms to obtain the SA 8000
certification, the perceived benefits and the barriers that obstructed
the certification process. The improvement of corporate image and
reputation is the core motivation which has pushed firms to obtain
the SA 8000 certification; in fact, it earned a mean appraisal equal
to 4.3. Motivations which received an assessment greater than 3.4
are also important to be considered: the improvement of the work
environment (3.9), the greater impact on customers and suppliers
(3.8), the enhancement of business management efficiency (3.5),
the competitive advantage over competitors (3.4) and to be pro-
moters of a new way of doing business (3.4). On the contrary the
demand from the market, the enterprise risk management and the
brand protection received a mean assessment slightly greater than
3. The motivations that would seem less important for the certifi-
cation process are the following: the creation of new partnerships,
the achievement of economic benefits and the presence of regional
or local incentives (see Table 3).
Firms declared that the most important perceived benefit is the
improvement of corporate image and reputation (4.1), that exactly
coincides with the core motivation encouraged the certification
process. The improvement of the relationships with employees
(3.7), the increase in transparency towards stakeholders (3.6) and
the greater control over the supply chain (3.5) are also considered
important benefits. Four benefits earned a mean value slightly
greater than 3: the reduction of risks at work, the improvement of
productivity and management efficiency, the enhancement of
customer loyalty and the increase in staff motivation. Reduction of
labour conflicts, the achievement of economic benefits and facili-
tated hiring would seem less important benefits with a mean
assessment lower than 3 (Table 4).
Finally, the mean values of barriers encountered in the certifi-
cation process do not exceed 3.3; none of these barriers is perceived
as really important, probably because the motivations and the ob-
tained benefits from SA 8000 certification are more relevant. The
establishment of an internal health and security supervision is the
barrier with the highest mean appraisal equal to 3.3. All other
barriers are considered less important, maybe they did not affect
the implementation process (Table 5).
4.3. Principal component analysis
In order to identify the main factors that have prompted com-
panies to be SA 8000 certified, and the main benefits and barriers
perceived, a PCA has been performed. As for motivations three main
factors were identified (Table 6); the first component is called

Table 3
Motivations that pushed organizations to be SA 8000 certified (a ¼ 0.858).

Motivations N Mean Std. Deviation Variance

Statistic Statistic Std. Error Statistic Statistic

Creation of new partnerships 221 2.8959 0.08443 1.25,518 1.575

Competitive advantage over competitors 221 3.4932 0.07659 1.13866 1.297
Greater impact on customers and suppliers 221 3.8145 0.06074 0.90301 0.815
Improvement of the working environment 221 3.9005 0.06724 0.99957 0.999
Improvement of the efficiency of business management 221 3.5430 0.07353 1.09304 1.195
Improvement of the image and reputation 221 4.3258 0.05338 0.79356 0.630
Achievement of economic benefits 221 2.7195 0.07993 1.18821 1.412
Presence of incentives at regional or local level 221 2.2670 0.08027 1.19326 1.424
To be promoters of a new way of doing business 221 3.4842 0.07159 1.06429 1.133
Demand from the market 221 3.1403 0.08613 1.28036 1.639
Enterprise risk management 221 3.0769 0.08334 1.23894 1.535
Brand protection 221 3.0407 0.08516 1.26605 1.603
1412 F. Murmura et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 164 (2017) 1406e1418

Table 4
Benefits perceived by SA 8000 certified organizations (a ¼ 0.933).

Benefits N Mean Std. Deviation Variance

Statistic Statistic Std. Error Statistic Statistic

Facilitated hiring 221 2.2715 0.07612 1.13,159 1.281

Increase in staff motivation 221 3.2353 0.07393 1.09910 1.208
Increase in transparency towards stakeholders 221 3.6787 0.06940 1.03175 1.065
Greater control over the Supply Chain 221 3.5656 0.07146 1.06237 1.129
Improvement in customer loyalty 221 3.3303 0.07971 1.18,492 1.404
Improvement of the relationship with employees 221 3.7285 0.07309 1.08651 1.181
Improvement of corporate image and reputation 221 4.1131 0.05881 0.87,431 0.764
Improvement of productivity and management efficiency 221 3.3394 0.07610 1.13,127 1.280
Achievement of economic benefits 221 2.5928 0.08280 1.23,094 1.515
Reduction of labour conflicts 221 2.6380 0.08473 1.25,958 1.587
Reduction of risks at work 221 3.4525 0.08273 1.22,984 1.513
Reduction in absenteeism 221 2.7149 0.08497 1.26,319 1.596
Development and consolidation of partnerships 221 2.9321 0.07829 1.16,381 1.354
Achievement of a competitive advantage over competitors 221 3.3394 0.08132 1.20,896 1.462

Table 5
Barriers perceived by SA 8000 certified organizations (a ¼ 0.930).

Barriers to certification N Mean Std. Deviation Variance

Statistic Statistic Std. Error Statistic Statistic

Adaptation of working conditions 221 2.9638 0.08481 1.26,079 1.590

Recruitment of staff with disabilities 221 3.0000 0.08263 1.22,845 1.509
Management training 221 2.6697 0.08124 1.20,772 1.459
Staff training 221 3.0588 0.07700 1.14,462 1.310
Establishment of an internal health and security supervision 221 3.3394 0.07717 1.14,722 1.316
Need for investment 221 3.0452 0.08647 1.28,549 1.652
Promoting of equal opportunities 221 2.9231 0.07475 1.11,129 1.235

Table 6
PCA on motivations (KMO ¼ 0.824).

Pattern Matrixa

Internal motivations External motivations Economic motivations

Creation of new partnerships 0.236 0.418 0.119

Competitive advantage over competitors 0.028 0.801 0.023
Greater impact on customers and suppliers 0.290 0.729 0.177
Improvement of the working environment 0.870 0.035 0.027
Improving the efficiency of business management 0.810 0.008 0.165
Improving the image and reputation 0.549 0.354 0.066
Achievement of economic benefits 0.033 0.140 ¡0.761
Presence of incentives at regional or local level 0.054 0.102 ¡0.896
To be promoters of a new way of doing business 0.819 0.068 0.020
Demand from the market 0.317 0.756 0.242
Enterprise risk management 0.359 0.151 0.474
Brand protection 0.464 0.115 0.197
Cumulative Variance 40.5 53.1 62.0

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Oblimin with Kaiser Normalization.
The statistically significant values are denoted in bold.
a
Rotation converged in 10 iterations.

Internal Motivations and it includes motivations related to internal
improving factors to have an efficient internal management of
functions and people; it is the third component in terms of rele-
vance with a cumulative variance of 40.5%. The second component
is called External Motivations and it refers to those external ele-
ments that prompted organizations to obtain SA 8000, such as a
good market share and an advantage over competitors. A third
component, called Economic Motivations, linked to economic fac-
tors, is also present; this is the first component in terms of variance
(62.0), stressing that economic reasons have been those most
perceived.
Two main components were found for the perceived benefits
(Table 7). The first one is called Stakeholder Involvement, and it is
related in obtaining benefits towards all stakeholders, internal and
external ones. The second component is called Internal Manage-
ment Improvement and it is related to perceived internal benefits, of
an economic, but also management type, on relations with em-
ployees. This second component is the most important one with a
cumulative variance of 62.5%.
Finally, after performing a factor analysis of variables affecting
the barriers perceived, two main components have been found
(Table 8). The first one in terms of importance, is called Economic
 F. Murmura et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 164 (2017) 1406e1418 1413

Table 7
PCA on benefits (KMO ¼ 0.912).

Pattern Matrixa

Stakeholder involvement Internal management improvement

Facilitated hiring 0.039 0.805

Increase in staff motivation 0.724 0.161
Increase in transparency towards stakeholders 0.915 0.170
Greater control over the Supply Chain 0.708 0.061
Improvement in customer loyalty 0.630 0.222
Improvement of the relationship with employees 0.788 0.059
Improvement of corporate image and reputation 0.775 0.076
Improvement of productivity and management efficiency 0.469 0.443
Achievement of economic benefits 0.183 ¡0.932
Reduction of labor conflicts 0.076 ¡0.764
Reduction of risks at work 0.359 0.480
Reduction in absenteeism 0.196 ¡0.726
Development and consolidation of partnerships 0.326 0.535
Achievement of a competitive advantage over competitors 0.433 0.249
Cumulative Variance 54.0 62.5

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Oblimin with Kaiser Normalization.
The statistically significant values are denoted in bold.
a
Rotation converged in 9 iterations.

Table 8 is a binary variable that takes the value 1 if the overall assessment
PCA on barriers (KMO ¼ 0.917). about SA 8000 implementation is greater than 3, otherwise, it is
Pattern Matrixa zero. The logistic model allows to predict the positive judgment
Training Economic
with a probability equal to 77.8% considering the main motivations,
barriers barrier which arose from the PCA (see Table 9).
The significant motivations favouring the positive judgment
Adaptation of working conditions 0.529 0.395
Recruitment of staff with disabilities 0.556 0.351 about SA 8000 implementation are four: to be promoters of a new
Management training 0.998 0.117 way of doing business and the demand from the market are sig-
Staff training 0.920 0.008 nificant at 5%; while the improvement of the work environment
Establishment of an internal health and security 0.352 0.580
and the business management efficiency are significant at 10%. All
supervision
Need for investment 0.047 0.963
other motivations have a positive coefficient, except for the pres-
Promoting of equal opportunities 0.824 0.066 ence of regional or local incentives, which have a negative sign, but
Cumulative Variance 70.6 78.1 not significant (see Table 10).
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Oblimin with The second logistic model estimates the probability of a positive
Kaiser Normalization. judgment about SA 8000 implementation considering the
The statistically significant values are denoted in bold. perceived benefits. The probability that the assessment is positive
a
Rotation converged in 7 iterations.
amounts to 79.6%, slightly greater than the precedent model based
on motivations. Thus, the perceived benefits would be more useful
to predict the positive judgment about the certification than the
Barriers (78.1%), and it is related to the need for investment, as it motivations, which have encouraged firms to SA 8000 imple-
could be assumed given the medium-small average size of firms in mentation (see Table 11).
the sample. The second component is called Training Barriers and it The improvement of corporate image and reputation, together
is related to difficulties in training staff and management (70.6%). with the greater control over the supply chain are the main
perceived benefits which significantly (at 5%) favour the formation
of an overall positive judgment. The reduction of absenteeism and
4.4. Logistic regression the increase of staff motivation significantly (at 10%) favour a pos-
itive appraisal about SA 8000 certification. While the reduction of
The first logistic regression model tries to identify which moti- labour conflicts would seem not to favour a positive judgment, the
vations may or may not favour the formation of an overall positive negative coefficient is significant at 10%. All other perceived bene-
judgment about SA 8000 implementation. The dependent variable fits have a positive coefficient, expect for the improvement of the
relationships with employees, but not statistically significant (see
Table 12).
Table 9
The probability of positive judgment based on motivations.

Observed Predicted 5. Discussions

Y_posjudg Percentage Correct
This study investigates in depth the perception of the SA 8000
0.00 1.00 standard by certified companies, with the focus on motivations,
Step 1 Y_posjudg 0.00 67 20 77.0 benefits and barriers to understand which motivations favour the
1.00 29 105 78.4 implementation, which benefits are perceived and which barriers
Overall Percentage 77.8
obstruct the certification process. Analyzing these items is useful to
a. The cut value is 0.62. understand if the implementation of an ethical management sys-
tem through the international SA 8000 standard would be a helpful
1414 F. Murmura et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 164 (2017) 1406e1418

Table 10
The motivations favouring the positive judgment.

B S.E. Wald df Sig. Exp(B)

Step 1a Competitive advantage over competitors 0.187 0.203 0.845 1 0.358 1.206
Greater impact on customers and suppliers 0.285 0.243 1.384 1 0.239 1.330
Improvement of the working environment 0.507 0.297 2.920 1 0.087 1.661
Improving the efficiency of business management 0.488 0.265 3.398 1 0.065 1.630
Achievement of economic benefits 0.266 0.204 1.691 1 0.193 1.305
Presence of incentives at regional or local level 0.129 0.190 0.460 1 0.498 0.879
To be promoters of a new way of doing business 0.493 0.213 5.339 1 0.021 1.637
Demand from the market 0.418 0.163 6.562 1 0.010 1.518
Constant 8.299 1.247 44.261 1 0.000 0.000

Model summary: 2 Log Likelihood 198.717; Cox & Snell R Square 0.357; Nagelkerke R Square 0.483; Mc Fadden R Square 0.329.
Hosmer and Lemeshow Test: Chi-square ¼ 6.654; Sig. 0.574.
The statistically significant values are denoted in bold.

Table 11 However, it seems that companies approach to the standard also

The probability of positive judgment based on perceived benefits. for a real desire to improve their internal working environment as
Observed Predicted stated in the literature analyzed (Adam and Rachman-Moore, 2004;
Y_posjudg Percentage Correct
Sobczak, 2003; Welford and Young, 2002). Moreover, the principal
component analysis shows that in the Italian context in addition to
0.00 1.00
internal and external motivations, there is a third factor related to
Step 1 Y_posjudg 0.00 69 18 79.3 economic aspects, that is the presence of incentives at regional or
1.00 27 107 79.9
local level, and it is the most important one in terms of cumulative
Overall Percentage 79.6
variance. Therefore, it can be said that the Italian legislation acts as
a. The cut value is 0.62. a driving force for certification, owing to the establishment of tax
incentives for certified companies (Bando Isi, 2016; www.inail.it)
and to the presence of a favourable public opinion. Moreover,
Italian companies are very careful to have a strong brand image,
tool to develop an efficient social and sustainable corporate strat-
linked to the features of “Made in Italy”, in fact this is defined as the
egy. This standard is associated with ethical management since it
major motivation of SA 8000 adoption. Therefore, the two moti-
measures social performance in areas important to social
vations above seem to be relevant in defining why Italy has the
accountability in workplaces. It reflects labor provisions contained
largest number of SA 8000 certified companies in the world, even if
within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Interna-
it is a developed country, and it has no difficulties of dialogue in its
tional Labour Organization (ILO) conventions. It also respects,
relations with major importing countries, an issue which devel-
complements and supports national labor laws around the world,
oping countries could potentially face (Rohitratana, 2002;
and currently helps secure ethical working conditions (http://
Stigzelius and Mark-Herbert, 2009).
www.sa-intl.org).
Moreover, the logistic regression shows that among the moti-
As stated by Lozano (2015), the forces that drive companies to
vations which define the positive judgment about SA 8000, there is
develop a sustainable strategy could be several, both of an internal
the real willingness of Italian companies to be promoters of a new
and external type, even if the latter linked to the necessity to have a
way of doing business.
strong brand and a good image (Frehs, 2003; Lozano, 2013) work as
The results also show that SA 8000 certified companies are, in
effective. In fact, image is put by the respondent companies as the
96.8% of cases, companies that have already implemented other
first motivation, which lead to develop the SA 8000 standard and it
International standards such as ISO 9001, ISO 14,001 and OHSAS
is also the first benefit perceived in terms of importance (Welford
18,001, creating an Integrated Management System (IMS) within
et al., 2003).

Table 12
The benefits favouring the positive judgment.

B S.E. Wald df Sig. Exp(B)

Step 1a Facilitated hiring 0.207 0.248 0.697 1 0.404 1.230

Increase in staff motivation 0.552 0.299 3.416 1 0.065 1.737
Increase in transparency towards stakeholders 0.049 0.253 0.037 1 0.847 1.050
Greater control over the Supply Chain 0.649 0.235 7.652 1 0.006 1.913
Improvement in customer loyalty 0.096 0.214 0.200 1 0.655 1.101
Improvement of the relationship with employees 0.017 0.284 0.004 1 0.952 0.983
Improvement of corporate image and reputation 0.819 0.268 9.310 1 0.002 2.267
Achievement of economic benefits 0.187 0.213 0.770 1 0.380 1.206
Reduction of labour conflicts 0.481 0.246 3.817 1 0.051 0.618
Reduction in absenteeism 0.452 0.242 3.479 1 0.062 1.572
Constant 8.163 1.291 39.956 1 0.000 0.000

Model summary: 2 Log Likelihood 190.928; Cox & Snell R Square 0.379; Nagelkerke R Square 0.514; Mc Fadden R Square 0.355. Hosmer and Lemeshow Test: Chi-
square ¼ 7.526; Sig. 0.481.
The statistically significant values are denoted in bold.
 F. Murmura et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 164 (2017) 1406e1418 1415

the company (Jørgensen et al., 2006; Murmura and Bravi, 2016).
These companies are aware of the certification process, more
motivated to achieve concrete results and consider CSR as impor-
tant part of managing a quality business strategy (Stigzelius and
Mark-Herbert, 2009).
As for perceived benefits, the research shows that the ones
favouring an overall positive judgment about SA 8000 certification
are principally external, with reference to the stakeholder
involvement. In more detail, the improvement of corporate image
and the greater control over supply chain, as shown in literature by
Remmen and Thrane (2004) and Jørgensen et al. (2006), are the
most perceived ones followed by the internal benefit of an increase
in staff motivation as stated by De Colle and Henriques, 2014
Finally, the barriers to SA 8000 implementation do not seem to
be perceived in an excessive way and among the most relevant
ones; there are those of an economic-financial type, as it is sup-
posedly because of the small-medium size of the respondent
companies. This is in line with what is stated in literature about the
difficulties for small and medium sized companies to implement
standards, which usually requires a consistent investment (Bremer
and Udovich, 2001; Henkle, 2005; Welford and Frost, 2006).
would be important to expand the research in other developed
countries since there is a gap in the analysis on the perception of
this certification in these countries. It would also be interesting to
compare SA 8000 perceptions between the developing and devel-
oped countries in order to analyze in detail of the similarities and
differences, by using this standard in different market conditions.
Finally, it could be central to focus the research from a quantitative
point of view, to assess how much the certification significantly and
positively contributes to the corporate performance, from an eco-
nomic, financial and social point of view.
Questionnaire for Italian SA 8000 certified companies
The following questionnaire is addressed to all Italian SA 8000
certified companies until December 31, 2015 and is aimed at col-
lecting data and information that will be analyzed in an anonymous
and aggregated form, as part of a research project at the University
of Urbino Carlo Bo, School of Economics, Department of Economics,
Society, Politics. The questionnaire is structured in 22 questions and
we ask the kindness to respond in the most truthful way possible.

6. Conclusions

This study contributes to the CS through the analysis of the

potential advantages and disadvantages that an organization can
achieve using the SA 8000 certification as a social and sustainable
development tool. As Siegel (2009) states, corporate decision to
engage in sustainable management is a strategic choice. Organi-
zations should try to adopt a proactive approach to certification in
order to exploit all benefits and to overcome the barriers. The
research attempted to cover the literary gap about enterprises'
perception of SA 8000 standard as an effective tool to develop a
corporate sustainable strategy. The results show that the ethical
standard may be used as a tool to internalize the corporate sus-
tainability, if effectively developed inside an IMS. It can be applied
both to reach the goals of better internal relationships with em-
ployees and to increase the transparency towards external
stakeholders.
The first limitation of this study may derive from the fact that
the sample is composed only of Italian companies, although this
effect was wanted to understand motivations, perceptions and
trends of this international standard in the Italian market. Italy has
the largest number of SA 8000 certified companies in the world and
could be used as a benchmark for other organizations in developed
countries that are willing to adopt it, or have already adopted it.
Indeed, in today's global markets, the challenges that companies in
other developed countries have to face are very similar, and man-
agers could consider the results of this study to understand if SA
8000 could be a useful tool for creating a socially responsible
corporate attitude and be a source of a competitive advantage over
competitors. This gives rise to a second limitation; this study
couldn't be used as a model for developing countries, such as Asian
countries (i.e. China, Vietnam, Pakistan, Thailand), which have very
different market features, and are driven to obtain the certification
from the pressures of multinational importing companies as shown
in literature by Rohitratana (2002), Stigzelius and Mark-Herbert
(2009) and Welford and Frost (2006). These limitations can raise
suggestions for future research. It would be interesting to expand
the following research lines. Firstly, it could be useful to compare
the different assessments of the standard from service and
manufacturing companies, in order to understand if it can be more
effectively used in the market of goods or services. Moreover, it
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