Corporate social responsibility: a driving force for exploration and exploitation in smes?

While a growing body of research has investigated the relationship between CSR and innovation, the effect of CSR on exploration and exploitation, as ex-ante strategic objectives in pursuing innovation, has been overlooked. Our study therefore provides empirical evidence of the relationship between the adoption of CSR practices and the pursued strategies of exploration and exploitation in SMEs. Based on a survey conducted within 488 French SMEs and on a cluster and discriminant analysis, our study shows that CSR can contribute to ambidexterity, as the intense adoption of a large range of CSR practices is typical of firms that both explore and exploit. We also find that SMEs that focus on exploitation are characterized by the intense adoption of a low range of CSR practices, whereas those that focus on exploration are characterized by the low adoption of several CSR practices.