Widening the lens: Multilevel drivers of firm corporate social performance

Ioannou and Serafeim's (J Int Bus Stud 43:1–31, 2012) JIBS Decade Award-winning article outlines the impact of national institutional differences on firm corporate social performance (CSP). We build on their contribution by proposing that to identify how national institutions shape CSP, we need to consider various levels that have an impact on this relationship, i.e., the micro, firm, subnational, and supranational levels. We elaborate on each of these levels to argue that scholars should consider adopting a broader approach to analyzing CSP drivers. We develop potential research opportunities to inspire future scholars to extend our understanding of national institutions and their influence on CSP. These insights also aim to inform the connection between firm behavior and CSP performance.