Abstract
The relationship between innovation and CSR has so far resulted in studies that 1) mainly analyze the integration of CSR into the business as a generator of innovations and thus of economic performance, or 2) focus on the strategic dimensions of environmental innovation. Few publications examine the impact of innovation on CSR or the double relationship. The aim of this paper is to analyze the double relationship between innovative behavior and commitment to CSR, using an original scale to measure CSR performance, through the results of a survey of food companies in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. A bi-directional relation is confirmed: a commitment to CSR is positively related to innovation and reciprocally, but more assertively in the first direction. However, there is a positive effect of economic performance in the relationship between innovation and social performance, which suggests – against most of the literature – that the economic performance is a prerequisite for social performance.