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Research papers on Corporate social responsibility

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  1. Corporate Social Responsibility: a Theory of the Firm Perspective

    Abagail McWilliams, Donald S. Siegel · 2001 · Academy of Management Review · 5,796 citations

    We outline a supply and demand model of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Based on this framework, we hypothesize that a firm's level of CSR will depend on its size, level of diversification, research and development, advertising, government sales, consumer income, labor market conditions, and stage in the industry life cycle. From these hypotheses, we conclude that there is an “ideal” level of CSR, which managers can determine via cost-benefit analysis, and that there is a neutral relationship between CSR and financial performance.

  2. Voluntary Nonfinancial Disclosure and the Cost of Equity Capital: The Initiation of Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting

    Dan S. Dhaliwal, Oliver Zhen Li, Albert Tsang, et al. · 2010 · The Accounting Review · 4,049 citations

    ABSTRACT: We examine a potential benefit associated with the initiation of voluntary disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities: a reduction in firms’ cost of equity capital. We find that firms with a high cost of equity capital in the previous year tend to initiate disclosure of CSR activities in the current year and that initiating firms with superior social responsibility performance enjoy a subsequent reduction in the cost of equity capital. Further, initiating firms with superior social responsibility performance attract dedicated institutional investors and analyst coverage. Moreover, these analysts achieve lower absolute forecast errors and dispersion. Finally, we

  3. Corporate social responsibility and access to finance

    Beiting Cheng, Ioannis Ioannou, George Serafeim · 2013 · Strategic Management Journal · 3,796 citations

    We investigate whether superior performance on corporate social responsibility ( CSR ) strategies leads to better access to finance. We hypothesize that better access to finance can be attributed to (1) reduced agency costs due to enhanced stakeholder engagement and (2) reduced informational asymmetry due to increased transparency. Using a large cross‐section of firms, we find that firms with better CSR performance face significantly lower capital constraints. We provide evidence that both better stakeholder engagement and transparency around CSR performance are important in reducing capital constraints. The results are further confirmed using several alternative measures of capital constrai

  4. Corporate social responsibility and financial performance: correlation or misspecification?

    Abagail McWilliams, Donald S. Siegel · 2000 · Strategic Management Journal · 3,595 citations

    Researchers have reported a positive, negative, and neutral impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on financial performance. This inconsistency may be due to flawed empirical analysis. In this paper, we demonstrate a particular flaw in existing econometric studies of the relationship between social and financial performance. These studies estimate the effect of CSR by regressing firm performance on corporate social performance, and several control variables. This model is misspecified because it does not control for investment in R&D, which has been shown to be an important determinant of firm performance. This misspecification results in upwardly biased estimates of the financial i

  5. Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Financial Performance

    J. McGuire, Alison Sundgren, T. Schneeweis · 1988 · Academy of Management Journal · 3,254 citations

    Using Fortune magazine's ratings of corporate reputations, we analyzed the relationships between perceptions of firms’ corporate social responsibility and measures of their financial performance. Results show that a firm's prior performance, assessed by both stock-market returns and accounting-based measures, is more closely related to corporate social responsibility than is subsequent performance. Results also show that measures of risk are more closely associated with social responsibility than previous studies have suggested.

  9. Washing Away Your Sins? Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Social Irresponsibility, and Firm Performance

    Charles Kang, Frank Germann, Rajdeep Grewal · 2015 · Journal of Marketing · 547 citations

    The authors address the questions of whether and how corporate social responsibility (CSR) relates to firm performance and, in so doing, identify four mechanisms pertaining to this relationship: (1) slack resources lead to CSR (i.e., slack resources mechanism) (2) CSR improves performance (i.e., good management mechanism), (3) CSR makes amends for past corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) (i.e., penance mechanism), and (4) CSR insures against subsequent CSI (i.e., insurance mechanism). Using an integrative approach, the authors incorporate the four mechanisms in their empirical model specification. Specifically, to model the interplay among CSR, CSI, and firm performance and to test the f

  10. Understanding the influence of corporate social responsibility on corporate identity, image, and firm performance

    Sebastian Arendt, Malte Brettel · 2010 · Management Decision · 368 citations

    Purpose The aim of this paper is to examine the effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on corporate identity, image and firm performance in a multi‐industry setting, in order to support evidence that the effects of CSR differ in different industry settings. Design/methodology/approach The study, based on pre‐existing CSR scales, was tested using data collected from a sample of 389 European companies. Hypotheses are based on the examination of the moderating effects of CSR using a group comparison method. Findings Contingency models show that CSR triggers the corporate‐image‐building process and that its relationship to company success varies significantly based on company size, ind

  13. Corporate social responsibility and firm performance in the hotel industry. The mediating role of green human resource management and environmental outcomes

    M. Úbeda‐García, E. Claver-Cortés, B. Marco‐Lajara, et al. · 2021 · Journal of Business Research · 271 citations

    Abstract In this research two concepts of current relevance in the management literature are related, such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and green human resource management (GHRM). So far, research in both fields has been developed in parallel; However, we consider that it is necessary to deepen the connection between both variables and their impact on the environmental and financial outcomes of firms. This paper aims to analyze the relationship between CSR and firm performance, considering on the one hand the direct relationship, and on the other hand, the possible mediation in said relationship of some variables such as GHRM and environmental outcomes. A variance-based structura

  14. Climate Risk, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Firm Performance

    Aydin Ozkan, H. Temiz, Y. Yildiz · 2022 · British Journal of Management · 223 citations

    We examine the impact of climate risk on firm performance with a focus on the moderating role of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Further, we explore how the interaction between climate risk and CSR changes with national culture and religion. Our findings show that firms in countries with greater climate risks are associated with higher levels of CSR activities, possibly suggesting that firms respond to climate risks by engaging in more CSR activities. We then provide robust evidence that higher CSR significantly mitigates the performance-reducing impact of climate risk. Importantly, the moderating effect of CSR is more pronounced in countries characterized by low individualism and hig

  15. Ethical leadership, corporate social responsibility, firm reputation, and firm performance: A serial mediation model

    Nguyen Ngọc Tung, N. P. Nguyen, Tu Thanh Hoai · 2021 · Heliyon · 169 citations

    Due to globalization expansion, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is no longer an unfamiliar concept in emerging markets. In the case of Vietnam, its implementation will be influenced by several factors, including ethical leadership. Drawing upon the stakeholder theory, this study develops and tests a serial mediation model to explain how CSR and firm reputation can connect ethical leadership to enhanced firm performance. The PLS-SEM results from survey data collected from 653 mid- and top-level managers from large companies in Vietnam indicate that ethical leadership positively influences CSR, which, in turn, results in enhanced firm reputation and firm performance. This study contribut

  16. Corporate social responsibility, firm performance and the moderating effect of earnings management in Chinese firms

    Muhammad Safdar Sial, Chun-mei Zheng, T. Khan, et al. · 2018 · Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration · 108 citations

    Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firm performance and the moderating role of earnings management on the relationship between CSR and firm performance. Design/methodology/approach The empirical study used the updated data set (3,481 unbalanced observations for period 2009–2015) from Chinese listed companies on Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchanges. The generalized method of moments (GMM) statistical approach has been used for the analysis. The authors utilized STATA to test GMM on a sample of Chinese listed firms data over the period 2009–2015. The unbalanced sample obtained 3,481 observations from China stoc

  17. Corporate social responsibility's influence on firm risk and firm performance: the mediating role of firm reputation

    Zia ur Rehman, Asad Khan, Asim Rahman · 2020 · Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management · 107 citations

    Abstract The aim of the article is to analyze the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives by firm on firm performance and firm risk. Moreover, the mediating role of firm reputation in CSR/performance and CSR/risk relationship is also examined. Data were collected from European and Asian firms listed on Fortune's Most Admired Countries for the period 2014–2018. Using logit regression model and OLS regressions, we find that CSR has a significant positive influence on firm reputation and firm performance whereas on firm risk it is negative. Based on our results, we also confirm that firm reputation does mediate the relationship between CSR‐firm performan

  18. Corporate social responsibility activities and firm performance: The moderating role of strategic emphasis and industry competition

    Xingping Jia · 2020 · Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management · 103 citations

    AbstractThis study extends the literature on the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and firm performance by incorporating the role of strategic emphasis, defined as the resources that firms allocate to value appropriation (with the emphasis on advertising expenditure) versus value creation (with the emphasis on research and development investment), and how industry competition creates a three‐way interaction with CSR and strategic emphasis to affect firm performance. Using data from 3,401 publicly traded firm‐year observations in China for the years 2009–2015, the study demonstrates that CSR enhances firm performance when the firm's strategy emphasizes valu

  19. Corporate social responsibility, firm performance, and firm risk: the role of firm reputation

    Min Liu, Weijie Lu · 2019 · Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics · 76 citations

    ABSTRACT This paper examines the impacts of firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagements on firm performance and firm risk, and explores the underlying mechanisms. We empirically demonstrate the active effect of CSR activities on firm performance improvement and risk mitigation. We further examine the role of firm reputation with published data from Fortune’s Most Admired Companies list. We document a significant positive association between CSR and firm reputation, and find that firm reputation is positively related to firm performance while negatively related to firm risk. Based on our analyses, firm reputation mediates the effects of CSR on firm performance and firm risk. This

  20. Does corporate social responsibility mediate the relationship between corporate governance and firm performance? Empirical evidence from BRICS countries

    Waseem Akhter, Arshad Hassan · 2023 · Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management · 52 citations

    This study analyzes how corporate governance affects financial performance and explores the role of corporate social responsibility as a mediator for 495 firms located in emerging economies in BRICS countries, including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa from 2011 to 2021. This study evaluates the impact of various board characteristics such as board size, board independence, and gender diversity, as well as ownership structure elements such as family, foreign, and institutional shareholding, on firm performance in BRICS countries. This study uses a generalized method of moments (GMM) methodology to examine the relationship between corporate governance, corporate social responsib

  21. Corporate social responsibility and family firm performance: A meta‐analytic review

    S. Oduro, Rana Muhammad Umar, Alfredo De Massis, et al. · 2024 · Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management · 45 citations

    Although corporate social responsibility (CSR) has received considerable attention in family firms, empirical findings on the CSR/family firm performance nexus are mixed and inconsistent. This meta‐analytic review aims to clarify the mixed results by establishing the degree to which CSR influences family firm performance and to test the moderating effects of contextual and methodological factors. Integrating a sample of 85 studies published up to May 2023 with 152,265 observations and employing a psychometric meta‐analysis through bivariate and meta‐regression analyses, we find that the average effect of CSR on family firm performance is positive, though small (≤0.20). Our study further reve

  23. The Mediating Role of Green Technology Innovation with Corporate Social Responsibility, Firm Financial, and Environmental Performance: The Case of Chinese Manufacturing Industries

    Xiaoyang Xu, Muhammad Imran, M. Ayaz, et al. · 2022 · Sustainability · 39 citations

    This research aims to examine the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR), firm environmental performance (FEP), and firm financial performance (FFP), as well as how green technology innovation performs a mediating role in this relationship. The manufacturing firms listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchanges were selected as the representative sample for the study, and data were gathered from 470 managers and directors of manufacturing firms using a simple random sampling technique. The response rate was 87%. For hypothesis testing, PLS-SEM was used. In addition, green technology innovation is a positive and significant mediator between corporate social responsibility and firm

  24. The role of corporate governance and reputation in the disclosure of corporate social responsibility and firm performance

    Faiza Siddiqui, Yusheng Kong, Kayhan Tajeddini · 2023 · Heliyon · 36 citations

    This aim of this research is to examine the role of Corporate Governance and Corporate Reputation (CR) in the disclosure of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSRD) and firm performance. A moderating – mediation model addresses this research objective based on 3588 observations from 833 firms from 31 countries between 2005 and 2011. Significant effect of CSRD on CR was observed, especially contributing to firm performance. The results verified a moderate effect of “corporate governance” on “CSRD” and CR. The study also demonstrated how CEO integrity, ownership concentration, and CR contribute to fostering CSRD and firm performance. This paper also discusses about the theoretical contributions

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