Nexus between oil price uncertainty and corporate social responsibility: evidence from US firms

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guenichi Hassen ◽  
Khalfaoui Hamdi

PurposeThis paper examines the effect of oil price uncertainty on corporate social responsibility (CSR) for 507 US firms over the period 1985–2019.Design/methodology/approachTo investigate the nexus between oil price uncertainty and CSR, we have proceeded with a fixed-effects panel regression model over the period 1985–2019.FindingsUsing a dataset of 507 US firms, different specifications of CSR and two alternatives measures of oil price uncertainty, we show that oil price uncertainty negatively influences the CSR in the global US panel and firm's characterized panel. This negative effect is dependent on firms' size, firm's age and value of book share of firms.Research limitations/implicationsUS firms are exposed to more risk when carrying high levels of debt, resulting in reduced spending to improve social and environmental conditions. While the negative effect of oil price uncertainty on CSR is exacerbated in economic crisis periods.Practical implicationsUS firms are influenced by energy price volatility especially by oil price fluctuations which are the main factor of American economic growth. The rise of oil price uncertainty reduces sustainable corporate development and investment in the green economy.Social implicationsRethinking renewable energies as an alternative solution in order to guarantee the performance and sustainability of social, environmental and cultural activities.Originality/valueYoung and small firms, lower-share outstanding firms and high book value per share firms are the most negatively affected by oil price uncertainty and therefore their social responsibilities are reduced. However, by introducing interaction variables in the main model, we find that the most indebted firms on one hand and big firms and high-number shares outstanding firms, on the other hand, are the most influenced by oil price uncertainty which consequently limits their social and environmental responsibility.

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (8) ◽  
pp. 1759-1777 ◽  
Author(s):  
SoYeon Jung ◽  
Seoki Lee ◽  
Michael Dalbor

Purpose The purpose of the current study is to investigate the possible existence of a synergistic effect of internationalization and corporate social responsibility (CSR) on a firm’s value performance. Design/methodology/approach To empirically test the argument, this study analyzed data from 40 US-based publicly traded restaurant companies (251 observations) from 2000 to 2011 by performing a two-way fixed-effects model. Findings This study’s findings support the hypothesis that when implemented simultaneously, internationalization and CSR have a negative synergistic impact on a restaurant firm’s value performance. Practical implications Restaurant managers might need to inquire thoroughly into the timing and content of CSR investment strategies while entering into new international markets. Restaurant executives may additionally need to focus more on effective risk management than other issues (e.g. growth or reputation) when developing both internationalization and CSR strategies simultaneously. Originality/value By suggesting and demonstrating a negative synergistic effect of internationalization and CSR on a firm’s value, this study presents new and unique insights into previous research regarding the combined effect of the two strategies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 143
Author(s):  
Dody Hapsoro ◽  
Ratna Dwi Sulistyarini

This study examines the effect of profitability and liquidity on CSR disclosure and its implication on economic consequences. This study was driven by the inconsistency of the results of previous studies in testing the factors that influence the CSR disclosure. This study used the CSR disclosure to measure Corporate Social Responsibility disclosure index (CSRDI) based on the index of the Global Reporting Initiatives G4 Guideline (GRI G4). The results show that profitability has a significant and positive effect on CSR disclosure, while liquidity does not affect CSR disclosure. Furthermore, CSR disclosure has a negative effect on the bid-ask spread, CSR disclosure has a positive effect on trading volume, while CSR disclosure doesn't affect stock price volatility. This study impklies as the following;: companies that have high profitability should have strong commitment to disclose corporate social responsibility because it can help reduce information asymmetry.


2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (8) ◽  
pp. 1804-1817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyungyeol (Anthony) Kim ◽  
Kevin K. Byon ◽  
Hansung Song ◽  
Kyungsik Kim

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the role that employees play in helping embed a corporate social responsibility (CSR)-advocated culture into their organizations through a voice behavior. This study examines: first, the effect of employees’ negative perceptions (i.e. persuasion knowledge (PK)) of CSR on voice behavior; second, the influence of employees’ motivational dispositions regarding goals (i.e. promotion focus) on voice behavior; and third, the positive moderating effect of promotion focus in the negative relationship between PK and voice behavior. Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered from 168 employees representing all five Korean professional sport organizations at an inaugural sport marketing workshop, a moderated multiple regression analysis was performed to test the hypotheses. Findings The results indicated a marginal negative effect of PK on voice behavior and a significant positive effect of promotion focus on voice behavior. Further, it was found that promotion focus played a positive moderating role in the negative relationship between PK and voice behavior. Originality/value Although employees bear much of the burden of and responsibility for enacting ethical and competitive CSR practices, a paucity of the research has addressed their contributions to CSR as internal promoters of the activities. The present study contributes to the CSR literature by focusing on the role of employees in voicing CSR and empirically examining how promotion focus played a positive role in the relationship between PK and voice behavior.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mashiyat Tasnia ◽  
Syed Musa Syed Jaafar AlHabshi ◽  
Romzie Rosman

Purpose Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is considered one of the crucial branding and promotional tools for banks to legitimise their role in society to become socially and environmentally responsible corporate citizen. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of CSR on stock price volatility of the US banks. This study further examined the moderating role of tax on the relationship between CSR and stock price volatility. Design/methodology/approach This study uses the random-effects panel regression estimation technique to test the hypotheses. The authors include a sample of 37 US banks from 2013 to 2017 with 144 bank-years observation. The authors consider the environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores from Refinitiv as a proxy for CSR. The financial data are also collected from the Refinitiv Datastream database. Findings This study finds a significant and positive relationship between CSR and stock price volatility, which indicates that shareholders of the US banks may not prefer excess concentration on CSR because of the additional cost of investment associated with implementing CSR. Also, tax payments and stock price volatility show a significant positive association, which implies that there is a higher possibility of an increase in stock price volatility if the tax rate increases. Generally, shareholders are not interested in paying more taxes, so they may swap the market instead of paying more tax. On the other hand, the authors find a non-significant moderating effect of tax payment on CSR-volatility nexus. Originality/value Previous studies mainly focussed on CSR and financial performance of banks. Conversely, studies focussing on CSR and stock volatility are limited. This study will fill the gap in the literature by considering the effect of CSR on the stock price volatility of the US banks.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hien Thi Tran

Purpose This paper aims to examine how independent directors (IDs) affect a firm’s performance measured on profitability, with corporate social responsibility (CSR) interaction. Design/methodology/approach The study uses an international data set of 1,817 firm-year observations from 545 large companies in 20 countries across Asia, America and Europe, and the fixed-effects estimation method. Findings The direct effect of IDs alone on profitability is statistically insignificant; however, the synergic effect of IDs and CSR on profitability becomes significantly positive when firms disclose CSR information. Practical implications The profitability is partially sourced from the synergy of IDs and stakeholders through CSR. IDs may use CSR disclosure to win stakeholders’ goodwill. This goodwill will likely be transformed into profitability. The empirical results indicate that there should be more need for IDs’ engagement in CSR projects as the resources of IDs combined with external stakeholders can be of important value to firms. Originality/value This paper reveals the underlying mechanism that firm-idiosyncratic value is formed using a combination of ID resources and stakeholders through CSR. This research extends the literature of IDs’ efficiency and effectiveness and confirms the agency theory and resource dependence theory.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emna Miladi ◽  
Jamel Chouaibi

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and earnings management (EM) in US commercial banks and examines whether the chief executive officer (CEO) power can moderate this relationship. Design/methodology/approach For a sample of American commercial banks covering 2009–2018, several equations and regressions are used to measure the main proxies for bank EM. The authors use the fixed effects model and generalized method of moment to investigate the CSR–EM relationship. Findings The authors find a significant positive relation between CSR and EM. Moreover, the authors find that CEO power moderates the CSR–EM relationship. This study also suggests a bidirectional relationship between CSR and EM. Research limitations/implications The findings of this paper have important policy implications for policymakers, regulators and investors in their attempts to constrain EM practices and enhance the quality of financial reporting in US commercial banks. Originality/value The study contributes to the literature by exploring the relationship between CSR practices and firm EM by particularly focusing on banking. This study offers new insights into whether the association between CSR practices and EM is moderated by the CEO power. To the best of the knowledge, the relationship between CSR and EM is not studied yet with the moderating role of CEO power.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruijie Jin ◽  
Xiaoxian Jiang ◽  
Ao Shen

Purpose This study aims to examine the effect of independent directors on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) gap – a misalignment between internal and external CSR. More specifically, the authors investigate how two types of independent directors (i.e. politically connected and foreign) affect a firm’s CSR gap in China. Design/methodology/approach The authors use the fixed-effects regression model to analyze the panel dataset, which is conducted by a sample of Chinese publicly listed firms from 2008 to 2015. Findings The findings indicate that, on average, firms undertake more external than internal CSR actions. Importantly, the authors find that firms having politically connected independent directors on boards have a wider gap between their internal and external CSR. In contrast, firms having foreign independent directors on boards have a narrower gap between their internal and external CSR. Practical implications This study provides insights into the role of independent directors in increasing or decreasing the gap between a firm’s internal and external CSR actions, which offers important implications for policymakers and investors. Originality/value This study extends the literature on the causes of the CSR gap and deepens the theoretical understanding of the governance role of independent directors in China.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahbaz Sheikh

Purpose This study empirically aims to examine the relation between CEO power and firm engagement in corporate social responsibility (CSR). It undertakes an in-depth analysis of how the structural, ownership and expert dimensions of CEO power affect individual dimensions of CSR. Design/methodology/approach This study uses ordinary least squares and industry fixed-effects regressions. It also uses instrumental variable-generalized method of moment regressions to test the robustness of empirical results. Findings Results indicate that CEO power is negatively related to CSR. However, the relation between CEO power and CSR is influenced by CSR strengths, as power is negatively related to CSR strengths and is not related to CSR concerns. Results also indicate that the structural and ownership dimensions of CEO power are negatively related to CSR, and the expert dimension has no significant effect on CSR. Moreover, results show that CEO power is not related to the product dimension of CSR performance. Research limitations/implications CEO power is measured using the structural, ownership and expert dimensions of power. However, CEOs also acquire power through social networks and connections outside the corporation which is not covered in this study. Originality/value This study uses comprehensive measures of CEO power and CSR. It is the first study that examines the effect of dimensions of CEO power on individual dimensions of CSR performance.


2021 ◽  
pp. 000765032110193
Author(s):  
Shawn Pope ◽  
Jimi Kim

According to surveys of companies, branding is one of the main objectives of their corporate social responsibility (CSR). With advantageous data from Brand Finance, we address three contextual factors that may condition the relationship between CSR and brand value. First, we hypothesize that the relationship between CSR and brand value obtains across major world regions and industrial sectors (“the convergence thesis”). Second, we hypothesize that the relationship has weakened with time, as companies have had increasing difficulty using CSR to differentiate their brands in a sea of CSR-espousing competitors (“the crowding out thesis”). Third, we hypothesize that the relationship between CSR and brand value is weaker where a brand’s identity is different from that of its corporate owner, which may make it difficult for observers to readily link (corporate-level) CSR with its potential (lower level) brand beneficiaries (“the identity-match thesis”). We support these hypotheses with random-effects, fixed-effects, and instrumental-variable regressions before ending with contributions, limitations, implications, and potential next steps.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Panagiotis E. Dimitropoulos

Purpose Over the past decades, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been considered as a significant corporate strategy and also has been documented as a main information dissemination mechanism of corporations to shareholders, creditors and other external stakeholders. This fact makes the CSR activities and CSR performance interconnected with the quality of firms’ financial reporting. The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of CSR performance on the earnings management (EM) behaviour using a sample from 24 European Union (EU) countries summing up to 121,154 firm-year observations over the period 2003–2018. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a multi-country data set with various dimensions of CSR performance including indexes regarding workforce, community relations, product responsibility and human rights protection. The empirical analysis is conducted with panel data regressions. Findings Evidence supports the negative association between CSR and EM indicating that high CSR performing firms are associated with less income smoothing and discretionary accruals, thus with higher financial reporting quality. Practical implications Regulatory agencies in the EU could use the findings of the study for the improvement of the accounting framework via enhancing the use and publications of social and environmental responsibility information and reports. Social implications Also, the current paper could be of interest not only to academic researchers but also to potential and existing investors in European corporations. The negative association between CSR performance and EM could be used by investors in assessing the risk of firms and the quality and reliability of their financial information. Originality/value This is the first study within the EU, which considers the multi-facet characteristics of CSR on the quality of accounting earnings and offers useful policy implications for regulators and investors.


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