Are CSR disclosures relevant for investors? Empirical evidence from Germany

2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (6) ◽  
pp. 1359-1382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank H.M. Verbeeten ◽  
Ramin Gamerschlag ◽  
Klaus Möller
Keyword(s):  
Capital Market ◽  
Firm Value ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Value Relevance ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Global Reporting Initiative ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Market Effects ◽  
Environmental Disclosures ◽  
Corporate Social

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether narrative corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures (the provision of textual information on companies’ environmental and social performance to external stakeholders) are associated with firm value in Germany. Design/methodology/approach – Based on the global reporting initiative guidelines, the paper uses content analysis to assess the value relevance of CSR disclosures of 130 German companies over four years. Findings – The results show that CSR information is value-relevant, but the value relevance of CSR information differs among CSR categories. Specifically, the disclosure of social information is positively associated with firm value yet environmental disclosures are not. Practical implications – The results confirm that management should be aware of the potential capital market effects of voluntary CSR disclosures, even though such disclosures may be directed at other stakeholders. Originality/value – Germany is an interesting setting as CSR disclosures are voluntarily, even though the institutional environment appears sensitive to CSR disclosures. Despite this, little research has focussed upon the value-relevance of CSR-disclosures in Germany. In addition, the results confirm that management should be aware of the potential capital market effects of voluntary CSR disclosures, even though they are not directed at shareholders as such.

Corporate social responsibility and corporate payout policy: the impact of product market competition

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahbaz Sheikh
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Market Competition ◽  
Global Reporting Initiative ◽  
Product Markets ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate if and how firm performance in corporate social responsibility (CSR) is related to corporate payouts and how competition in product markets influences this relation.Design/methodology/approachLogit and Tobit regressions are used to estimate the relation between firm performance in CSR and corporate payouts.FindingsThe empirical results show that firm performance in CSR is positively related to the propensity and level of dividends, repurchases and total payouts (dividends plus repurchases). However, the positive relation between CSR performance and corporate payouts is significant only for firms that operate in low competition markets. In high competition markets, CSR performance does not seem to have any significant relation with corporate payouts.Research limitations/implicationsThis study uses MSCI social ratings data to measure net scores on CSR. There is no systematic conceptual reason for measuring social performance using MSCI social ratings. Future research should use other measures of social performance (e.g. Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Accountability Ratings and Global Reporting Initiative to estimate the relation between CSR and corporate payouts).Practical implicationsCSR firms are more likely to choose higher payouts when they operate in low competition markets.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the stream of research that evaluates the payout choices of CSR firms and competition in product markets. To the author's knowledge, this is the first study that documents the impact of market competition on the relation between firm performance in CSR and corporate payouts.

Firm value and social contribution with the interaction of corporate governance

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Noronha ◽  
Jieqi Guan ◽  
Jing Fan
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Firm Value ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Chinese Market ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Contribution ◽  
Corporate Social

Purpose This study aims to investigate the relationship between corporate social contribution measures and investors’ reaction under the effect of corporate governance for firms listed in China, the largest emerging economy in the world. Corporate social contribution is examined from an informative perspective by using a financial indicator – social contribution value per share (SCVPS) brought up by the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2008. Design/methodology/approach Data are obtained from two channels: financial information during 2007-2015 generated from database and social accounting information manually collected from the 2007-2015 annual reports and social reports. Findings It is predicted that investors’ reaction toward corporate social contribution becomes stronger for companies with higher corporate governance quality. Practical implications This paper is one of the first to use Chinese SCVPS data to indicate the informativeness of social contribution toward firm value. It can serve as a valuable reference to both investors and companies in terms of the issue of social contribution. Social implications The study highlights the importance of social contribution on firm value by using an empirical approach in the Chinese market. The study can be used as a reference for many other developing countries in the world. Originality/value The findings of this study can provide guidance to investors on how to evaluate a firm’s social performance and encourage companies to improve the transparency of their social reporting, as well as the quality of corporate governance.

The influence of institutional environment on corporate responsibility disclosures in Ghana

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edem Emerald Welbeck
Keyword(s):  
Significant Relationship ◽  
Corporate Responsibility ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Foreign Firms ◽  
Global Reporting Initiative ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Ifrs Adoption ◽  
Environmental Disclosures

Purpose The study aims to analyse the level and trend of corporate responsibility disclosures (CRD) in annual reports of listed firms on the Ghana Stock Exchange against the Global Reporting Index and to examine the influence of the institutional environment on such disclosures. Design/methodology/approach A content analysis of annual reports of 17 listed firms in Ghana over a 10-year period (2003-2012) of social and environmental disclosures using the Global reporting indicators as the standard was undertaken. A multiple regression analysis using the random effect estimator was used to test institutional factors influencing CRD. Findings The study finds that listed firms in Ghana disclose some responsibility information; and this has increased over the period, with a significant dip in the year 2010. The study also documents a significant amount of disclosures post International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption. The increase in disclosure is particularly explained by IFRS adoption by Ghana and the number of women on boards. This study finds a positive but weak relationship between companies’ association with foreign firms, majority shareholders and CRD. A positive significant relationship is confirmed for firm size, while capital intensity shows a negative significant relationship with CRD in Ghana. Research limitations/implications The word search may not capture similar words not known to the author, and the words used may have different meanings. In addition, bias may arise from the limited sample size and the choice of companies. Regulators must enforce existing environmental guidelines and streamline reporting for social and environmental issues to help managers disclose more social and environmental information. Originality/value The study highlights CRD and its drivers from Ghana, an emerging African economy. To the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to undertake a longitudinal study on social and environmental disclosures of listed companies in Ghana against the Global Reporting Initiative and to determine the effect of IFRS adoption in Ghana on CRD.

Do ethical firms create value?

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khondkar Karim ◽  
SangHyun Suh ◽  
Jiali Tang
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Firm Value ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Value Relevance ◽  
Abnormal Returns ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Methodology ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Event Study Methodology

Purpose – This study aims to examine the value relevance of ethics information. Design/methodology/approach – This study adopts event study methodology to test the market’s reaction around the announcements of World’s Most Ethical Companies (WME), a ranking based on firms’ overall corporate social responsibility performance. The authors calculate the abnormal returns of firms on the WME lists to investigate how stockholders respond to the disclosure of ethical information. Findings – The authors find significant and positive abnormal returns around the announcements of the lists of ethical firms. Specifically, positive market reaction on the first day after the WME announcement (Day 1) is observed. Originality/value – This study contributes to the existing literature of the relationship between business ethics and firm value. The authors provide evidence that ethics can be aligned with firms’ financial goals. Further, this study is the first to use the WME announcement as a proxy for ethical firms.

The development of corporate social responsibility in accounting research: evidence from Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 671-688
Author(s):  
Juniati Gunawan ◽  
SeTin SeTin
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Global Reporting Initiative ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Csr Disclosure ◽  
Corporate Social

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze accounting research developments in the area of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Indonesia for the period 2012-2016. The focus of CSR literature review is on disclosures and not to examine CSR activities or programs. Design/methodology/approach This study applied a descriptive approach to provide evidence on the major variables that have been examined in CSR research and what is the measurement used to measure CSR disclosures. The CSR research development was traced through mapping articles published in the international journal with the subject of category accounting (Schimago Journal rank quartile Q3 and Q4), and national journal (national accredited accounting journals, as well as the proceedings of National Symposium on Accounting [NSA]). A total of 5,971 articles were reviewed and resulted in 31 Indonesian CSR articles in accounting which are dominated by quantitative methods (93.5 per cent), and as many as 28 articles were analyzed. Findings The analyses result showed that (1) 75 per cent of CSR research were in the areas of financial accounting and capital markets, followed by tax accounting and corporate governance; (2) The most widely used variable associated with CSR was financial performance; which (3) More than 80 per cent of the CSR research used annual reports as the source of data with only 19.23 per cent using sustainability reports; (4) 65.38 per cent of the CSR disclosure measurement referred to used other CSR disclosure lists, other than the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Research limitations/implications The study results are important as a basis for future studies to provide a platform for the analysis to cover the gap between CSR studies in the academic and business areas for not only Indonesia but also other countries. Comparative studies between countries will be essential for future research to provide empirical evidence on the development of CSR research in accounting fields. Practical implications The study provides comprehensive pictures in how CSR disclosures have been analyzed in academic area so that practitioners in business field are able to understand the results on which variables are associated with CSR. Further, the practitioners could enhance their CSR implementations and reports to gain the utmost benefits for their business. Originality/value This study is considered as the first CSR literature review analyzed in accounting research publications. As CSR topics have been emerging developed in many field of studies, reviewing this topic in the accounting area resulted interesting findings. These findings are useful for not only Indonesia but also other countries. Further, this study provides platform to fill many gaps for future research in the topic of CSR in accounting field.

Towards a more ethical market: the impact of ESG rating on corporate financial performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Landi ◽  
Mauro Sciarelli
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Corporate Social Performance ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Panel Data Analysis ◽  
Abnormal Returns ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper fits in a research field dealing with the impact of Corporate Ethics Assessment on Financial Performance. The authors argue how environmental, social and governance (ESG) paradigm, meant to measure corporate social performance by rating issuance, can impact on abnormal returns of Italian firms listed on Financial Times Stock Exchange Milano Indice di Borsa (FTSE MIB) Index, developing a panel data analysis which runs from 2007 to 2015. Design/methodology/approach This study aims at exploring whether socially responsible investors outperform an excess market return on Italian Stock Exchange because of their investment behavior, testing statistically the relationship between the yearly ESG assessment issued by Standard Ethics Agency on FTSE MIB’s companies and their abnormal returns. To verify the impact of an ESG Rating on a company’s abnormal return, the authors developed a panel data analysis through a Fixed Effects Model. They measured abnormal returns via Fama–French approach, running a yearly Jensen’s Performance Index for each company under investigation. Findings The empirical results denote in Italy both a growing interest to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability by managers over the past decade, as well as an improving quality in ESG assessments because of a reliable corporate disclosure. Thus, despite investors have been applying ESG criteria in their stock – picking operations, the authors found a not positive and statistically significant impact in terms of market premium, when they have been undertaking a socially responsible investment (SRI). Practical implications The findings described above show that ethics is not yet a reliable fundraising tool for Italian-listed companies, despite SRIs having a positive growth rate over past decade. Investors seem to be not pricing CSR on Stock Exchange Market; therefore, listed companies cannot be rewarded with a premium price because of their highly stakeholder oriented behavior. Originality/value This paper explores, for the first time in Italy, when market extra-returns (if any) are related to corporate social performance and how managers leverage ethics to build capital added value.

scholarly journals Do consistent CSR activities matter for firm value?

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 340-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loai Alsaid
Keyword(s):  
Stock Returns ◽  
Firm Value ◽  
Value Relevance ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Earnings Response Coefficient ◽  
Unexpected Earnings ◽  
Valuation Effect ◽  
Interaction Variables ◽  
Earnings Response ◽  
Corporate Social

This paper investigates how investments in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities affect firm value. We categorise firms’ CSR activities as strategic or opportunistic based on consistency, and analyse the differential value relevance effect. We use the Egyptian Economic Justice Index (EEJI) as the most representative measure for firms’ CSR activities in Egypt. To measure valuation effect, we adopt an earnings response coefficient (ERC) model. Our main explanatory variables are interaction variables with unexpected earnings and two dummy variables; one indicating CSR activities, and one indicating their consistency. We document these variables as positively and negatively significant. Our findings show that investing in CSR activities consistently and strategically may increase firm’s profitability and firm value. However, firms that sporadically invest in CSR activities show a smaller relationship between unexpected earnings and stock returns than firms that consistently invest in CSR activities.

A latent variable analysis of corporate social responsibility and firm value

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 478-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boonlert Jitmaneeroj
Keyword(s):  
Firm Value ◽  
Measurement Errors ◽  
Latent Variable ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Latent Variable Model ◽  
Variable Model ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Latent Variable Analysis ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Variable Analysis

Purpose Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has several dimensions that are inherently unobservable or measured with errors. Due to measurement errors of CSR proxies, regression analysis seems inappropriate for investigating the relationship between CSR and firm value. Accounting for CSR measurement errors, the purpose of this paper is to use a latent variable analysis to examine whether CSR affects firm value. Design/methodology/approach This study applies a latent variable model that directly takes into account the measurement errors of CSR proxies. Moreover, the inclusion of firm-fixed effects in the model controls for time-invariant unobservable firm-specific characteristics that may drive both CSR and firm value. CSR is measured by environmental, social, and corporate governance activities. Findings Based on data of US firms between 2002 and 2014, this study finds conflicting evidence of a direct association between each CSR proxy and firm value. When all CSR proxies are incorporated into a latent variable model, CSR significantly positively impacts firm value. Therefore, CSR strategies based on a single measure of CSR or the equal weighting of CSR measures tend to underestimate the influence of CSR on firm value. Practical implications Corporate managers should enhance firm value by simultaneously engaging in environmental, social, and corporate governance activities because there is a synergistic effect with firm value. Furthermore, investors who downplay CSR factors in firm valuation can lead to significant errors in making equity investment choices. Originality/value This study presents a novel examination of the price-earnings ratio in the CSR valuation by using the latent variable model with firm-fixed effects.

Board composition and value relevance of Ghanaian firms: a seemingly unrelated regression approach

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebenezer Agyemang Badu ◽  
Ebenezer Nyarko Assabil
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Firm Value ◽  
Value Relevance ◽  
Practical Implication ◽  
Seemingly Unrelated Regression ◽  
Board Composition ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Unrelated Regression ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the connection between board composition and value relevance of financial information in Ghana.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a panel data of 144 firm-year observations of listed firms in Ghana.FindingsThe study finds that a higher fraction of independent directors is associated with lower firm value. The study further finds that board size is positively related to firm value, whereas duality is negatively associated with firm value.Practical implicationsThe practical implication of this paper is that investors and regulators should be mindful that specifying governance composition should not only be based on “so-called” codes of best practices but also the level of the country's or the sector's development and local institutional structures.Originality/valueThis study uses five different measurements of market share and considers the impact of the provision of the Code of Best Practices in Ghana.

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