A Theoretical Underpinning of the Relationship between Corporate Social Performance and Stock Returns

Given the current undefined relational effect between corporate financial performance (CFP) and corporate social performance (CSP) and the potentially myopic behavior of managers, this paper answers the call from some scholars to contribute towards a better understanding of the relationship between CFP and CSR. Different from other papers, it does so by analyzing the role of innovation activities as a mediator between CFP and CSR, applying a regression and mediation analysis between firms’ financial resources, innovation initiatives, and social and environmental performance. The results demonstrate that innovation is a critical factor in the relationship between CFP and corporate social performance (CSP) as it enables organizations to respond to new economic, social and environmental challenges faster and better than organizations that are not able to innovate. Therefore, the investment of financial resources in innovation initiatives is one of the most important levers to pursue and to increase CSP.

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The relationship between corporate social performance and corporate financial performance and the role of innovation: evidence from German listed firms

Journal of Management Control ◽

10.1007/s00187-013-0171-5 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 24 (1) ◽

pp. 27-52 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Thomas M. Fischer ◽

Angelika A. Sawczyn

Keyword(s):

Financial Performance ◽

Corporate Social Performance ◽

Social Performance ◽

Corporate Financial Performance ◽

Listed Firms ◽

Corporate Social ◽

The Relationship

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The Effect of Corporate Visibility on Corporate Social Responsibility

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11133698 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (13) ◽

pp. 3698 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Frank Li ◽

Taylor Morris ◽

Brian Young

Keyword(s):

Corporate Social Responsibility ◽

Social Responsibility ◽

Firm Size ◽

Positive Relationship ◽

Corporate Social Performance ◽

Social Performance ◽

Mediating Effect ◽

The Public ◽

Corporate Social ◽

The Relationship

Outside of direct ownership, the general public may feel it is an implicit stakeholder of a firm. As the public becomes more vested in a firm’s actions, the firm may be more likely to engage in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. We proxy for the public’s stake in a firm with public visibility. Based on 3400 unique newspaper publications from 1994–2008, we measure visibility for the S&P 500 firms with the frequency of print articles per year concerning the firm. We find that visibility has a signficant, positive relationship with the CSR rating. Evidence also suggests this relationship may be causal and working in one direction, from visibility to CSR. While the existing literature provides other factors that influence CSR, visibility proves to have the most significant impact when tested alongside those other factors. Visibility also has a mediating effect on the relationship between CSR rating and firm size. CSR rating and firm size relate negatively for the lowest visibility firms and positively for the highest. This paper provides strong evidence that visibility is an important factor to consider for studies on corporate social performance.

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The relationship between poor CSR performance and hard, negative CSR information disclosures

Sustainability Accounting Management and Policy Journal ◽

10.1108/sampj-04-2020-0094 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Maher Jeriji ◽

Waël Louhichi

Keyword(s):

Information Disclosure ◽

Corporate Social Performance ◽

Social Performance ◽

Panel Data Analysis ◽

Content Type ◽

Csr Reporting ◽

Opportunistic Behaviour ◽

Corporate Social ◽

The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between hard, negative corporate social responsibility (CSR) information disclosure and corporate social performance. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a generalised least squares panel data analysis based on a sample of firms ranked in the Fortune Global 500 for the period 2013–2016. Robustness check tests were conducted to limit endogeneity concerns. Findings The results show that in line with strategic legitimacy theory, agency theory and organisational stigma theory, poor sustainability performers disclose a low quality of hard, negative CSR information. Practical implications This paper provides guidance for stakeholders to identify good and poor CSR performers by better understanding whether corporate CSR reports are more likely to be symbolic or substantive when considering the amount of hard, negative content in their CSR stand-alone reports. Social implications The research highlights the opportunistic behaviour of CSR reporting, which is used more as a legitimation device than as an accountability mechanism. Thi Originality/value Although numerous studies have investigated the association between the level of corporate social disclosure (CSD) and corporate social performance, no research has focussed on hard, negative CSD. Also, an index that captures the disclosure quality rather than the quantity of negative CSR information was constructed.

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Perceptions and expectations of corporate social responsibility: Theoretical issues and empirical findings

South African Journal of Business Management ◽

10.4102/sajbm.v32i1.714 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

pp. 49-55 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

D. A.L. Coldwell

Keyword(s):

Corporate Social Performance ◽

Social Performance ◽

Explanatory Models ◽

Student Expectations ◽

Black And White ◽

Individual Perceptions ◽

Perceptions And Expectations ◽

Corporate Social ◽

The Relationship ◽

Theoretical Issues

This paper focuses on the issue of differences in individual perceptions and expectations of corporate social performance (CSP). Business research has indicated, somewhat equivocally, that there is evidence to support possible causal relationships between CSP, corporate reputation (CR) and financial performance (CFP). The paper analyses these relationships with regard to various causal explanatory models delineated by Carroll and Buchholtz (2000). Specifically, the paper considers the theoretical possibility of CR being a moderating variable in the relationship between CSP and CFP.The paper reports the findings of an empirical study of University students’ perceptions regarding CSP in South Africa, which show that significant differences between black and white student expectations of CSP exist. The findings are discussed with regard to building a tentative theoretical model of CR.

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