scholarly journals Pay Dividends or Invest in Corporate Social Responsibility: Is there an Inverted-U relationship?

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Mohamed AROURI ◽  
Sylvain MARSAT ◽  
Guillaume PIJOURLET
Keyword(s):  
Dividend Policy ◽  
Corporate Social Performance ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
The Other ◽  
Curvilinear Relationship ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Optimal Amount ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
The Relationship

We offer new original insights on the ongoing debate about the financial determinants of CSR activities by investigating the relationship between dividend policy and corporate social performance. Based upon the stakeholder theory, we postulate that satisfying shareholder claims may lead, according to distributive justice, to serving the interests of other stakeholders through corporate social policies. However, when dividends paid are too high, the company may no longer have enough financial slack to satisfy the other stakeholders, implying that dividends are paid at the expense of corporate social policies. We thus expect a curvilinear relationship between dividend policy and corporate social performance. Using a worldwide sample of almost 7,000 observations, we find support for a U-inverted relationship, revealing an optimal amount to satisfy both shareholders and stakeholders. Our findings are robust to both social and environmental pillars, various dividend measures as well as ESG scores.

The curvilinear relationship between corporate social performance and financial performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shafat Maqbool ◽  
Abu Bakr
Keyword(s):  
Financial Performance ◽  
Corporate Social Performance ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Linear Perspective ◽  
Curvilinear Relationship ◽  
Managerial Implication ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial performance (FP) has bourgeoned widespread debate among researchers. In recent years, the debate has explored more dynamic links, one of which is the curvilinear relationship, between CSR and FP. This paper aims to empirically test the curvilinear relationship between CSR and FP in the context of Indian companies. Design/methodology/approach This paper empirically tests the curvilinear relationship between CSR and FP in the context of Indian companies. The study used a panel data of 43 listed companies over a period of ten years from 2008 to 2017. A correlation and panel regression were carried out to examine the possible link. Findings The findings demonstrate that a curvilinear relationship exists between CSR and FP, suggesting that two long competing viewpoints may be complementary. Research limitations/implications The study mainly focuses on top companies, so the generalizations of results to other small companies are unwanted. Practical implications An immediate managerial implication of the findings suggests that to serve the interests of the shareholders, a long-run planning and considerable resources should be dedicated at this direction, given that CSR expenditure does not pay off immediately. Originality/value In the Indian context, very few studies have analyzed the linkages between CSR and FP. Using an improved and distinctive approach, the study empirically tests the relationship between CSR and FP from non-linear perspective.

scholarly journals CSR Strategic Approach, Financial Resources and Corporate Social Performance: The Mediating Effect of Innovation

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3611 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pasquale Ruggiero ◽  
Sebastiano Cupertino
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Performance ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Critical Factor ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Innovation Activities ◽  
Strategic Approach ◽  
Social And Environmental Performance ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
The Relationship

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.

scholarly journals The Effect of Corporate Visibility on Corporate Social Responsibility

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (13) ◽  
pp. 3698 ◽  
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.

Stakeholder performance, corporate social performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 242-253
Author(s):  
Jean Biwole Fouda ◽  
Irène Abessolo Abessolo
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Corporate Social Performance ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
The Other ◽  
Life Cycle Model ◽  
Cycle Model ◽  
Dominant Type ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Essentially Contested Concepts ◽  
Corporate Social

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to find out what added value does the stakeholder performance concept bring with respect to that of corporate social performance. To better understand the developments of these concepts, the authors resort to Gallie’s theory (1956) of essentially contested concepts, the life-cycle model of Hirsch and Levin’s (1999) umbrella concepts. Reconciling these two theoretical frameworks allows us to introduce the competing category notion consisting of a dominant and a dominated-type concepts. Through a historical and synchronic literature examination, CSP is shown to have characteristics of the dominant type, thanks to its more diffuse character. On the other hand, the stakeholder performance would relate to the dominated type, though it provides better operationalization possibilities. Design/methodology/approach To better understand the developments of these concepts, Gallie’s theory (1956) of essentially contested concepts, the life cycle model of Hirsch and Levin’s (1999) umbrella concepts are used. Findings CSP has characteristics of the dominant type, thanks to its more diffuse character. On the other hand, the stakeholder performance relates to the dominated type, though it provides better operationalization. Originality/value CSP as a dominant type and stakeholder performance is a dominated type.

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

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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