Abstract
This paper investigates the corporate social responsibility (CSR) structures of U.S. listed firms. We find evidence of a general tendency towards CSR specialization with almost three-quarters (73.91%) of these firms focusing on a single CSR dimension. The degree of specialization varies across industries and the single CSR dimension focused on also varies for industries with similar degrees of specialization. We find that firms with higher exposures to CSR concerns, international activities, larger size and higher financial slack tend to diversify across multiple CSR dimensions. More importantly, we find evidence that diversified CSR structures positively affect a firm’s value relative to a control group before and during the 2008 financial crisis. Our findings have important implications for corporate and portfolio managers, investors and policy makers.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 115-145 |
| Number of pages | 31 |
| Journal | Journal of Business Ethics |
| Volume | 185 |
| Early online date | 9 Aug 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2023 |
Keywords
- Corporate social responsibility
- CSR structures
- CSR specialization
- Stakeholder management
Access to Document
- Bouslah_et_al_BUSI-Accepted_Manuscript_01July2022
Copyright © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2022. This work has been made available online in accordance with publisher policies or with permission. Permission for further reuse of this content should be sought from the publisher or the rights holder. This is the author created accepted manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05219-6