Does it pay to outclass? Corporate Social Responsibility and its impact on Firm Value

• Main Authors: Ferreira, C., DING, David K., Wongchoti, U.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2014
• Subjects: Corporate Social Responsibility; CSR; Corporate Governance; FirmValue; Stakeholder; Asset Pricing; Environmental; Business
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/4426; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/5425/viewcontent/DavidDing.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

We show that conventional aggregation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) raw scores and its interpreted impact on firm value is less than reliable. Instead, the value impact of CSR activities relies heavily on the industry-specific relative position of the firm. Firms that distinguish themselves over their peers are associated with an increased value. This finding is robust and holds for both responsible and irresponsible behavior. Information concerns and portfolio construction allude to a possible CSR clientele, suggesting the existence of an optimal CSR level. Our peer-effect results are robust to unobserved heterogeneity.