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Competing by conducting good deeds: The peer effect of corporate social responsibility

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  • Liu, Sibo
  • Wu, Dejun

Abstract

How do firms respond to their competitors’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) behavior? We exploit a text-based definition for industry peers to show that the CSR behavior of firms is positively affected by the CSR level of their competitors. The relationship is robust after controlling for firm fixed effects, industry trend, and geographical trend. In addition, the CSR level in turn increases firm value, particularly for firms in highly competitive industries. Taken together, the evidence suggests that a firm's CSR policy is shaped by the peer effect, and managers can influence firm value through CSR behavior.

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  • Liu, Sibo & Wu, Dejun, 2016. "Competing by conducting good deeds: The peer effect of corporate social responsibility," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 47-54.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:16:y:2016:i:c:p:47-54
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2015.10.013
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    Cited by:

    1. Ammar Ali Gull & Nazim Hussain & Sana Akbar Khan & Zaheer Khan & Asif Saeed, 2023. "Governing Corporate Social Responsibility Decoupling: The Effect of the Governance Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility Decoupling," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(2), pages 349-374, June.
    2. Wang, Peiwen & Chen, Minghua & Wu, Ji & Yan, Yuanyun, 2023. "Do peer effects matter in bank risk? Some cross-country evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    3. Hui Zhao & Ao Lei & Yuhui Li & Dingjun Hong, 2023. "The Sectoral and Regional Peer Influences on Heavy-Pollution Corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-42, August.
    4. Hsu, Bo-Xiang & Chen, Yi-Min, 2024. "Does corporate social responsibility influence performance persistence? A signal extraction approach with evidence from Fortune 500 companies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    5. Xian Qin & Shiqiang Zhang & Xianchun Liao & Haitao Niu & Antony Dnes, 2023. "The peer contagion effects and firms' innovation: Evidence from China," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(2), pages 1004-1019, March.
    6. Shih, Yi-Cheng & Wang, Yao & Zhong, Rui & Ma, Yi-Ming, 2021. "Corporate environmental responsibility and default risk: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    7. Li, Chengcheng & Wang, Xiaoqiong, 2022. "Local peer effects of corporate social responsibility," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    8. Ali-Rind, Asad & Boubaker, Sabri & Jarjir, Souad Lajili, 2023. "Peer effects in financial economics: A literature survey," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    9. Zhengyong Zhang & Jiayi You, 2024. "Does firms' ESG information disclosure have contagion effect? Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 3274-3296, July.
    10. Jiang, Xuemei & Zhang, Xinyang & Xia, Yan, 2023. "Peer effect on low-carbon practices of firms along the value chain: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PA).
    11. Hirofumi Nishi & S. Drew Peabody, 2024. "Under the spotlight: The peer standard in CSR and the role of public attention," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 59(2), pages 373-390, May.
    12. Bansal, Sangeeta & Khanna, Madhu & Sydlowski, Joseph, 2021. "Incentives for corporate social responsibility in India: Mandate, peer pressure and crowding-out effects," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    13. Zhao, Tianjiao & Wang, Hanyu, 2024. "The industry peer effect of enterprise ESG performance: the moderating effect of customer concentration," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 1499-1525.
    14. Sebastian Utz, 2019. "Corporate scandals and the reliability of ESG assessments: evidence from an international sample," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 483-511, April.
    15. Yoshida, Kenichi & Iino, Yoshiaki & Managi, Shunsuke, 2022. "Do Japanese keiretsu promote better CSR activities?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 452-475.
    16. Nandy, Monomita & Lodh, Suman & Kaur, Jaskaran & Wang, Jin, 2020. "Impact of directors' networks on corporate social responsibility: A cross country study," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    17. Chunhua Chen & Dequan Jiang & Weiping Li, 2023. "Keeping up with the CSR Joneses: The impact of industry peers on focal firms’ CSR performance," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate social responsibility; Industry competition; Peer effect;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G02 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Behavioral Finance: Underlying Principles
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

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