Revisiting the nexus between corporate social responsibility and corporate value: Evidence from China

Purpose Under the concept of sustainable development guided by ‘carbon peak’ and ‘carbon neutral’, corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance has become the focus of attention in all sectors of society. With the gradual deepening of China's ‘new economic normal’ development, firms face increasing environmental uncertainty in the market. This study aims to embed CSR, financial flexibility (FF), institutional investors (INST), and corporate value into the same theoretical framework and conduct heterogeneity analysis on the nature of property rights, heavily polluting industries, and marketisation level. Design/Methodology/Approach Based upon the observation data of listed firms in Shanghai and Shenzhen A‐shares in China from 2011 to 2021, this study uses Stata software for data processing, analysis, and two‐stage least‐squares (2SLS) models to solve endogenous problems. Findings The research results show that improving CSR performance increases corporate value, while INST and FF moderate the relationship between them. Further heterogeneity analysis found that the nature of property rights, heavily polluting industries, and marketisation level have different impacts on these moderating effects. This result provides ideas for clarifying the economic impact of enhancing the firms' CSR performance in the current era. Originality/Value First, from the standpoint of CSR performance, it enhances the literature on the key corporate values in China. Second, from the perspective of corporate value, it has enriched the CSR literature and provided a new perspective for further clarifying the significance of improving the CSR performance of firms at this stage. Third, from the perspective of INST and FF, this research examines the moderating mechanism of CSR performance on corporate value. Hence, it provides a reference for further improving the efficiency of resource allocation in the capital markets.