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Corporate Donations and Shareholder Value

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  • Liang, H.
  • Renneboog, Luc

    (Tilburg University, Center For Economic Research)

Abstract

Do corporate donations enhance shareholder wealth or reflect agency problems? We address this question for a global sample of firms whereby we distinguish between charitable and political donations, as well as between donations in cash and in kind. We find that charitable donations are positively related to financial performance and firm value, which is consistent with the value-enhancement hypothesis. This positive effect on firm value is stronger for cash than in-kind donations. In contrast, political donations do not appear to enhance shareholder value, but rather tend to reflect agency problems, as they are higher for firms with poor internal corporate governance and strong managerial entrenchment. We address endogeneity concerns by using peer firms’ donations as an instrument in a two-stage least squares (2SLS) setting and by conducting a difference-in-difference analysis around a general election.
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  • Liang, H. & Renneboog, Luc, 2017. "Corporate Donations and Shareholder Value," Discussion Paper 2017-013, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:tiu:tiucen:d118849c-1502-442b-a66e-5d3a608f7c5e
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    4. María Lourdes Arco-Castro & María Victoria Lopez-Pérez & Sara Rodriguez-Gomez & Raquel Garde-Sánchez, 2020. "Do Stakeholders Modulate Philanthropic Strategy? Corporate Philanthropy as Stakeholders’ Engagement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-18, September.
    5. Dodd, Olga & Frijns, Bart & Garel, Alexandre, 2022. "Cultural diversity among directors and corporate social responsibility," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    6. Liu, Haiming & Chiang, Yao-Min, 2024. "Employment protection and environmental corporate social responsibility: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    7. Li, Shengnan & Zheng, Xinya & Liao, Jing & Niu, Jianbo, 2024. "Low-carbon city pilot policy and corporate environmental performance: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA), pages 1248-1266.
    8. Huarng, Kun-Huang & Yu, Tiffany Hui-Kuang, 2024. "Causal complexity analysis of ESG performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    9. Ling, Leng & Luo, Danglun & Li, Xiaoxia & Pan, Xintong, 2022. "Looking good by doing good: CEO attractiveness and corporate philanthropy11We thank the co-editor (Suqin Ge) and the referees for many valuable comments and suggestions. We thank Huimin Li and Jing Sh," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    10. Beatriz Casais & Sara Santos, 2018. "Corporate Propensity for Long-Term Donations to Non-Profit Organisations: An Exploratory Study in Portugal," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, December.
    11. Chourou, Lamia, 2023. "Corporate donations and religiosity: Cross-country evidence," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    12. Zhe Li & Ping Wang & Tianlong Wu, 2021. "Do foreign institutional investors drive corporate social responsibility? Evidence from listed firms in China," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1-2), pages 338-373, January.
    13. Xiaoling Yu & Kaitian Xiao, 2022. "Does ESG Performance Affect Firm Value? Evidence from a New ESG-Scoring Approach for Chinese Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-40, December.
    14. Chourou, Lamia & Elmawazini, Khaled & Hossain, Ashrafee, 2022. "Does empathy induce higher corporate prosocial behavior? Evidence from corporate giving," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    15. Houqe, Muhammad Nurul & van Zijl, Tony & Karim, A.K.M. Waresul & George, Thomas St, 2021. "The value relevance of corporate donations," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    16. Gillan, Stuart L. & Koch, Andrew & Starks, Laura T., 2021. "Firms and social responsibility: A review of ESG and CSR research in corporate finance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    17. Oğuzhan Bahadır & Sergen Akarsu, 2024. "Does Company Information Environment Affect ESG–Financial Performance Relationship? Evidence from European Markets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-26, March.
    18. Luo, Di, 2022. "ESG, liquidity, and stock returns," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    19. Liping Xu & Shuxia Zhang & Ning Liu & Li Chen, 2018. "Corporate Hypocrisy: Role of Non-Profit Corporate Foundations in Earnings Management of For-Profit Founder Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-24, November.
    20. Wang, Yang & Zhang, Yifei & Kang, Wei & Ahmed, Ahmed Hassan, 2022. "Female analysts and COVID-19 corporate donation," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    21. Eskantar, Marianna & Zopounidis, Constantin & Doumpos, Michalis & Galariotis, Emilios & Guesmi, Khaled, 2024. "Navigating ESG complexity: An in-depth analysis of sustainability criteria, frameworks, and impact assessment," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PA).
    22. Xiao, Gang & Shen, Sichen, 2022. "To pollute or not to pollute: Political connections and corporate environmental performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    23. Keling Wang & Yaqiong Miao & Ching-Hui (Joan) Su & Ming-Hsiang Chen & Zhongjun Wu & Tie Wang, 2019. "Does Corporate Charitable Giving Help Sustain Corporate Performance in China?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-17, March.
    24. Zhihong Mao & Siyang Wang & Yu‐En Lin, 2024. "ESG, ESG rating divergence and earnings management: Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 3328-3347, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate social responsibility; corporate philanthropy; charitable donations; political donations; corporate foundation; corporate governance; firm value;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance
    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty

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    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

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