Corporate Social Performance and Firm Value: The Moderating Roles of Institutional Environment, Industry Characteristic and International Market Exposure

Corporate social performance (CSP) has become a popular subject of discussion in the business literature. However, previous studies have mainly focused on the relationship between CSP and corporate financial performance (CFP), shedding limited light on contingent factors in business environment that may shape the impact of CSP. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of CSP on firm value along with moderating roles of business environment. Building upon the resource-based view (RBV) and stakeholder perspective, this paper examines how the three layers of business environment - country (institutional environment), industry (industry characteristic) and firm (international market exposure) affect the relationship between CSP and firm value. Drawing on the data of roughly 1,100 firms from around the world we confirm the positive influence of CSP on firm value, along with the positive moderating effects of industry characteristic and international market exposure. The empirical results of this paper provide evidence that firms operating in a ‘dirty’ industry, or more exposed to international markets may enjoy higher returns from their CSP. This study may contribute to the literature by providing empirical evidence to support the arguments of existing studies that regard CSP as a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Furthermore, the results of this study reveal that CSP leads to better outcomes when it interacts with the contingent factors in the business environment. By using the portfolio method to construct the institutional environment variable, we also highlight the importance of considering several aspects when examining country-level effects on MNEs.