Corporate social responsibility and social capital

Anand Jha and James Cox

Journal of Banking & Finance, 2015, vol. 60, issue C, 252-270

Abstract: When corporations make an effort to be socially responsible beyond what is required by the law, this effort is often described as strategic—made mainly for the shareholders’ or managers’ benefit. A large body of literature corroborates this belief. But, could the incentives for corporate social responsibility (CSR) come from an altruistic inclination fostered by the social capital of the region in which the firm is headquartered? We investigate whether this phenomenon exists by examining the association between the social capital in the region and the firm’s CSR. We find that a firm from a high social capital region exhibits higher CSR. This result suggests that the self-interest of shareholders or mangers does not explain all of the firm’s CSR, but the altruistic inclination from the region might also play a role.

Keywords: Corporate social responsibility; Social capital; Culture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G30 G39 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (131)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:60:y:2015:i:c:p:252-270

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbankfin.2015.08.003

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