The Independence of Judges and Corporate Social Responsibility

Senlin Miao (), Gary Gang Tian (), Fenghua Wen () and Jinli Xiao ()
Additional contact information
Senlin Miao: Central South University
Gary Gang Tian: Macquarie University
Fenghua Wen: Central South University
Jinli Xiao: Xiamen University

Journal of Business Ethics, 2024, vol. 193, issue 3, No 9, 633-653

Abstract: Abstract Limited research has focused on the influence of judge independence on firms' corporate social responsibility (CSR), despite extensive literature examining the impact of the legal environment on CSR. To address this gap, we analyze the staggered adoption of judicial delocalization reform in China. This reform aimed to enhance local judges' independence and our analysis shows that firms have exhibited higher CSR scores since its implementation. Our channel analysis reveals an increase in lawsuits and monetary claims against firms due to the reform, indicating that firms engage in CSR activities to mitigate the negative effects of legal proceedings. The impact of the reform on CSR is stronger for high-litigation-risk firms and weaker for politically connected firms. Moreover, the positive relationship between the reform and CSR is more pronounced in regions with higher levels of government interference with judges before the reform. In summary, our findings highlight the important role of a supportive legal environment in fostering CSR, emphasizing the influence of judge independence.

Keywords: Corporate social responsibility; Judicial independence; Judicial delocalization reform; Lawsuits; Local protectionism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-023-05540-8 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:193:y:2024:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-023-05540-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... cs/journal/10551/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10551-023-05540-8

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Business Ethics is currently edited by Michelle Greenwood and R. Edward Freeman

More articles in Journal of Business Ethics from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().