Do Tragic Events Make Investors More Pro-social? Evidence from Japan

Miho Murashima

IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, 2025, vol. 14, issue 2, 220-232

Abstract: This article investigates the impact of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake on investor responses to corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in Japan. Employing Propensity Score Matching and Difference-in-Differences analyses, we analyse investor reactions to both positive and negative CSR news pre- and post-earthquake. Our results indicate a significant increase in share prices for firms that reported positive CSR news post-earthquake, thereby highlighting a heightened investor value on CSR during times of crisis. In contrast, negative CSR news showed a more pronounced negative effect in longer term windows. Additionally, industries directly affected by the earthquake experienced a substantial shift in investor sentiment towards negative CSR news. These findings enhance the understanding CSR’s tole in investor behaviour during crises and offer insights into effective corporate strategies in disaster-prone contexts, particularly in Japan’s unique cultural and economic landscape.

Keywords: Corporate social responsibility; investor decision; firm value; disaster; event study; Japan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/22779752241253367 (text/html)

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:sae:iimkoz:v:14:y:2025:i:2:p:220-232

DOI: 10.1177/22779752241253367

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().