How Does Corporate Social Responsibility Shield Firms From the Adverse Effects of the COVID‐19 Pandemic? the Role of Financial Flexibility

Walid Ben Amar (), Ziyu Kong and Isabelle Martinez
Additional contact information
Walid Ben Amar: uOttawa - Université d'Ottawa [Ontario]
Ziyu Kong: TSM - Toulouse School of Management Research - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - Comue de Toulouse - Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - TSM - Toulouse School of Management - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - Comue de Toulouse - Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse
Isabelle Martinez: TSM - Toulouse School of Management Research - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - Comue de Toulouse - Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - TSM - Toulouse School of Management - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - Comue de Toulouse - Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: This study examines whether financially endorsed corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitments improved the stock market performance of China's listed firms during the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that CSR itself did not lead to higher stock returns during the crisis period of the pandemic, suggesting that the moral (social) capital from CSR could not solely provide an "insurance-like" buffer against the shock. In contrast, our results show that CSR commitments generate higher stock returns when firms are more financially flexible, implying that financial flexibility endorses implicit CSR commitments to stakeholders during a crisis. Our results are robust to a difference-in-differences specification, alternative CSR measures and the inclusion of additional controls.

Date: 2026-02
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting, 2026, vol. 37 (n° 1), pp.7-37

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

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:hal:journl:hal-05601394

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().