Corporate Environmental Responsibility Activities, Ownership of Controlling Shareholders, and Firm Value

Abstract

Purpose - This study suggests hypotheses that extend existing theories by investigating that the benefits of corporate environmental responsibility (CER) activities can be influenced by incentives based on the ownership of controlling shareholders. Design/methodology/approach - This study attempts the multiple regression analysis using samples for Korean listed firms. We analyze the effect of interaction between CER activities and ownership of controlling shareholders on firm value. Findings - We find that CER activities have a significantly positive effect on firm value only in firms with higher ownership of controlling shareholders, but this effect disappears in firms with lower ownership of them. Since the assessment of CER activities in the Korean capital market has recently started, only a relatively short time series of data is available for our analysis. It is expected that the reliability of the research results can be extended if the analysis using more accumulated data is performed in the future. Research implications or Originality - Our results provide policy and practical implications that the controlling shareholders’ incentive for private interests needs to be priorly disciplined to ensure the efficiency of CER activities.