Corporate social responsibility, competition, and firm value

Abstract

In this paper, we examine whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) is value-enhancing in the presence of product market competition. Using a comprehensive sample of 22,527 firm-year observations from 62 countries, we find that the value-enhancing effect of CSR is prevalent in the non-competitive industries. We examine the channels through which firms earn positive benefits of CSR and document a strong positive link between firm profitability, productivity, total factor productivity, efficiency, and CSR in non-competitive industries. Our results withstand various robustness checks and endogeneity concerns.