Corporate social responsibility disclosure in China: Do managerial professional connections and social attention matter?

Abstract

We examine the effect of managerial professional connections and social attention on corporate social responsibility disclosure. Using a unique sample of Chinese listed firms that includes 7462 firm-year observations from 2009 to 2017, we hypothesize and provide supporting evidence that in emerging markets such as China, firms whose top managers have professional connections are more incentivized to improve corporate social responsibility disclosure. This is particularly the case when firms face significant public and media attention. Additional analysis shows that firms with professional connections tend to be more conservative when choosing accounting policies to maintain their professional reputations. Professional connections bring value to both firms and managers in that professionally connected managers are valued by external investors, have greater job security, and are better compensated. Our results are robust to a series of endogeneity tests and perform well in various robustness tests. Overall, our study suggests that corporate social responsibility decisions are shaped by managerial idiosyncratic characteristics and external institutions.