Abstract
Given the limited response of enterprises to China’s national policy on the compulsory disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR), a deviation has occurred between policy orientation and reality. To explore the reasons behind this deviation, we investigated whether different types of media reports play an intermediary role in the process of CSR affecting corporate innovation based on the data of the companies listed on China’s Shenzhen Stock Exchange and Shanghai Stock Exchange from 2010 to 2019. The results show that the disclosure of CSR by the listed companies can significantly promote corporate innovation, which provides theoretical support for the national compulsory disclosure of CSR. Newspaper media reports and online media reports not only directly promote corporate innovation but also form a positive mediation path in the CSR disclosure and the promotion of corporate innovation. Further analysis shows that, among the five aspects of CSR, the disclosure of employee responsibility had the greatest effect on the corporate innovation, whereas the disclosure of social contribution responsibility only had a short-term inhibitory effect. Both newspaper media and online media reports on CSR disclosure were beneficial to corporate innovation. Positive and neutral reports may play the role of media governance to promote corporate innovation, whereas negative reports can restrain corporate innovation due to the market pressure effect produced by them, which also provides the basis for media supervision by the state.
Highlights
Compulsory corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure has been proposed by many countries, but this policy has not been promoted effectively
Positive and neutral reports may play the role of media governance to promote corporate innovation, whereas negative reports can restrain corporate innovation due to the market pressure effect produced by them, which provides the basis for media supervision by the state
Based on the data from China, this paper provides an investigation on the mediation role of media reports in promoting corporate innovation via CSR disclosure from the perspective of mediation conduction
Summary
Compulsory CSR disclosure has been proposed by many countries, but this policy has not been promoted effectively. Other scholars have stated that the active disclosure of social responsibility by enterprises can meet the demands of external stakeholders and obtain more resources support, promoting corporate innovation [2,3,4]. In view of this debate, most researchers only studied the direct internal relationship between CSR disclosure and corporate innovation, and the role of external stakeholders in this relationship has seldom been considered. The CSR disclosure and media reports both used data from third-party authoritative agencies; the conclusions are more objective, accurate, and interpretative than those of studies based on the internal reports of relevant enterprises
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