Do Corporate Social Responsibility Categories Distinctly Influence Innovation? A Resource-Based Theory Perspective

Suyun Chen,Yu Ji

doi:10.3390/su14063154

Abstract

Despite the existing vast literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR), there is a lack of research on the influences of CSR categories (i.e., employees; suppliers, customers, and consumers; environment; and social welfare). The objective of this paper is to investigate the influences of distinct CSR categories on firm innovation from a resource-based theory perspective. Based on a sample of Chinese A-share listed firms from 2010 to 2017, we find that employee-, supplier, customer, and consumer-, and environment-related CSR promotes innovation, while society welfare-related CSR reduces firm innovation. We also examine the distinct mechanisms of distinct CSR categories to influence innovation. Our findings mainly contribute to the literature on the association between CSR and innovation by considering the different influences of distinct CSR categories.

Highlights

With the development of the Internet economy, artificial intelligence, and big data technology, innovation has become the supporting strategy for the sustainable growth of firms
The corporate social responsibility (CSR) data are from the social responsibility reports of listed companies in the HeXun Net CSR rating index, and the innovation variables are from the China Stock Market and Accounting Research Database (CSMAR)
This study examined the relationship between CSR and innovation by identifying distinct CSR categories

Summary

Introduction

With the development of the Internet economy, artificial intelligence, and big data technology, innovation has become the supporting strategy for the sustainable growth of firms. Firms have become increasingly aware of the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) because of public attention to environmental, social, and sustainable development issues. CSR and innovation are playing a more and more important role in the modern economy and have become two important issues in the era of the knowledge economy. Previous studies discuss the association between CSR and firm innovation but fail to draw consistent conclusions. Some studies show that CSR can promote innovation [1] by accelerating valuable external information exchange between stakeholders [2], identifying new business opportunities from social needs [3], and increasing employee participation and confidence [4].

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