Do mutual fund networks affect corporate social responsibility? Evidence from China

Abstract

AbstractThe mutual fund plays an important role in corporate governance and corporate social responsibility. From the perspective of the social network, using data from A‐listed companies in China from 2009 to 2016, this paper empirically tests the influence of mutual fund networks on corporate social responsibility behaviours. To solve the sample selection bias in this study, we utilize propensity score matching to find the different social responsibility behaviours between firms with or without highly concentrated mutual funds. Our results suggest that mutual fund investors positively impact a firm's corporate social responsibility performance, as predicted. The fund network centrality and pressure mechanism have a positive impact on corporate social responsibility performance because they provide more peer pressure and network information to firms in which they are heavily invested. This paper provides new evidence on how mutual fund investors affect corporate social responsibility performance, which is meaningful to examine in corporate green governance.