Abstract
This study aims to: (1) investigate the amount of corporate social and environmental responsibility (CSR) spending, awards, and activities of listed companies in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) and in the Market for Alternative Investment (MAI); (2) test the impact of CSR spending, awards, and financial performance activities; and (3) examine the amount of CSR spending, awards, and activities between companies with and without a CSR committee. The sample included all the listed companies in the resource industry from the SET and the MAI. The data were collected from the companies’ annual reports from 2015 to 2019. Descriptive analysis, an independent-sample t-test, a correlation matrix, and an unbalanced panel data analysis were used to analyze the data. The average level of spending per activity was 2.2964 million baht. There were, on average, 2.1741 awards and 11.4178 activities during the studied period. Moreover, there was a significant negative impact of CSR spending, and a positive impact of CSR awards and activities, on corporate financial performance. Finally, there was a significantly different amount of CSR spending, awards, and activities between the companies with and without a CSR committee. The findings of this study demonstrate that legitimacy theory can be used to explain the benefit of CSR to Thai-listed companies, although CSR is still a voluntary corporate responsibility in Thailand.
Highlights
It was found that the average level of corporate social and environmental responsibility (CSR) spending per activity was 2.2964 million baht, while there were 2.1741 average CSR awards and 11.4178 CSR activities during the period of study
Regarding the patterns in CSR, both CSR spending and awards fluctuated during the period 2015 to 2019, but CSR activities increased from 9.5490 average activities in 2015 to
As to the second research question, there was a significant positive impact of CSR awards and activities on corporate financial performance, while there was a negative relationship between CSR spending and financial performance
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Today’s businesses have an increasing focus on corporate social and environment responsibility (CSR) [1]. CSR is a prerequisite for any entity to operate in accordance with ethical principles and good management, and it helps firms to obtain permits from governments, communities, and related stakeholders [2]. All corporations are accountable to society and the environment, both inside and outside of the organization, in order to maintain sustainable development [3]. Carroll [4] argued that companies should strive to make a profit, comply with the law, be ethical, and be a good corporate citizen. The cornerstone of good business is its duty to generate profits while complying with the law
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