The Impact of CSR on the Financial Performance of Firms in Different Industries: An Example from the Financial Industry and the Healthcare Industry

Abstract

This paper analyses the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on corporate financial performance (CFP) in the financial and healthcare sectors in China, examining the annual financial data and ESG scores of a total of 124 companies between 2016 and 2021 and selecting ROA, corporate financial leverage, company size and board size as variables. A panel data regression was used to conduct an econometric analysis to examine the impact of social responsibility on corporate financial performance in the total industry, the financial industry and the healthcare industry, respectively. The empirical analysis of this study concluded that the effect of CSR on corporate financial performance has different results in different industries, the effect of CSR on CFP is significant and negative in the healthcare industry and insignificant in the financial industry.
 However, there are some limitations to this study. The study only considered the financial sector and the healthcare sector and was not able to include a number of other sectors for comparison. The study was also limited by the sample size of CSR in Chinese companies, which made the model less convincing, and the choice of variables also affected the results. However, these provide ideas and provide a pavement for future research.