IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jomstd/v51y2014i6p898-925.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Financial Effects of Uniform and Mixed Corporate Social Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Ioannis Oikonomou
  • Chris Brooks
  • Stephen Pavelin

Abstract

Firms typically present a mixed picture of corporate social performance (CSP), with positive and negative indicators exhibited by the same firm. Thus, stakeholders' judgments of corporate social responsibility (CSR) typically evaluate positives in the context of negatives, and vice versa. Building on social judgment theory, we present two alternative accounts of how stakeholders respond to such complexity, which provide differing implications for the financial effects of CSP: reciprocal dampening and rewarding uniformity. Echoing notable findings on strategic consistency, our US panel study finds that firms that exhibit uniformly positive or uniformly negative indicators in particular dimensions of CSP outperform firms that exhibit a mixed picture of positives and negatives, which supports the notion that stakeholders' judgments of CSR reward uniformity.

Suggested Citation

  • Ioannis Oikonomou & Chris Brooks & Stephen Pavelin, 2014. "The Financial Effects of Uniform and Mixed Corporate Social Performance," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(6), pages 898-925, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:51:y:2014:i:6:p:898-925
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/joms.12064
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1992. "The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 427-465, June.
    2. Saeed Samiee & Terence A Shimp & Subhash Sharma, 2005. "Brand origin recognition accuracy: its antecedents and consumers’ cognitive limitations," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 36(4), pages 379-397, July.
    3. Stephen Brammer & Chris Brooks & Stephen Pavelin, 2006. "Corporate Social Performance and Stock Returns: UK Evidence from Disaggregate Measures," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 35(3), pages 97-116, September.
    4. Brammer, Stephen & Brooks, Chris & Pavelin, Stephen, 2009. "The stock performance of America's 100 Best Corporate Citizens," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 1065-1080, August.
    5. J. Vanhamme & B. Grobben, 2009. "Too good to be true ! : the effectiveness of CSR History in Countering Negative Publicity," Post-Print hal-00581630, HAL.
    6. Vanessa M Strike & Jijun Gao & Pratima Bansal, 2006. "Being good while being bad: social responsibility and the international diversification of US firms," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(6), pages 850-862, November.
    7. Zhi Tang & Clyde Eiríkur Hull & Sandra Rothenberg, 2012. "How Corporate Social Responsibility Engagement Strategy Moderates the CSR–Financial Performance Relationship," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(7), pages 1274-1303, November.
    8. Deepika Nath & D. Sudharshan, 1994. "Measuring strategy coherence through patterns of strategic choices," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(1), pages 43-61, January.
    9. Ioannis Oikonomou & Chris Brooks & Stephen Pavelin, 2012. "The Impact of Corporate Social Performance on Financial Risk and Utility: A Longitudinal Analysis," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 41(2), pages 483-515, June.
    10. Aaron K. Chatterji & David I. Levine & Michael W. Toffel, 2009. "How Well Do Social Ratings Actually Measure Corporate Social Responsibility?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 125-169, March.
    11. Bindu Arya & Gaiyan Zhang, 2009. "Institutional Reforms and Investor Reactions to CSR Announcements: Evidence from an Emerging Economy," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(7), pages 1089-1112, November.
    12. Carhart, Mark M, 1997. "On Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 57-82, March.
    13. Stephen J. Brammer & Stephen Pavelin, 2006. "Corporate Reputation and Social Performance: The Importance of Fit," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3), pages 435-455, May.
    14. Michael L. Barnett & Robert M. Salomon, 2012. "Does it pay to be really good? addressing the shape of the relationship between social and financial performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(11), pages 1304-1320, November.
    15. Abagail McWilliams & Donald Siegel, 2000. "Corporate social responsibility and financial performance: correlation or misspecification?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(5), pages 603-609, May.
    16. Galema, Rients & Plantinga, Auke & Scholtens, Bert, 2008. "The stocks at stake: Return and risk in socially responsible investment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(12), pages 2646-2654, December.
    17. Alan Pomering & Sara Dolnicar, 2009. "Assessing the Prerequisite of Successful CSR Implementation: Are Consumers Aware of CSR Initiatives?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(2), pages 285-301, April.
    18. Stephen Brammer & Andrew Millington, 2008. "Does it pay to be different? An analysis of the relationship between corporate social and financial performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(12), pages 1325-1343, December.
    19. Joëlle Vanhamme & Bas Grobben, 2009. "“Too Good to be True!”. The Effectiveness of CSR History in Countering Negative Publicity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(2), pages 273-283, April.
    20. Fisher, Robert J, 1993. "Social Desirability Bias and the Validity of Indirect Questioning," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(2), pages 303-315, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sonia Boukattaya & Zied Ftiti & Nouha Ben Arfa & Abdelwahed Omri, 2022. "Financial performance under board gender diversity: The mediating effect of corporate social practices," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1871-1883, September.
    2. Harjoto, Maretno A. & Hoepner, Andreas G.F. & Li, Qian, 2022. "A stakeholder resource-based view of corporate social irresponsibility: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 830-843.
    3. Kais Bouslah & Abdelmajid Hmaittane & Lawrence Kryzanowski & Bouchra M’Zali, 2023. "CSR Structures: Evidence, Drivers, and Firm Value Implications," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(1), pages 115-145, June.
    4. Changhee Lee & Dan Palmon & Ari Yezegel, 2018. "The Corporate Social Responsibility Information Environment: Examining the Value of Financial Analysts’ Recommendations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 279-301, June.
    5. Idoya Ferrero-Ferrero & María Ángeles Fernández-Izquierdo & María Jesús Muñoz-Torres, 2016. "The Effect of Environmental, Social and Governance Consistency on Economic Results," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-16, October.
    6. Price, Joseph M. & Sun, Wenbin, 2017. "Doing good and doing bad: The impact of corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility on firm performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 82-97.
    7. Xiao, Chengyong & Wang, Qian & van der Vaart, Taco & van Donk, Dirk Pieter, 2018. "When Does Corporate Sustainability Performance Pay off? The Impact of Country-Level Sustainability Performance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 325-333.
    8. Jean-Michel Sahut & Eric Braune & Lubica Hikkerova & Léopold Djoutsa Wamba, 2020. "Environmental Performance and Risk of European Firms," Journal of Applied Management and Investments, Department of Business Administration and Corporate Security, International Humanitarian University, vol. 9(2), pages 85-104, June.
    9. Bai Xue & Zhuang Zhang & Pingli Li, 2020. "Corporate environmental performance, environmental management and firm risk," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1074-1096, March.
    10. Höck, André & Bauckloh, Michael Tobias & Dumrose, Maurice & Klein, Christian, 2023. "ESG criteria and the credit risk of corporate bond portfolios," CFR Working Papers 23-03, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    11. Jennifer J. Griffin & Yoo Na Youm, 2018. "Voluntarily Disclosing Prosocial Behaviors in Korean Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 1017-1030, December.
    12. Li Cai & Jinhua Cui & Hoje Jo, 2016. "Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Firm Risk," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 563-594, December.
    13. Anushree Poddar & Sapna A. Narula & Ambika Zutshi, 2019. "A study of corporate social responsibility practices of the top Bombay Stock Exchange 500 companies in India and their alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(6), pages 1184-1205, November.
    14. Leon Zolotoy & Don O’Sullivan & Jill Klein, 2019. "Character Cues and Contracting Costs: The Relationship Between Philanthropy and the Cost of Capital," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(2), pages 497-515, January.
    15. Jacob Brower & Peter A. Dacin, 2020. "An Institutional Theory Approach to the Evolution of the Corporate Social Performance – Corporate Financial Performance Relationship," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 805-836, June.
    16. Hans Rawhouser & Michael Cummings & Scott L. Newbert, 2019. "Social Impact Measurement: Current Approaches and Future Directions for Social Entrepreneurship Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(1), pages 82-115, January.
    17. Meijui Sun & Ming-Chang Huang, 2022. "Does CSR reputation mitigate the impact of corporate social irresponsibility?," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(2), pages 261-285, April.
    18. Chen, Chung-Jen & Guo, Ruey-Shan & Hsiao, Yung-Chang & Chen, Kuo-Liang, 2018. "How business strategy in non-financial firms moderates the curvilinear effects of corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility on corporate financial performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 154-167.
    19. Ivan Montiel & Peter Jack Gallo & Raquel Antolin-Lopez, 2020. "What on Earth Should Managers Learn About Corporate Sustainability? A Threshold Concept Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(4), pages 857-880, April.
    20. Andrew Bryant & Jennifer J. Griffin & Vanessa G. Perry, 2020. "Mitigating climate change: A role for regulations and risk‐taking," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 605-618, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ioannis Oikonomou & Chris Brooks & Stephen Pavelin, 2012. "The interactive financial effects between corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility," ICMA Centre Discussion Papers in Finance icma-dp2012-02, Henley Business School, University of Reading.
    2. Jacob Brower & Peter A. Dacin, 2020. "An Institutional Theory Approach to the Evolution of the Corporate Social Performance – Corporate Financial Performance Relationship," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 805-836, June.
    3. Amal Aouadi & Sylvain Marsat, 2018. "Do ESG Controversies Matter for Firm Value? Evidence from International Data," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(4), pages 1027-1047, September.
    4. David K. Ding & Christo Ferreira & Vu Minh Ngo & Phuc V. Nguyen & Udomsak Wongchoti, 2024. "Corporate social responsibility and myopic management practice: Is there a link?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 271-308, January.
    5. Li Cai & Jinhua Cui & Hoje Jo, 2016. "Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Firm Risk," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 563-594, December.
    6. Shawn Pope & Arild Wæraas, 2016. "CSR-Washing is Rare: A Conceptual Framework, Literature Review, and Critique," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 173-193, August.
    7. Chen, Chung-Jen & Guo, Ruey-Shan & Hsiao, Yung-Chang & Chen, Kuo-Liang, 2018. "How business strategy in non-financial firms moderates the curvilinear effects of corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility on corporate financial performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 154-167.
    8. Price, Joseph M. & Sun, Wenbin, 2017. "Doing good and doing bad: The impact of corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility on firm performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 82-97.
    9. Christopher Groening & Vamsi K. Kanuri, 2018. "Investor Reactions to Concurrent Positive and Negative Stakeholder News," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(4), pages 833-856, June.
    10. Boubaker, Sabri & Chebbi, Kaouther & Grira, Jocelyn, 2020. "Top management inside debt and corporate social responsibility? Evidence from the US," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 98-115.
    11. Liwei Shan & Shihe Fu & Lu Zheng, 2017. "Corporate sexual equality and firm performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(9), pages 1812-1826, September.
    12. Hajer Tebini & Bouchra M’Zali & Pascal Lang & Paz Méndez-Rodrı́guez, 2015. "Social Performance and Financial Performance: A Controversial Relationship," International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, in: Enrique Ballestero & Blanca Pérez-Gladish & Ana Garcia-Bernabeu (ed.), Socially Responsible Investment, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 53-73, Springer.
    13. Zhou, Guangyou & Sun, Yongkun & Luo, Sumei & Liao, Jiayi, 2021. "Corporate social responsibility and bank financial performance in China: The moderating role of green credit," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    14. Becchetti, Leonardo & Ciciretti, Rocco & Dalò, Ambrogio, 2018. "Fishing the Corporate Social Responsibility risk factors," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 25-48.
    15. Raymond Kwong & Man Lung Jonathan Kwok & Helen S. M. Wong, 2023. "Green FinTech Innovation as a Future Research Direction: A Bibliometric Analysis on Green Finance and FinTech," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-27, October.
    16. Bouslah, Kais & Kryzanowski, Lawrence & M’Zali, Bouchra, 2013. "The impact of the dimensions of social performance on firm risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1258-1273.
    17. Cellier, Alexis & Chollet, Pierre, 2016. "The effects of social ratings on firm value," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 656-683.
    18. Felipe Arias Fogliano de Souza Cunha & Erick Meira & Renato J. Orsato, 2021. "Sustainable finance and investment: Review and research agenda," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(8), pages 3821-3838, December.
    19. Oana Branzei & Jeff Frooman & Brent Mcknight & Charlene Zietsma, 2018. "What Good Does Doing Good do? The Effect of Bond Rating Analysts’ Corporate Bias on Investor Reactions to Changes in Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(1), pages 183-203, March.
    20. Nguyen, Dat Thanh & Tran, Vuong Thao & Phan, Dinh Hoang Bach, 2023. "Does green activity impact stock price crash risk? The role of climate risk," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PA).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:51:y:2014:i:6:p:898-925. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0022-2380 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.