IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/empfin/v51y2019icp44-63.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Why do institutions like corporate social responsibility investments? evidence from horizon heterogeneity

Author

Listed:
  • Fu, Xudong
  • Tang, Tian
  • Yan, Xinyan

Abstract

Why do institutional investors improve firms’ engagement in corporate social responsibility (CSR) investments? We show that CSR activities are driven by institutional investors with long investment horizons, and that this is due to the reputation insurance that CSR spending provides. Specifically, longer horizon investors benefit more from such insurance, and so do their agents, the investment managers that interact with portfolio firms. Additional tests show that this positive relationship between shareholder horizons and CSR is enhanced by market myopia, managerial agency risks, and motivated investors. We address the endogeneity concerns by employing Russell 1000/2000 index switches as sources of exogenous variation in shareholder investment horizons. The influence of shareholder horizons on CSR is also related to social norms. Our main results hold for all but one category of CSR and appear to be driven by CSR strengths.

Suggested Citation

  • Fu, Xudong & Tang, Tian & Yan, Xinyan, 2019. "Why do institutions like corporate social responsibility investments? evidence from horizon heterogeneity," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 44-63.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:empfin:v:51:y:2019:i:c:p:44-63
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jempfin.2019.01.010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927539819300167
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jempfin.2019.01.010?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    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. Stein, Jeremy C, 1988. "Takeover Threats and Managerial Myopia," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(1), pages 61-80, February.
    2. Elyasiani, Elyas & Jia, Jingyi (Jane) & Mao, Connie X., 2010. "Institutional ownership stability and the cost of debt," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 475-500, November.
    3. Michael E. Porter, 1992. "Capital Choices: Changing The Way America Invests In Industry," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 5(2), pages 4-16, June.
    4. Michael C. Jensen, 2010. "Value Maximization, Stakeholder Theory, and the Corporate Objective Function," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 22(1), pages 32-42, January.
    5. Najah Attig & Sean Cleary & Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami, 2013. "Institutional Investment Horizons and the Cost of Equity Capital," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 42(2), pages 441-477, June.
    6. Xuemin (Sterling) Yan & Zhe Zhang, 2009. "Institutional Investors and Equity Returns: Are Short-term Institutions Better Informed?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(2), pages 893-924, February.
    7. Derrien, François & Kecskés, Ambrus & Thesmar, David, 2013. "Investor Horizons and Corporate Policies," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(6), pages 1755-1780, December.
    8. Roland Bénabou & Jean Tirole, 2010. "Individual and Corporate Social Responsibility," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 77(305), pages 1-19, January.
    9. Gaspar, Jose-Miguel & Massa, Massimo & Matos, Pedro, 2005. "Shareholder investment horizons and the market for corporate control," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 135-165, April.
    10. Jeremy C. Stein, 1989. "Efficient Capital Markets, Inefficient Firms: A Model of Myopic Corporate Behavior," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 104(4), pages 655-669.
    11. Krüger, Philipp, 2015. "Corporate goodness and shareholder wealth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 304-329.
    12. Ferrell, Allen & Liang, Hao & Renneboog, Luc, 2016. "Socially responsible firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(3), pages 585-606.
    13. Deng, Xin & Kang, Jun-koo & Low, Buen Sin, 2013. "Corporate social responsibility and stakeholder value maximization: Evidence from mergers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(1), pages 87-109.
    14. Gordon J. Alexander & Gjergji Cici & Scott Gibson, 2007. "Does Motivation Matter When Assessing Trade Performance? An Analysis of Mutual Funds," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 20(1), pages 125-150, January.
    15. Ye Cai & Hoje Jo & Carrie Pan, 2012. "Doing Well While Doing Bad? CSR in Controversial Industry Sectors," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 108(4), pages 467-480, July.
    16. Chen, Yangyang & Podolski, Edward J. & Rhee, S. Ghon & Veeraraghavan, Madhu, 2017. "Do progressive social norms affect economic outcomes? Evidence from corporate takeovers," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 76-95.
    17. Guercio, Diane Del & Hawkins, Jennifer, 1999. "The motivation and impact of pension fund activism," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 293-340, June.
    18. Anderson, Christopher W. & Huang, Jian, 2017. "Institutional investment in IPOs and post-IPO M&A activity," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1-18.
    19. Abagail McWilliams & Donald S. Siegel & Patrick M. Wright, 2006. "Corporate Social Responsibility: Strategic Implications," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 1-18, January.
    20. Brian J. Bushee, 2001. "Do Institutional Investors Prefer Near†Term Earnings over Long†Run Value?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(2), pages 207-246, June.
    21. Hutton, Amy P. & Marcus, Alan J. & Tehranian, Hassan, 2009. "Opaque financial reports, R2, and crash risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 67-86, October.
    22. Henri Servaes & Ane Tamayo, 2013. "The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Firm Value: The Role of Customer Awareness," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(5), pages 1045-1061, May.
    23. Schmidt, Cornelius & Fahlenbrach, Rüdiger, 2017. "Do exogenous changes in passive institutional ownership affect corporate governance and firm value?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(2), pages 285-306.
    24. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2006. "Does Culture Affect Economic Outcomes?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 23-48, Spring.
    25. Fich, Eliezer M. & Harford, Jarrad & Tran, Anh L., 2015. "Motivated monitors: The importance of institutional investors׳ portfolio weights," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 21-48.
    26. Karl V. Lins & Henri Servaes & Ane Tamayo, 2017. "Social Capital, Trust, and Firm Performance: The Value of Corporate Social Responsibility during the Financial Crisis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(4), pages 1785-1824, August.
    27. Jacobson, Robert & Aaker, David, 1993. "Myopic management behavior with efficient, but imperfect, financial markets : A comparison of information asymmetries in the U.S. and Japan," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 383-405, October.
    28. Di Giuli, Alberta & Kostovetsky, Leonard, 2014. "Are red or blue companies more likely to go green? Politics and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(1), pages 158-180.
    29. Ferrell, A. & Liang, Hao & Renneboog, Luc, 2016. "Socially responsible firms," Other publications TiSEM 07e115ac-fdcb-4c4b-a0b8-a, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    30. Dyck, Alexander & Lins, Karl V. & Roth, Lukas & Wagner, Hannes F., 2019. "Do institutional investors drive corporate social responsibility? International evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(3), pages 693-714.
    31. Ronald W. Masulis & Syed Walid Reza, 2015. "Agency Problems of Corporate Philanthropy," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(2), pages 592-636.
    32. Jay C. Hartzell & Laura T. Starks, 2003. "Institutional Investors and Executive Compensation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(6), pages 2351-2374, December.
    33. Yen-Cheng Chang & Harrison Hong & Inessa Liskovich, 2015. "Regression Discontinuity and the Price Effects of Stock Market Indexing," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(1), pages 212-246.
    34. Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Rajgopal, Shiva, 2005. "The economic implications of corporate financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1-3), pages 3-73, December.
    35. Tor‐Erik Bakke & Toni M. Whited, 2012. "Threshold Events and Identification: A Study of Cash Shortfalls," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(3), pages 1083-1111, June.
    36. 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.
    37. Edmans, Alex, 2011. "Does the stock market fully value intangibles? Employee satisfaction and equity prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 621-640, September.
    38. Harford, Jarrad & Kecskés, Ambrus & Mansi, Sattar, 2018. "Do long-term investors improve corporate decision making?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 424-452.
    39. SANJEEV BHOJRAJ & PAUL HRIBAR & MARC PICCONI & JOHN McINNIS, 2009. "Making Sense of Cents: An Examination of Firms That Marginally Miss or Beat Analyst Forecasts," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(5), pages 2361-2388, October.
    40. Diamond, Douglas W, 1989. "Reputation Acquisition in Debt Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(4), pages 828-862, August.
    41. Chung, Richard & Firth, Michael & Kim, Jeong-Bon, 2002. "Institutional monitoring and opportunistic earnings management," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 29-48, January.
    42. José-Miguel Gaspar & Massimo Massa & Pedro Matos & Rajdeep Patgiri & Zahid Rehman, 2013. "Payout Policy Choices and Shareholder Investment Horizons," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 17(1), pages 261-320.
    43. Chen, Xia & Harford, Jarrad & Li, Kai, 2007. "Monitoring: Which institutions matter?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 279-305, November.
    44. Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim, 2015. "The impact of corporate social responsibility on investment recommendations: Analysts' perceptions and shifting institutional logics," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(7), pages 1053-1081, July.
    45. Chen, Yangyang & Murgulov, Zoltan & Rhee, S. Ghon & Veeraraghavan, Madhu, 2016. "Religious beliefs and local government financing, investment, and cash holding decisions," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(PA), pages 258-271.
    46. Stuart L. Gillan & Laura T. Starks, 2007. "The Evolution of Shareholder Activism in the United States," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 19(1), pages 55-73, January.
    47. Paul C. Godfrey & Craig B. Merrill & Jared M. Hansen, 2009. "The relationship between corporate social responsibility and shareholder value: an empirical test of the risk management hypothesis," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 425-445, April.
    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. Othar Kordsachia & Maximilian Focke & Patrick Velte, 2022. "Do sustainable institutional investors contribute to firms’ environmental performance? Empirical evidence from Europe," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(5), pages 1409-1436, July.
    2. Lajili Jarjir, Souad & Nasreddine, Aya & Desban, Marc, 2022. "Corporate social responsibility as a common risk factor," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    3. Lartey, Theophilus & Uddin, Moshfique & Danso, Albert & Wood, Geoffrey, 2022. "CEO overconfidence and IRS attention," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    4. Sandeep Yadav, 2020. "Institutional Ownership and Corporate Social Performance in Emerging Economies Multinationals: Evidence from India," Indian Journal of Corporate Governance, , vol. 13(2), pages 227-252, December.
    5. He, Zhongda & Guo, Biao & Shi, Yukun & Zhao, Yang, 2022. "Natural disasters and CSR: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    6. Haozhe Han, 2023. "Does increasing the QFII quota promote Chinese institutional investors to drive ESG?," Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(6), pages 1627-1643, November.
    7. Fu, Xudong & Kong, Lei & Tang, Tian & Yan, Xinyan, 2020. "Insider trading and shareholder investment horizons," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    8. Liu, Huan & Hou, Canran, 2023. "The impact of institutional investors' corporate site visits on corporate social responsibility," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    9. Cui, Di & Ding, Mingfa & He, Zhongda & Shen, Mi, 2022. "Restricted shares and CSR: Evidence from foreign strategic investors in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    10. Patrick Velte, 2023. "Which institutional investors drive corporate sustainability? A systematic literature review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 42-71, January.
    11. Abdulaziz A. Alomran & Kholod F. Alsahali, 2023. "The Role of Long-Term Institutional Ownership in Sustainability Report Assurance: Global Evidence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-17, February.
    12. Chen, Zhongfei & Xie, Guanxia, 2022. "ESG disclosure and financial performance: Moderating role of ESG investors," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    13. Safiullah, Md & Alam, Md Samsul & Islam, Md Shahidul, 2022. "Do all institutional investors care about corporate carbon emissions?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    14. Quang Trinh, Vu & Duong Cao, Ngan & Li, Teng & Elnahass, Marwa, 2023. "Social capital, trust, and bank tail risk: The value of ESG rating and the effects of crisis shocks," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).

    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. Ghaly, Mohamed & Dang, Viet Anh & Stathopoulos, Konstantinos, 2020. "Institutional investors' horizons and corporate employment decisions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    2. Jie Chen & Xicheng Liu & Wei Song, 2018. "CEO general managerial skills and corporate social responsibility," Working Papers 2018-16, Swansea University, School of Management.
    3. Kim, Hyun-Dong & Kim, Taeyeon & Kim, Yura & Park, Kwangwoo, 2019. "Do long-term institutional investors promote corporate social responsibility activities?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 256-269.
    4. Chen, Tao & Dong, Hui & Lin, Chen, 2020. "Institutional shareholders and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(2), pages 483-504.
    5. Cline, Brandon N. & Fu, Xudong & Tang, Tian, 2020. "Shareholder investment horizons and bank debt financing," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    6. Hui-Ju Tsai & Yangru Wu, 2022. "Changes in Corporate Social Responsibility and Stock Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(3), pages 735-755, July.
    7. Driss, Hamdi & Drobetz, Wolfgang & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane, 2021. "Institutional investment horizons, corporate governance, and credit ratings: International evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    8. Buchanan, Bonnie G. & Cao, Cathy Xuying & Wang, Shuhui, 2021. "Corporate social responsibility and inside debt: The long game," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    9. Incheol Kim & Hong Wan & Bin Wang & Tina Yang, 2019. "Institutional Investors and Corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance Policies: Evidence from Toxics Release Data," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(10), pages 4901-4926, October.
    10. Liu, Xianda & Hou, Wenxuan & Main, Brian G.M., 2022. "Anti-market sentiment and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from anti-Jewish pogroms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    11. Gillan, Stuart L. & Koch, Andrew & Starks, Laura T., 2021. "Firms and social responsibility: A review of ESG and CSR research in corporate finance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    12. Alexandre Garel & Arthur Petit-Romec, 2021. "Engaging Employees for the Long Run: Long-Term Investors and Employee-Related CSR," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(1), pages 35-63, November.
    13. Amin, Abu & Chourou, Lamia & Kamal, Syed & Malik, Mahfuja & Zhao, Yang, 2020. "It’s who you know that counts: Board connectedness and CSR performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    14. Chune Young Chung & Sang Jun Cho & Doojin Ryu & Doowon Ryu, 2019. "Institutional blockholders and corporate social responsibility," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(3), pages 143-186, July.
    15. Nofsinger, John R. & Sulaeman, Johan & Varma, Abhishek, 2019. "Institutional investors and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 700-725.
    16. Jongmoo Jay Choi & Jimi Kim & Oded Shenkar, 2023. "Temporal Orientation and Corporate Social Responsibility: Global Evidence," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 82-119, January.
    17. Shu, Pei-Gi & Chiang, Sue-Jane, 2020. "The impact of corporate governance on corporate social performance: Cases from listed firms in Taiwan," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    18. Hossain, Ashrafee Tanvir & Hossain, Takdir & Kryzanowski, Lawrence, 2021. "Political corruption and corporate payouts," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    19. Dasgupta, Amil & Fos, Vyacheslav & Sautner, Zacharias, 2021. "Institutional investors and corporate governance," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 112114, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. Hans B. Christensen & Luzi Hail & Christian Leuz, 2021. "Mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting: economic analysis and literature review," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 1176-1248, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Shareholder investment horizons; Corporate social responsibility; Index reconstitution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors

    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:eee:empfin:v:51:y:2019:i:c:p:44-63. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jempfin .

    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.