IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/reveco/v80y2022icp243-265.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The religious fringe of Corporate Social Responsibility

Author

Listed:
  • Hassan, M. Kabir
  • Chiaramonte, Laura
  • Dreassi, Alberto
  • Paltrinieri, Andrea
  • Piserà, Stefano

Abstract

In this paper, we explore how the adherence to Sharia principles in non-financial firms impacts on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) aptitudes, proxied by Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) scores. By employing a worldwide dataset of 4,725 entities from 2002 to 2018, we find that Sharia-compliant firms are more likely to engage in sustainable and responsible practices, especially towards the environmental dimension. Evidence from a set of quasi-natural experiments, built around a range of significant natural disasters and social events, reveals a greater response of Sharia firms to CSR engagement, confirming the role played by faith-based business ethics in Islamic entities. Our results offer precious insight to policymakers and investors, suggesting that the integration of ethical and religious-oriented incentives can improve sustainability practices and resilience of firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Hassan, M. Kabir & Chiaramonte, Laura & Dreassi, Alberto & Paltrinieri, Andrea & Piserà, Stefano, 2022. "The religious fringe of Corporate Social Responsibility," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 243-265.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:reveco:v:80:y:2022:i:c:p:243-265
    DOI: 10.1016/j.iref.2022.02.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1059056022000235
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.iref.2022.02.003?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. Hoje Jo & Maretno Harjoto, 2011. "Corporate Governance and Firm Value: The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 103(3), pages 351-383, October.
    2. Lys, Thomas & Naughton, James P. & Wang, Clare, 2015. "Signaling through corporate accountability reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 56-72.
    3. Krüger, Philipp, 2015. "Corporate goodness and shareholder wealth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 304-329.
    4. Sun, Xian & Gunia, Brian C., 2018. "Economic resources and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 332-351.
    5. Remmer Sassen & Anne-Kathrin Hinze & Inga Hardeck, 2016. "Impact of ESG factors on firm risk in Europe," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 86(8), pages 867-904, November.
    6. Maurice J. Murphy & Jason B. MacDonald & Giselle E. Antoine & Jan M. Smolarski, 2019. "Exploring Muslim Attitudes Towards Corporate Social Responsibility: Are Saudi Business Students Different?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(4), pages 1103-1118, February.
    7. Muhammad Farid Ahmed & Yang Gao & Stephen Satchell, 2021. "Modeling demand for ESG," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(16), pages 1669-1683, November.
    8. M. Mansoor Khan, 2016. "CSR standards and Islamic banknig practice: A case of Meezan Bank of Pakistan," Journal of Developing Areas, Tennessee State University, College of Business, vol. 50(5), pages 295-306, Special I.
    9. Mohammed Benlemlih & Isabelle Girerd-Potin, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility and firm financial risk reduction: On the moderating role of the legal environment," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(7-8), pages 1137-1166, July.
    10. Kim, Yongtae & Li, Haidan & Li, Siqi, 2014. "Corporate social responsibility and stock price crash risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1-13.
    11. Geoffrey Williams & John Zinkin, 2010. "Islam and CSR: A Study of the Compatibility Between the Tenets of Islam and the UN Global Compact," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 91(4), pages 519-533, February.
    12. Farook, Sayd, 2007. "On Corporate Social Responsibility Of Islamic Financial Institutions," Islamic Economic Studies, The Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), vol. 15, pages 31-46.
    13. Elias Erragragui & Christophe Revelli, 2016. "Is it costly to be both shariah compliant and socially responsible?," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 64-74, November.
    14. Shen, Chung-Hua & Wu, Meng-Wen & Chen, Ting-Hsuan & Fang, Hao, 2016. "To engage or not to engage in corporate social responsibility: Empirical evidence from global banking sector," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 207-225.
    15. Heckman, James J, 1978. "Dummy Endogenous Variables in a Simultaneous Equation System," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(4), pages 931-959, July.
    16. Chen, Yi-Chun & Hung, Mingyi & Wang, Yongxiang, 2018. "The effect of mandatory CSR disclosure on firm profitability and social externalities: Evidence from China," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 169-190.
    17. Michael Mayberry, 2020. "Good for managers, bad for society? Causal evidence on the association between risk‐taking incentives and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(9-10), pages 1182-1214, October.
    18. Crifo, Patricia & Forget, Vanina D. & Teyssier, Sabrina, 2015. "The price of environmental, social and governance practice disclosure: An experiment with professional private equity investors," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 168-194.
    19. Harrison Hong & Jeffrey D. Kubik & Jose A. Scheinkman, 2012. "Financial Constraints on Corporate Goodness," NBER Working Papers 18476, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Erragragui, Elias & Revelli, Christophe, 2016. "Is it costly to be both shariah compliant and socially responsible?," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 64-74.
    21. Gregory Jackson & Julia Bartosch & Emma Avetisyan & Daniel Kinderman & Jette Steen Knudsen, 2020. "Mandatory Non-financial Disclosure and Its Influence on CSR: An International Comparison," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(2), pages 323-342, March.
    22. Charfeddine, Lanouar & Najah, Ahlem & Teulon, Frédéric, 2016. "Socially responsible investing and Islamic funds: New perspectives for portfolio allocation," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 351-361.
    23. Kabir Hassan, M. & Chiaramonte, Laura & Dreassi, Alberto & Paltrinieri, Andrea & Piserà, Stefano, 2021. "The crossroads of ESG and religious screening on firm risk," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    24. Elias Erragragui & Christophe Revelli, 2015. "Should Islamic investors consider SRI criteria in their investment strategies?," Post-Print hal-02009789, HAL.
    25. Laura Chiaramonte & Federica Poli & Marco Ercole Oriani, 2015. "Are Cooperative Banks a Lever for Promoting Bank Stability? Evidence from the Recent Financial Crisis in OECD Countries," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 21(3), pages 491-523, June.
    26. Gillian Rice, 2006. "Pro-environmental Behavior in Egypt: Is there a Role for Islamic Environmental Ethics?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 65(4), pages 373-390, June.
    27. Majdi A. Quttainah & Ali R. Almutairi, 2017. "Corporate ethics: evidence from Islamic banks," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 21(4), pages 815-840, December.
    28. Zakaria Ali Aribi & Simon S. Gao, 2011. "Narrative disclosure of corporate social responsibility in Islamic financial institutions," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 27(2), pages 199-222, December.
    29. Erragraguy, Elias & Revelli, Christophe, 2015. "Should Islamic investors consider SRI criteria in their investment strategies?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 14(C), pages 11-19.
    30. Jeremy Galbreath, 2013. "ESG in Focus: The Australian Evidence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(3), pages 529-541, December.
    31. Abdullah Alsaadi & M. Shahid Ebrahim & Aziz Jaafar, 2017. "Corporate Social Responsibility, Shariah-Compliance, and Earnings Quality," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 51(2), pages 169-194, April.
    32. Mohammed Benlemlih & Isabelle Girerd-Potin, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility and firm financial risk reduction: On the moderating role of the legal environment," Post-Print hal-01977064, HAL.
    33. Bhandari, Avishek & Javakhadze, David, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility and capital allocation efficiency," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 354-377.
    34. McGuinness, Paul B. & Vieito, João Paulo & Wang, Mingzhu, 2017. "The role of board gender and foreign ownership in the CSR performance of Chinese listed firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 75-99.
    35. Hao Liang & Luc Renneboog, 2017. "On the Foundations of Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(2), pages 853-910, April.
    36. Paltrinieri, Andrea & Dreassi, Alberto & Migliavacca, Milena & Piserà, Stefano, 2020. "Islamic finance development and banking ESG scores: Evidence from a cross-country analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    37. Alexander Bassen & Ana Maria Kovács, 2008. "Environmental, Social and Governance Key Performance - Indicators from a Capital Market Perspective," Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik - Journal for Business, Economics & Ethics, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 9(2), pages 182-192.
    38. Abdullah Alsaadi, 2021. "Can Inclusion in Religious Index Membership Mitigate Earnings Management?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(2), pages 333-354, March.
    39. Hayat, Raphie & Kabir Hassan, M., 2017. "Does an Islamic label indicate good corporate governance?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 159-174.
    40. Alexander Bassen & Ana Maria Kovács, 2008. "Environmental, Social and Governance Key Performance - Indicators from a Capital Market Perspective," Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik - Journal for Business, Economics & Ethics, Rainer Hampp Verlag, vol. 9(2), pages 182-192.
    41. Glen Dowell & Stuart Hart & Bernard Yeung, 2000. "Do Corporate Global Environmental Standards Create or Destroy Market Value?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(8), pages 1059-1074, August.
    42. Abdelsalam, Omneya & Duygun, Meryem & Matallín-Sáez, Juan Carlos & Tortosa-Ausina, Emili, 2014. "Do ethics imply persistence? The case of Islamic and socially responsible funds," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 182-194.
    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. An, Yahui & Liu, Xiukun, 2023. "Local attention to employees’ rights and firm value: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 382-394.
    2. Nebojsa Dimic & Veda Fatmy & Sami Vähämaa, 2024. "Religiosity and corporate social responsibility: A study of firm‐level adherence to Christian values in the United States," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 396-413, January.

    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. Kabir Hassan, M. & Chiaramonte, Laura & Dreassi, Alberto & Paltrinieri, Andrea & Piserà, Stefano, 2021. "The crossroads of ESG and religious screening on firm risk," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    2. Hassan, M. Kabir & Chiaramonte, Laura & Dreassi, Alberto & Paltrinieri, Andrea & Piserà, Stefano, 2023. "Equity costs and risks in emerging markets: Are ESG and Sharia principles complementary?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    3. Paltrinieri, Andrea & Dreassi, Alberto & Migliavacca, Milena & Piserà, Stefano, 2020. "Islamic finance development and banking ESG scores: Evidence from a cross-country analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    4. 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.
    5. Zhu, Minghao & Yeung, Andy C.L. & Zhou, Honggeng, 2021. "Diversify or concentrate: The impact of customer concentration on corporate social responsibility," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    6. Zhe Li & Ping Wang & Tianlong Wu, 2021. "Do foreign institutional investors drive corporate social responsibility? Evidence from listed firms in China," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1-2), pages 338-373, January.
    7. Charl de Villiers & Jing Jia & Zhongtian Li, 2022. "Corporate social responsibility: A review of empirical research using Thomson Reuters Asset4 data," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(4), pages 4523-4568, December.
    8. Malik, Ihtisham A. & Chowdhury, Hasibul & Alam, Md Samsul, 2023. "Equity market response to natural disasters: Does firm's corporate social responsibility make difference?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    9. 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).
    10. Jongwon Park & Sunyoung Kim & Albert Tsang, 2023. "CEO Personal Hedging and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(1), pages 199-221, January.
    11. Darendeli, Alper & Fiechter, Peter & Hitz, Jörg-Markus & Lehmann, Nico, 2022. "The role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) information in supply-chain contracting: Evidence from the expansion of CSR rating coverage," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2).
    12. Muhammad Bilal Zafar & Ahmad Azam Sulaiman, 2019. "Corporate social responsibility and Islamic banks: a systematic literature review," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 69(2), pages 159-206, June.
    13. Hasan, Md. Bokhtiar & Rashid, Md. Mamunur & Shafiullah, Muhammad & Sarker, Tapan, 2022. "How resilient are Islamic financial markets during the COVID-19 pandemic?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    14. Salvi, Antonio & Giakoumelou, Anastasia & Bertinetti, Giorgio Stefano, 2021. "CSR in the bond market: Pricing stakeholders and the moderating role of the institutional context," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    15. David C. Broadstock & Shunsuke Managi & Roman Matousek & Nickolaos G. Tzeremes, 2019. "Does doing “good” always translate into doing “well”? An eco‐efficiency perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 1199-1217, September.
    16. Rezaee, Zabihollah & Homayoun, Saeid & Poursoleyman, Ehsan & Rezaee, Nick J., 2023. "Comparative analysis of environmental, social, and governance disclosures," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    17. Laura Chiaramonte & Alberto Dreassi & Andrea Paltrinieri & Stefano Piserà, 2020. "Sustainability Practices and Stability in the Insurance Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-25, July.
    18. Gary Chen & Bin Wang & Xiaohong Wang, 2021. "Corporate social responsibility and information flow," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(2), pages 2759-2807, June.
    19. Shakil, Mohammad Hassan, 2021. "Environmental, social and governance performance and financial risk: Moderating role of ESG controversies and board gender diversity," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    20. Minghui Yang & Yan Wang & Lu Bai & Petra Maresova, 2023. "Corporate social responsibility, family involvement, and stock price crash risk," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 1204-1225, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sharia-compliance; Islamic finance; Islamic corporate finance; Non-financial firms; Corporate social responsibility; Environmental social and governance; Differences-in-differences; Natural disasters; Social events; Religion;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • O44 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Environment and Growth
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth

    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:reveco:v:80:y:2022:i:c:p:243-265. 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/inca/620165 .

    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.