IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v76y2025ics1544612325002776.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corporate social responsibility, board independence, and corporate litigation

Author

Listed:
  • An, Duo
  • Zheng, Yinglong
  • Wang, Baomin

Abstract

This research utilizes a sample of listed firms from China's share market, spanning the period from 2010 to 2022, to investigate the interplay between corporate social responsibility, board independence and corporate litigation. The research indicates that corporate investment in social responsibility is negatively correlated with corporate litigation. Financial regulation plays a significant moderating role in the relationship between social responsibility and corporate litigation. Board independence serves as a mediating factor in this relationship, and this mediating effect exhibits heterogeneity across different corporate characteristics, such as whether the roles of CEO and chairman are combined and whether an audit opinion is issued.

Suggested Citation

  • An, Duo & Zheng, Yinglong & Wang, Baomin, 2025. "Corporate social responsibility, board independence, and corporate litigation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:76:y:2025:i:c:s1544612325002776
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2025.107013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612325002776
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2025.107013?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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shen, Yanyan & Zheng, Xiaojia, 2024. "Exporting corporate social responsibility: Evidence from foreign bank entry," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(5).
    2. Seth, Rama & Mahenthiran, Sakthi, 2022. "Impact of dividend payouts and corporate social responsibility on firm value – Evidence from India," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 571-581.
    3. Nguyen, Thi Hong Hanh & Ntim, Collins G. & Malagila, John K., 2020. "Women on corporate boards and corporate financial and non-financial performance: A systematic literature review and future research agenda," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    4. Hao, Jing & He, Feng, 2022. "Corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and green innovation: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    5. Chen, Zhongfei & Xie, Guanxia, 2022. "ESG disclosure and financial performance: Moderating role of ESG investors," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    6. Emara, Noha & El Said, Ayah, 2021. "Financial inclusion and economic growth: The role of governance in selected MENA countries," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 34-54.
    7. Jiami Zheng & Lin Zhang, 2023. "Do venture capitalists with foreign experience drive corporate social responsibility better? Evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(5), pages 4961-4988, December.
    8. Li, Jing & Nie, Huihua & Ruan, Rui & Shen, Xinyi, 2024. "Subjective perception of economic policy uncertainty and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    9. Ge, Chuanlu & Cheng, Hengsen & Niu, Qingrun & Yang, Miao, 2024. "The conjoint effects of corporate social responsibility performance and report tone on financial constraints: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    10. Xing, Chao & Zhang, Yuming & Tripe, David, 2021. "Green credit policy and corporate access to bank loans in China: The role of environmental disclosure and green innovation," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    11. Do, Trung K. & Le, Anh-Tuan, 2022. "Shareholder litigation rights and labor investment efficiency," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PA).
    12. Chen, Shengqi & Zhang, Hong, 2021. "Does digital finance promote manufacturing servitization: Micro evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 856-869.
    13. Lööf, Hans & Sahamkhadam, Maziar & Stephan, Andreas, 2022. "Is Corporate Social Responsibility investing a free lunch? The relationship between ESG, tail risk, and upside potential of stocks before and during the COVID-19 crisis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PB).
    14. Xiang, Xiaojian & Liu, Chuanjiang & Yang, Mian, 2022. "Who is financing corporate green innovation?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 321-337.
    15. Wen, Huwei & Zhong, Qiming & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2022. "Digitalization, competition strategy and corporate innovation: Evidence from Chinese manufacturing listed companies," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    16. Liu, Huan & Hou, Canran, 2023. "The impact of institutional investors' corporate site visits on corporate social responsibility," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    17. Zhuo Wang & Muhammad Sadiq Shahid & Nguyen Binh An & Mohsin Shahzad & Zulkiflee Abdul-Samad, 2022. "Does green finance facilitate firms in achieving corporate social responsibility goals?," Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(1), pages 5400-5419, December.
    18. Veronica Tibiletti & Pier Luigi Marchini & Katia Furlotti & Alice Medioli, 2021. "Does corporate governance matter in corporate social responsibility disclosure? Evidence from Italy in the “era of sustainability”," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 896-907, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Xu, Jing & Wang, Lu, 2025. "Social responsibility, board composition, and corporate legal risk," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    2. Wang, Haibin & Wang, Lu & Huang, Deming, 2025. "Can corporate social responsibility and corporate governance structure reduce corporate legal risk?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    3. Bai, Yiwei & Wang, Daokun & Sun, Chenxin & Zhang, Wei, 2025. "Corporate social responsibility under the influence of management tone," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    4. Wang, Xueting & Qiu, Pinyue, 2025. "Relationship among environmental regulation costs, corporate accounting policies, and green innovation efficiency," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    5. Ren, Yu & Liu, Xiongfei & Zhu, Yi, 2025. "Can the development of digital finance and information transparency improve enterprise investment efficiency?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    6. Xu, Jing & Luo, Qianfang, 2025. "Controlling shareholder equity pledging, financing constraints, and corporate social responsibility," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    7. Li, Ying & Jin, Lina & Chen, Peilin, 2025. "The role of executive incentives and corporate social responsibility in driving corporate innovation," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    8. Sun, Yabin, 2025. "The effect of corporate social responsibility on total factor productivity: Insights into managerial myopia and innovation mediation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    9. Qiao, Nan & Xu, Bohan, 2025. "Green credit policy, media pressure, and corporate green innovation," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    10. Liu, Tianjing & Sun, Yongjun, 2025. "Impact of ownership structure on corporate social responsibility investment: The mediating role of analyst coverage," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    11. Wang, Ou & Wu, Hao & Li, Chang, 2025. "Corporate social responsibility performance and litigation risk," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    12. Xu, Siyun & Bai, Xiaodong & Chen, Xia, 2025. "Corporate environmental, social, and governance performance, investor attention, and corporate development capability—An empirical examination based on moderating and threshold effects," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    13. Sun, Qing & Song, Lina & Wu, Juan, 2025. "The impact of start-up's market orientation and dynamic capabilities on their performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    14. Cai, Cen & Li, Yijia & Tu, Yongqian, 2024. "Big data capabilities, ESG performance and corporate value," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    15. Ji, Heli & Yu, Zhihai & Tian, Grace (Li) & Wang, David (Han) & Wen, Yue, 2025. "Market competition, environmental, social and corporate governance investment, and enterprise green innovation performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    16. Feng, Ruonan & Ma, Lu & Wu, Dan, 2025. "ESG performance and corporate innovation under the moderating effect of firm size," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    17. Wang, Chuyun & Meng, Lingxing & Li, Lei & Zhao, Ziyun, 2025. "Board of directors’ internationalization, internal control quality, and corporate litigation risk," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    18. Wang, Wei & Cao, QiangYuan & Li, Zhouyang & Zhu, JinYing, 2025. "Digital transformation and corporate environmental performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    19. Gozgor, Giray & Ho, Thang & Li, Jing & Mousavi, Mohammad Mahdi, 2024. "The impact of energy diversification on firm performance: The moderating role of corporate social responsibility," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PB).
    20. Ni, Yanbin, 2025. "Female executives and corporate brand competitiveness: The mediating role of corporate social responsibility," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:finlet:v:76:y:2025:i:c:s1544612325002776. 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/frl .

    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.