IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/intfin/v70y2021ics104244312030158x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corporate social irresponsibility and portfolio performance: A cross-national study

Author

Listed:
  • Harjoto, Maretno A.
  • Hoepner, Andreas G.F.
  • Li, Qian

Abstract

This study examines the impact of reputational risk, measured by corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) ratings, on shareholder abnormal returns. Based on 7368 non-financial companies from 42 countries during 2007–2017, we find that long-short portfolios (buying no reputation risk and selling high reputation risk portfolios) earn significantly positive abnormal returns. The cross-national results indicate that the long-short portfolio returns are more pronounced (i) in the emerging market segment than in the developed market segment, (ii) in civil law jurisdictions than in their common law peers, (iii) within nations with higher confidence in corporations and, (iv) within nations with higher institutional trust.

Suggested Citation

  • Harjoto, Maretno A. & Hoepner, Andreas G.F. & Li, Qian, 2021. "Corporate social irresponsibility and portfolio performance: A cross-national study," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:intfin:v:70:y:2021:i:c:s104244312030158x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intfin.2020.101274
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S104244312030158X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.intfin.2020.101274?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. Andrei Shleifer & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Rafael La Porta, 2008. "The Economic Consequences of Legal Origins," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(2), pages 285-332, June.
    2. Michael C. Jensen, 1968. "The Performance Of Mutual Funds In The Period 1945–1964," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(2), pages 389-416, May.
    3. Tiago Melo & Alvaro Garrido‐Morgado, 2012. "Corporate Reputation: A Combination of Social Responsibility and Industry," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(1), pages 11-31, January.
    4. Isabelle Maignan & David A Ralston, 2002. "Corporate Social Responsibility in Europe and the U.S.: Insights from Businesses' Self-presentations," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 33(3), pages 497-514, September.
    5. 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.
    6. Vijay S. Sampath & Naomi A. Gardberg & Noushi Rahman, 2018. "Corporate Reputation’s Invisible Hand: Bribery, Rational Choice, and Market Penalties," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(3), pages 743-760, September.
    7. Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim, 2012. "What drives corporate social performance? The role of nation-level institutions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 43(9), pages 834-864, December.
    8. Carroll, Archie B., 1991. "The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 39-48.
    9. Douglass C. North, 1991. "Institutions," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 97-112, Winter.
    10. Krüger, Philipp, 2015. "Corporate goodness and shareholder wealth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 304-329.
    11. Daniel, Kent, et al, 1997. "Measuring Mutual Fund Performance with Characteristic-Based Benchmarks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1035-1058, July.
    12. Boudreaux, Christopher J. & Nikolaev, Boris N. & Klein, Peter, 2019. "Socio-cognitive traits and entrepreneurship: The moderating role of economic institutions," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 178-196.
    13. Renée Birgit Adams & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2012. "A Trust Crisis," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 12(2), pages 123-131, June.
    14. Gupta, Shreekant & Goldar, Bishwanath, 2005. "Do stock markets penalize environment-unfriendly behaviour? Evidence from India," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 81-95, January.
    15. Douglass C. North, 2005. "Introduction to Understanding the Process of Economic Change," Introductory Chapters, in: Understanding the Process of Economic Change, Princeton University Press.
    16. Doidge, Craig & Andrew Karolyi, G. & Stulz, Rene M., 2007. "Why do countries matter so much for corporate governance?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 1-39, October.
    17. Galagedera, Don U.A., 2012. "Recent trends in relative performance of global equity markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 834-854.
    18. Ioannis Oikonomou & Chris Brooks & Stephen Pavelin, 2014. "The Effects of Corporate Social Performance on the Cost of Corporate Debt and Credit Ratings," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 49(1), pages 49-75, February.
    19. Jacoby, Gady & Liu, Mingzhi & Wang, Yefeng & Wu, Zhenyu & Zhang, Ying, 2019. "Corporate governance, external control, and environmental information transparency: Evidence from emerging markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 269-283.
    20. Jay B. Barney, 2018. "Why resource‐based theory's model of profit appropriation must incorporate a stakeholder perspective," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(13), pages 3305-3325, December.
    21. Renneboog, Luc & Ter Horst, Jenke & Zhang, Chendi, 2008. "Socially responsible investments: Institutional aspects, performance, and investor behavior," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1723-1742, September.
    22. 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.
    23. Barber, Brad M. & Lyon, John D., 1997. "Detecting long-run abnormal stock returns: The empirical power and specification of test statistics," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 341-372, March.
    24. Kolk, Ans, 2016. "The social responsibility of international business: From ethics and the environment to CSR and sustainable development," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 23-34.
    25. Bert Scholtens & Lammertjan Dam, 2007. "Cultural Values and International Differences in Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 75(3), pages 273-284, October.
    26. Li, Jialong & Haider, Zulfiquer Ali & Jin, Xianzhe & Yuan, Wenlong, 2019. "Corporate controversy, social responsibility and market performance: International evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1-18.
    27. Bauer, Rob & Koedijk, Kees & Otten, Roger, 2005. "International evidence on ethical mutual fund performance and investment style," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(7), pages 1751-1767, July.
    28. David L. Deephouse & Suzanne M. Carter, 2005. "An Examination of Differences Between Organizational Legitimacy and Organizational Reputation," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 329-360, March.
    29. Robert G. Eccles & Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim, 2014. "The Impact of Corporate Sustainability on Organizational Processes and Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(11), pages 2835-2857, November.
    30. Philippe Aghion & Yann Algan & Pierre Cahuc & Andrei Shleifer, 2010. "Regulation and Distrust," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(3), pages 1015-1049.
    31. Newey, Whitney & West, Kenneth, 2014. "A simple, positive semi-definite, heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation consistent covariance matrix," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 33(1), pages 125-132.
    32. 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.
    33. 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.
    34. Brown, Stephen J, et al, 1992. "Survivorship Bias in Performance Studies," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 5(4), pages 553-580.
    35. Lily Fang & Joel Peress, 2009. "Media Coverage and the Cross‐section of Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(5), pages 2023-2052, October.
    36. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/4km7l02j139aj8hl7kcccmqk9s is not listed on IDEAS
    37. Julian F. Kölbel & Timo Busch & Leonhardt M. Jancso, 2017. "How Media Coverage of Corporate Social Irresponsibility Increases Financial Risk," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(11), pages 2266-2284, November.
    38. Deephouse, David L. & Newburry, William & Soleimani, Abrahim, 2016. "The effects of institutional development and national culture on cross-national differences in corporate reputation," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 463-473.
    39. Cheng Gao & Tiona Zuzul & Geoffrey Jones & Tarun Khanna, 2017. "Overcoming Institutional Voids: A Reputation-Based View of Long-Run Survival," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(11), pages 2147-2167, November.
    40. 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.
    41. Andreas G.F. Hoepner & Hussain G. Rammal & Michael Rezec, 2011. "Islamic mutual funds’ financial performance and international investment style: evidence from 20 countries," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(9-10), pages 829-850, November.
    42. Andreas G. F. Hoepner & Lisa Schopohl, 2018. "On the Price of Morals in Markets: An Empirical Study of the Swedish AP-Funds and the Norwegian Government Pension Fund," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(3), pages 665-692, September.
    43. Khanna, Madhu & Quimio, Wilma Rose H. & Bojilova, Dora, 1998. "Toxics Release Information: A Policy Tool for Environmental Protection," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 243-266, November.
    44. 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.
    45. Carhart, Mark M, 1997. "On Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 57-82, March.
    46. 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.
    47. Karpoff, Jonathan M & Lott, John R, Jr & Wehrly, Eric W, 2005. "The Reputational Penalties for Environmental Violations: Empirical Evidence," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 48(2), pages 653-675, October.
    48. 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.
    49. Li, Wanli & Wang, Chaohui & Ren, Qizhe & Zhao, Ding, 2020. "Institutional distance and cross-border M&A performance: A dynamic perspective," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    50. Cai, Ye & Pan, Carrie H. & Statman, Meir, 2016. "Why do countries matter so much in corporate social performance?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 591-609.
    51. Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Yongtae Kim, 2017. "Country-level institutions, firm value, and the role of corporate social responsibility initiatives," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(3), pages 360-385, April.
    52. Kempf, Alexander & Osthoff, Peer, 2007. "The effect of socially responsible investing on portfolio performance," CFR Working Papers 06-10, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    53. Dawn L. Keig & Lance Eliot Brouthers & Victor B. Marshall, 2015. "Formal and Informal Corruption Environments and Multinational Enterprise Social Irresponsibility," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(1), pages 89-116, January.
    54. Justin W. Webb & Theodore A. Khoury & Michael A. Hitt, 2020. "The Influence of Formal and Informal Institutional Voids on Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 44(3), pages 504-526, May.
    55. Maung, Min & Wilson, Craig & Yu, Weisu, 2020. "Does reputation risk matter? Evidence from cross-border mergers and acquisitions," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    56. 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.
    57. David Urbano & Sebastian Aparicio & David Audretsch, 2019. "Twenty-five years of research on institutions, entrepreneurship, and economic growth: what has been learned?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 21-49, June.
    58. Humphrey, Jacquelyn E. & Lee, Darren D. & Shen, Yaokan, 2012. "Does it cost to be sustainable?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 626-639.
    59. Alexander Kempf & Peer Osthoff, 2007. "The Effect of Socially Responsible Investing on Portfolio Performance," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 13(5), pages 908-922, November.
    60. Tanusree Jain & Ruth V. Aguilera & Dima Jamali, 2017. "Corporate Stakeholder Orientation in an Emerging Country Context: A Longitudinal Cross Industry Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(4), pages 701-719, July.
    61. Pisani, Niccolò & Kourula, Arno & Kolk, Ans & Meijer, Renske, 2017. "How global is international CSR research? Insights and recommendations from a systematic review," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(5), pages 591-614.
    62. 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.
    63. Yan Cheung & Weiqiang Tan & Hee-Joon Ahn & Zheng Zhang, 2010. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility Matter in Asian Emerging Markets?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 92(3), pages 401-413, March.
    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. Gallucci, Carmen & Santulli, Rosalia & Lagasio, Valentina, 2022. "The conceptualization of environmental, social and governance risks in portfolio studies A systematic literature review," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    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. Wong, Jin Boon & Zhang, Qin, 2022. "Stock market reactions to adverse ESG disclosure via media channels," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(1).
    4. Becchetti, Leonardo & Cucinelli, Doriana & Ielasi, Federica & Rossolini, Monica, 2023. "Corporate social irresponsibility: The relationship between ESG misconduct and the cost of equity," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    5. Anita Mendiratta & Shveta Singh & Surendra Singh Yadav & Arvind Mahajan, 2023. "Bibliometric and Topic Modeling Analysis of Corporate Social Irresponsibility," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 24(3), pages 319-339, September.
    6. Reyes Samaniego-Medina & Pilar Giraldez-Puig, 2022. "Do Sustainability Risks Affect Credit Ratings? Evidence from European Banks," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 24(61), pages 720-720, August.
    7. 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. 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.
    2. Maretno A. Harjoto & Andreas G. F. Hoepner & Marcus A. Nilsson, 2022. "Bondholders’ returns and stakeholders’ interests," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 1271-1301, November.
    3. 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).
    4. Ziegler, Andreas & Busch, Timo & Hoffmann, Volker H., 2011. "Disclosed corporate responses to climate change and stock performance: An international empirical analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1283-1294.
    5. Sebastian Lobe & Christian Walkshäusl, 2016. "Vice versus virtue investing around the world," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 303-344, March.
    6. Fafaliou, Irene & Giaka, Maria & Konstantios, Dimitrios & Polemis, Michael, 2020. "Firms’ Sustainability Performance and Market Longevity," MPRA Paper 101445, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Mollet, Janick Christian & Ziegler, Andreas, 2014. "Socially responsible investing and stock performance: New empirical evidence for the US and European stock markets," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 208-216.
    8. Halbritter, Gerhard & Dorfleitner, Gregor, 2015. "The wages of social responsibility — where are they? A critical review of ESG investing," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 25-35.
    9. Oberndorfer, Ulrich & Schmidt, Peter & Wagner, Marcus & Ziegler, Andreas, 2013. "Does the stock market value the inclusion in a sustainability stock index? An event study analysis for German firms," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 497-509.
    10. Janick Christian Mollet & Andreas Ziegler, 2012. "Is Socially Responsible Investing Really Beneficial? New Empirical Evidence for the US and European Stock Markets," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201228, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    11. Andreas Ziegler, 2012. "Is it Beneficial to be Included in a Sustainability Stock Index? A Panel Data Study for European Firms," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 52(3), pages 301-325, July.
    12. Jiazhen Wang & Jing Yu & Rui Zhong, 2023. "Country environmental, social and governance performance and economic growth: The international evidence," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(4), pages 3911-3941, December.
    13. Janusz Brzeszczyński & Graham McIntosh, 2014. "Performance of Portfolios Composed of British SRI Stocks," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(3), pages 335-362, March.
    14. Urs von Arx & Andreas Ziegler, 2008. "The Effect of CSR on Stock Performance: New Evidence for the USA and Europe," CER-ETH Economics working paper series 08/85, CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich.
    15. Guillermo Badía & Maria C. Cortez & Luis Ferruz, 2020. "Socially responsible investing worldwide: Do markets value corporate social responsibility?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(6), pages 2751-2764, November.
    16. Janick Christian Mollet & Andreas Ziegler, 2014. "Socially responsible investing and stock performance: New empirical evidence for the US and European stock markets," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(4), pages 208-216, November.
    17. 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).
    18. Henke, Hans-Martin, 2016. "The effect of social screening on bond mutual fund performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 69-84.
    19. 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.
    20. Federica Ielasi & Monica Rossolini, 2019. "Responsible or Thematic? The True Nature of Sustainability-Themed Mutual Funds," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-17, June.

    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:intfin:v:70:y:2021:i:c:s104244312030158x. 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/intfin .

    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.