Is corporate social responsibility a must or a plus? The role of national culture

This study examines the role of national culture in shaping corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices and how CSR is valued by investors. In a multilevel study of 4998 firms across 34 nations, we find that firms in performance-based culture (PBC) are more likely to engage in explicit CSR activities, but performance-driven investors view such an effort as a drag on shareholder returns in PBC-oriented societies, resulting in lower valuation. In contrast, firms in socially supportive culture (SSC) tend to invest less in explicit CSR activities, but such an investment is viewed favorably by social-minded investors in SSC-oriented societies, and thus pays, financially. By investigating both the antecedents and consequences of CSR in an integrated framework, we discover a compelling story that, in PBC-oriented societies, explicit CSR is a must, which is not valued by investors, whereas in SSC-oriented societies, explicit CSR is a plus, which the market rewards substantially.