IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2018i1p60-d192575.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of Corporate Political Activity on the Relationship Between Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance: A Dynamic Panel Data Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Woon Leong Lin

    (Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Selangor, Malaysia)

  • Jo Ann Ho

    (Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Selangor, Malaysia)

  • Murali Sambasivan

    (Lakeside Campus, Taylor’s University, 47500 Selangor, Malaysia)

Abstract

As corporate social responsibility (CSR) gains momentum in the business world, it is imperative to comprehend the relationship between CSR and corporate financial performance (CFP). While there is prior research looking at this relationship, scholars have proposed a contingency view that is meant to determine the situational contexts in which critical associations between CFP and CSR activities will arise. This study provides further insight into the moderating effects of corporate political activity, specifying the ways in which different arrangements of corporate CSR and CPA might align or otherwise, thus influencing CFP beyond associated dissimilar effects on corporate performance. The data for this study was obtained for the periods 2007–2016 from the samples selected from the list of Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies. The dynamic panel data was analyzed using the System Generalized Method of Moment estimation. The main findings are that CSR does not significantly influence CFP. However, CPA does negatively moderate the relationship between CSR and CFP. This indicates that high political expenditures worsen a firm’s financial position compared to the financial position of firms with less spending on CPA.

Suggested Citation

  • Woon Leong Lin & Jo Ann Ho & Murali Sambasivan, 2018. "Impact of Corporate Political Activity on the Relationship Between Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance: A Dynamic Panel Data Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-22, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2018:i:1:p:60-:d:192575
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/1/60/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/1/60/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sandra A. Waddock & Samuel B. Graves, 1997. "The Corporate Social Performance–Financial Performance Link," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(4), pages 303-319, April.
    2. Hui Chen & David Parsley & Ya-Wen Yang, 2015. "Corporate Lobbying and Firm Performance," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3-4), pages 444-481, April.
    3. Becchetti, Leonardo & Ciciretti, Rocco & Hasan, Iftekhar, 2015. "Corporate social responsibility, stakeholder risk, and idiosyncratic volatility," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 297-309.
    4. Brent Kurapatskie & Nicole Darnall, 2013. "Which Corporate Sustainability Activities are Associated with Greater Financial Payoffs?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 49-61, January.
    5. Clyde Eiríkur Hull & Sandra Rothenberg, 2008. "Firm performance: the interactions of corporate social performance with innovation and industry differentiation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(7), pages 781-789, July.
    6. Vicente Lima Crisóstomo & Fátima de Souza Freire & Felipe Cortes de Vasconcellos, 2011. "Corporate social responsibility, firm value and financial performance in Brazil," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 7(2), pages 295-309, July.
    7. Mohamed Arouri & Guillaume Pijourlet, 2017. "CSR Performance and the Value of Cash Holdings: International Evidence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 140(2), pages 263-284, January.
    8. Pasquale Ruggiero & Sebastiano Cupertino, 2018. "CSR Strategic Approach, Financial Resources and Corporate Social Performance: The Mediating Effect of Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-22, October.
    9. Bonardi, Jean-Philippe & Holburn, Guy & Vanden Bergh, Rick, 2006. "Nonmarket performance: Evidence from U.S. electric utilities," MPRA Paper 14437, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. 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.
    11. Flannery, Mark J. & Hankins, Kristine Watson, 2013. "Estimating dynamic panel models in corporate finance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 1-19.
    12. Wood, Donna J. & Logsdon, Jeanne M., 2008. "Business Citizenship as Metaphor and Reality," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(1), pages 51-59, January.
    13. George J. Stigler, 1971. "The Theory of Economic Regulation," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 2(1), pages 3-21, Spring.
    14. Sandra Cavaco & Patricia Crifo, 2014. "CSR and financial performance: complementarity between environmental, social and business behaviours," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(27), pages 3323-3338, September.
    15. Mäkinen, Jukka & Kourula, Arno, 2012. "Pluralism in Political Corporate Social Responsibility," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(4), pages 649-678, October.
    16. Chi-Shiun Lai & Chih-Jen Chiu & Chin-Fang Yang & Da-Chang Pai, 2010. "The Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Brand Performance: The Mediating Effect of Industrial Brand Equity and Corporate Reputation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 95(3), pages 457-469, September.
    17. Dang, Chongyu & (Frank) Li, Zhichuan & Yang, Chen, 2018. "Measuring firm size in empirical corporate finance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 159-176.
    18. Stulz, ReneM., 1990. "Managerial discretion and optimal financing policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 3-27, July.
    19. Sanjay Ramchander & Robert G. Schwebach & KIM Staking, 2012. "The informational relevance of corporate social responsibility: evidence from DS400 index reconstitutions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 303-314, March.
    20. Andreas Georg Scherer & Guido Palazzo, 2011. "The New Political Role of Business in a Globalized World: A Review of a New Perspective on CSR and its Implications for the Firm, Governance, and Democracy," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 899-931, June.
    21. Kolk, Ans & Levy, David, 2001. "Winds of Change:: Corporate Strategy, Climate change and Oil Multinationals," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 501-509, October.
    22. Harvey, Campbell R. & Lins, Karl V. & Roper, Andrew H., 2004. "The effect of capital structure when expected agency costs are extreme," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 3-30, October.
    23. Chune Young Chung & Sangjun Jung & Jason Young, 2018. "Do CSR Activities Increase Firm Value? Evidence from the Korean Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-22, September.
    24. Jill Brown & William Forster, 2013. "CSR and Stakeholder Theory: A Tale of Adam Smith," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 112(2), pages 301-312, January.
    25. Stephen Bear & Noushi Rahman & Corinne Post, 2010. "The Impact of Board Diversity and Gender Composition on Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Reputation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 97(2), pages 207-221, December.
    26. Mara Faccio, 2006. "Politically Connected Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(1), pages 369-386, March.
    27. Stephen P. Ferris & Reza Houston & David Javakhadze, 2016. "Friends in the Right Places: The Effect of Political Connections on Corporate Merger Activity," NFI Working Papers 2016-WP-01, Indiana State University, Scott College of Business, Networks Financial Institute.
    28. David P. Baron, 2001. "Private Politics, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Integrated Strategy," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(1), pages 7-45, March.
    29. Darren D. Lee & Robert W. Faff & Kim Langfield-Smith, 2009. "Revisiting the Vexing Question: Does Superior Corporate Social Performance Lead to Improved Financial Performance?," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 34(1), pages 21-49, June.
    30. Caroline Flammer, 2015. "Does product market competition foster corporate social responsibility? Evidence from trade liberalization," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(10), pages 1469-1485, October.
    31. Vicente Lima Crisóstomo & Fátima de Souza Freire & Felipe Cortes de Vasconcellos, 2011. "Corporate social responsibility, firm value and financial performance in Brazil," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 7(2), pages 295-309, June.
    32. Park, Jongchul & Lee, Hanjoon & Kim, Chankon, 2014. "Corporate social responsibilities, consumer trust and corporate reputation: South Korean consumers' perspectives," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 295-302.
    33. David P. Baron, 2009. "A Positive Theory of Moral Management, Social Pressure, and Corporate Social Performance," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 7-43, March.
    34. Thomas P. Lyon & John W. Maxwell, 2011. "Greenwash: Corporate Environmental Disclosure under Threat of Audit," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(1), pages 3-41, March.
    35. Néron, Pierre-Yves & Norman, Wayne, 2008. "Citizenship, Inc. Do We Really Want Businesses to Be Good Corporate Citizens?," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(1), pages 1-26, January.
    36. Bouslah, Kais & Kryzanowski, Lawrence & M’Zali, Bouchra, 2013. "The impact of the dimensions of social performance on firm risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1258-1273.
    37. Ferris, Stephen P. & Houston, Reza & Javakhadze, David, 2016. "Friends in the right places: The effect of political connections on corporate merger activity," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 81-102.
    38. Constantin Belu & Cristiana Manescu, 2013. "Strategic corporate social responsibility and economic performance," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(19), pages 2751-2764, July.
    39. James J. Cordeiro & Joseph Sarkis, 1997. "Environmental proactivism and firm performance: evidence from security analyst earnings forecasts," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(2), pages 104-114, May.
    40. Stephen Brammer & Andrew Millington, 2008. "Does it pay to be different? An analysis of the relationship between corporate social and financial performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(12), pages 1325-1343, December.
    41. Scholtens, Bert, 2008. "A note on the interaction between corporate social responsibility and financial performance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1-2), pages 46-55, December.
    42. Youngran Shin & Vinh V. Thai, 2015. "The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Customer Satisfaction, Relationship Maintenance and Loyalty in the Shipping Industry," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(6), pages 381-392, November.
    43. Bryan Hong & Zhichuan Li & Dylan Minor, 2016. "Corporate Governance and Executive Compensation for Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 136(1), pages 199-213, June.
    44. Grimmer, Martin & Bingham, Timothy, 2013. "Company environmental performance and consumer purchase intentions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1945-1953.
    45. Ping-Sheng Koh & Cuili Qian & Heli Wang, 2014. "Firm litigation risk and the insurance value of corporate social performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(10), pages 1464-1482, October.
    46. Boubakri, Narjess & Guedhami, Omrane & Mishra, Dev & Saffar, Walid, 2012. "Political connections and the cost of equity capital," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 541-559.
    47. Theodoulidis, Babis & Diaz, David & Crotto, Federica & Rancati, Elisa, 2017. "Exploring corporate social responsibility and financial performance through stakeholder theory in the tourism industries," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 173-188.
    48. Elsayed, Khaled & Paton, David, 2005. "The impact of environmental performance on firm performance: static and dynamic panel data evidence," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 395-412, September.
    49. Adhikari, Binay K., 2016. "Causal effect of analyst following on corporate social responsibility," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 201-216.
    50. Cheng, Yingmei & Liu, Baixiao & McConnell, John J. & Rosenblum, Aaron, 2017. "When is good news bad and vice versa? The Fortune rankings of America's most admired companies," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 378-396.
    51. Moses Pava, 2008. "Why Corporations Should Not Abandon Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 83(4), pages 805-812, December.
    52. Jordi Surroca & Josep A. Tribó & Sandra Waddock, 2010. "Corporate responsibility and financial performance: the role of intangible resources," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 463-490, May.
    53. Kim, Chansog (Francis) & Pantzalis, Christos & Chul Park, Jung, 2012. "Political geography and stock returns: The value and risk implications of proximity to political power," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(1), pages 196-228.
    54. Baruch Lev & Christine Petrovits & Suresh Radhakrishnan, 2010. "Is doing good good for you? how corporate charitable contributions enhance revenue growth," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 182-200, February.
    55. 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.
    56. Lin, Chin-Huang & Yang, Ho-Li & Liou, Dian-Yan, 2009. "The impact of corporate social responsibility on financial performance: Evidence from business in Taiwan," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 56-63.
    57. Becker-Olsen, Karen L. & Cudmore, B. Andrew & Hill, Ronald Paul, 2006. "The impact of perceived corporate social responsibility on consumer behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 46-53, January.
    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. Francesco Gangi & Lucia Michela Daniele & Nicola Varrone, 2020. "How do corporate environmental policy and corporate reputation affect risk‐adjusted financial performance?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 1975-1991, July.
    2. Fumin Deng & Yanan Jin & Meng Ye & Shuangyi Zheng, 2019. "New Fixed Assets Investment Project Environmental Performance and Influencing Factors—An Empirical Analysis in China’s Optics Valley," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-21, December.
    3. Giovanni Lombardo & Andrea Mazzocchetti & Irene Rapallo & Nader Tayser & Silvano Cincotti, 2019. "Assessment of the Economic and Social Impact Using SROI: An Application to Sport Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-21, July.
    4. Antonio Martos-Pedrero & Francisco Joaquín Cortés-García & David Jiménez-Castillo, 2019. "The Relationship between Social Responsibility and Business Performance: An Analysis of the Agri-Food Sector of Southeast Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-23, November.
    5. Yasir Hayat Mughal & Mahad Jehangir & Muzzamil Khan & Mehran Saeed, 2021. "Nexus between corporate social responsibility and firm’s performance: A panel data approach," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 3173-3188, April.
    6. María del Carmen Valls Martínez & José Manuel Santos-Jaén & Rafael Félix Valls-Úbeda & Rafael Soriano Román, 2023. "COVID-19 and Public Health Spending; Effects on the Economic Sustainability of the Spanish Private Healthcare System," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-18, January.
    7. María del Carmen Valls Martínez & Pedro Antonio Martín Cervantes & Salvador Cruz Rambaud, 2020. "Women on corporate boards and sustainable development in the American and European markets: Is there a limit to gender policies?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(6), pages 2642-2656, November.
    8. Woon Leong Lin, 2019. "Is Corporate Political Activity an Investment or Agency? An Application of System GMM Approach," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-22, 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. 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.
    2. Woon Leong Lin, 2019. "Is Corporate Political Activity an Investment or Agency? An Application of System GMM Approach," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-22, January.
    3. Woon Leong Lin & Chin Lee & Siong Hook Law, 2021. "Asymmetric effects of corporate sustainability strategy on value creation among global automotive firms: A dynamic panel quantile regression approach," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 931-954, February.
    4. Tahira Naseem & Faisal Shahzad & Ghazanfar Ali Asim & Ijaz Ur Rehman & Faisal Nawaz, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility engagement and firm performance in Asia Pacific: The role of enterprise risk management," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 501-513, March.
    5. Ramakrishnan Ramanathan, 2018. "Understanding Complexity: the Curvilinear Relationship Between Environmental Performance and Firm Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(2), pages 383-393, May.
    6. Eduardo Duque-Grisales & Javier Aguilera-Caracuel, 2021. "Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Scores and Financial Performance of Multilatinas: Moderating Effects of Geographic International Diversification and Financial Slack," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(2), pages 315-334, January.
    7. Lu, Hao & Oh, Won-Yong & Kleffner, Anne & Chang, Young Kyun, 2021. "How do investors value corporate social responsibility? Market valuation and the firm specific contexts," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 14-25.
    8. Yuanyuan Hu & Shouming Chen & Yuexin Shao & Su Gao, 2018. "CSR and Firm Value: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-18, December.
    9. Zia ur Rehman & Asad Khan & Asim Rahman, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility's influence on firm risk and firm performance: the mediating role of firm reputation," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(6), pages 2991-3005, November.
    10. Emmanuel Lawal & Gökan May & Bojan Stahl, 2017. "The Significance of Corporate Social Disclosure for High‐Tech Manufacturing Companies: Focus on Employee and Community Aspects of Sustainable Development," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(4), pages 295-311, July.
    11. Rajesh Kumar Bhaskaran & Irene Wei Kiong Ting & Sujit K. Sukumaran & Saraswathy Divakaran Sumod, 2020. "Environmental, social and governance initiatives and wealth creation for firms: An empirical examination," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(5), pages 710-729, July.
    12. Franck Brulhart & Sandrine Gherra & Bertrand V. Quelin, 2019. "Do Stakeholder Orientation and Environmental Proactivity Impact Firm Profitability?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 25-46, August.
    13. Alexandra ZBUCHEA & Florina PÎNZARU, 2017. "Tailoring CSR Strategy to Company Size?," Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy, College of Management, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, vol. 5(3), pages 415-437, September.
    14. Tai-Hsi Wu & Hsiang-Lin Chih & Mei-Chen Lin & Yi Hua Wu, 2020. "A Data Envelopment Analysis-Based Methodology Adopting Assurance Region Approach for Measuring Corporate Social Performance," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 148(3), pages 863-892, April.
    15. Łukasz Matuszak & Ewa Różańska, 2019. "A Non-Linear and Disaggregated Approach to Studying the Impact of CSR on Accounting Profitability: Evidence from the Polish Banking Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-21, January.
    16. Sana Noor & Abubakr Saeed & Muhammad Saad Baloch & Muhammad Awais, 2020. "CSR permanency, family ownership, and firm value: Evidence from emerging economies," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(5), pages 2135-2149, September.
    17. Wang, Zhixiao & Kong, Dongmin & Liu, Shasha, 2024. "Corporate social responsibility and firm-level systematic risk: The moderating effect of economic policy uncertainty," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    18. Mario A. Morales-Parragué & Rodrigo A. Varela-Laso & Luis Araya-Castillo & Fidel Molina-Luque, 2023. "Corporate Social Responsibility: Where Does It Come from, and Where Does It Go? Evolution of the Conceptual Structure from 1975 to 2021," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-23, March.
    19. Leon Zolotoy & Don O’Sullivan & Jill Klein, 2019. "Character Cues and Contracting Costs: The Relationship Between Philanthropy and the Cost of Capital," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(2), pages 497-515, January.
    20. Sylvia Grewatsch & Ingo Kleindienst, 2017. "When Does It Pay to be Good? Moderators and Mediators in the Corporate Sustainability–Corporate Financial Performance Relationship: A Critical Review," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(2), pages 383-416, October.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2018:i:1:p:60-:d:192575. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.