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Corporate Social Responsibility and Employee Safety: Evidence from Korea

Author

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  • Ja Eun Koo

    (Division of Business Administration, The University of Suwon, Gyeonggi 18323, Korea)

  • Eun Sun Ki

    (Division of Business Administration & Accounting, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Korea)

Abstract

Employees are an integral part of a company’s sustainable growth and they expect a safe working environment. Therefore, analyzing the factors that affect employee safety is important. In this context, we analyze the effect of corporate social responsibility investment on employee safety. Using Korean listed company data from 2012 to 2014, we regress corporate social responsibility scores on workplace injuries. The Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression results show that higher corporate social responsibility scores are associated with fewer working days lost owing to workplace injuries. Moreover, while workplace injuries have a clear negative effect on firm value, corporate social responsibility activity significantly reduces this negative effect. Our findings imply that investment in corporate social responsibility can improve workplace safety and contribute to a company’s sustainable growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Ja Eun Koo & Eun Sun Ki, 2020. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Employee Safety: Evidence from Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-14, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:7:p:2649-:d:337536
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Mingchuan Yu & Han Lin & Greg G. Wang & Yuan Liu & Xiaotao Zheng, 2022. "Is too much as bad as too little? The S-curve relationship between corporate philanthropy and employee performance," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 1511-1534, December.
    3. Yang, Siying & Liu, Fengshuo & Lu, Jingjing & He, Xiaogang, 2022. "Does occupational injury promote industrial robot applications?," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    4. Valentina Minutiello & Patrizia Tettamanzi, 2022. "The quality of nonfinancial voluntary disclosure: A systematic literature network analysis on sustainability reporting and integrated reporting," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(1), pages 1-18, January.

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