IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i19p14378-d1250983.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effect of the Security and Exchange Commission’s Investigations into Corporate Social Responsibility Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Karel Hrazdil

    (Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC V5A 1S6, Canada)

  • Jeong-Bon Kim

    (Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC V5A 1S6, Canada)

  • Xin Li

    (School of Business, Trinity Western University, Langley, BC V2Y 1Y1, Canada)

Abstract

We examine the effect of the Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) investigations into firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance. Adopting a staggered event study setting and analyzing all public and private SEC investigations into possible violations of federal securities laws, we find that firms reduce their investment in ESG-related activities and experience significantly lower CSR performance while being investigated by the SEC. This baseline finding is more pronounced among firms that appoint a large auditor or force their CEO to resign. To address concerns about potential endogeneity, we also conduct a multiperiod dynamic analysis and estimate our baseline regressions using the propensity-score-matched sample. Our results further reveal that the negative effect of SEC investigations on CSR performance manifests in CSR activities related to corporate governance and firms’ products. Overall, we highlight some unintended consequences of SEC investigations.

Suggested Citation

  • Karel Hrazdil & Jeong-Bon Kim & Xin Li, 2023. "The Effect of the Security and Exchange Commission’s Investigations into Corporate Social Responsibility Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-17, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:19:p:14378-:d:1250983
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/19/14378/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/19/14378/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stein, Jeremy C, 1988. "Takeover Threats and Managerial Myopia," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(1), pages 61-80, February.
    2. Hoje Jo & Maretno Harjoto, 2011. "Corporate Governance and Firm Value: The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 103(3), pages 351-383, October.
    3. Chen, Tai-Yuan & Zhang, Guochang & Zhou, Yi, 2018. "Enforceability of non-compete covenants, discretionary investments, and financial reporting practices: Evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 41-60.
    4. Greg Niehaus & Greg Roth, 1999. "Insider Trading, Equity Issues and CEO Turnover in Firms Subject to Securities Class Actions," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 28(4), Winter.
    5. Warner, Jerold B. & Watts, Ross L. & Wruck, Karen H., 1988. "Stock prices and top management changes," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 461-492, January.
    6. Patricia M. Dechow & Richard G. Sloan & Amy P. Sweeney, 1996. "Causes and Consequences of Earnings Manipulation: An Analysis of Firms Subject to Enforcement Actions by the SEC," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(1), pages 1-36, March.
    7. Connie L. Becker & Mark L. Defond & James Jiambalvo & K.R. Subramanyam, 1998. "The Effect of Audit Quality on Earnings Management," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(1), pages 1-24, March.
    8. Watts, Ross L & Zimmerman, Jerold L, 1983. "Agency Problems, Auditing, and the Theory of the Firm: Some Evidence," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(3), pages 613-633, October.
    9. Jere R. Francis & Dechun Wang, 2008. "The Joint Effect of Investor Protection and Big 4 Audits on Earnings Quality around the World," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(1), pages 157-191, March.
    10. Maretno Harjoto & Hoje Jo & Yongtae Kim, 2017. "Is Institutional Ownership Related to Corporate Social Responsibility? The Nonlinear Relation and Its Implication for Stock Return Volatility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(1), pages 77-109, November.
    11. Amir Barnea & Amir Rubin, 2010. "Corporate Social Responsibility as a Conflict Between Shareholders," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 97(1), pages 71-86, November.
    12. Krishna Udayasankar, 2008. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Size," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 83(2), pages 167-175, December.
    13. Vanessa C. Burbano & John Mamer & Jason Snyder, 2018. "Pro bono as a human capital learning and screening mechanism: Evidence from law firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(11), pages 2899-2920, November.
    14. Natalia Semenova & Lars Hassel, 2015. "On the Validity of Environmental Performance Metrics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(2), pages 249-258, December.
    15. 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.
    16. Marion Dupire & Bouchra M’Zali, 2018. "CSR Strategies in Response to Competitive Pressures," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(3), pages 603-623, March.
    17. Caroline Flammer & Aleksandra Kacperczyk, 2019. "Corporate social responsibility as a defense against knowledge spillovers: Evidence from the inevitable disclosure doctrine," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(8), pages 1243-1267, August.
    18. Hoje Jo & Maretno Harjoto, 2012. "The Causal Effect of Corporate Governance on Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 106(1), pages 53-72, March.
    19. Abagail McWilliams & Donald Siegel, 2000. "Corporate social responsibility and financial performance: correlation or misspecification?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(5), pages 603-609, May.
    20. Laura T. Starks, 2009. "EFA Keynote Speech: “Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility: What Do Investors Care about? What Should Investors Care about?”," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 44(4), pages 461-468, November.
    21. Liang, Hao & Marquis, C. & Renneboog, Luc & Li Sun, Sunny, 2018. "Future-time framing : The effect of language on corporate future orientation," Other publications TiSEM 1c1a2d0f-4720-46b9-829b-2, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    22. Won-Yong Oh & Jongseok Cha & Young Kyun Chang, 2017. "Does Ownership Structure Matter? The Effects of Insider and Institutional Ownership on Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(1), pages 111-124, November.
    23. Joseph F. Brazel & Keith L. Jones & Mark F. Zimbelman, 2009. "Using Nonfinancial Measures to Assess Fraud Risk," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5), pages 1135-1166, December.
    24. Hao Liang & Christopher Marquis & Luc Renneboog & Sunny Li Sun, 2018. "Future-Time Framing: The Effect of Language on Corporate Future Orientation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(6), pages 1093-1111, December.
    25. Chen, Xia & Harford, Jarrad & Li, Kai, 2007. "Monitoring: Which institutions matter?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 279-305, November.
    26. Amy J. Hillman & Gerald D. Keim, 2001. "Shareholder value, stakeholder management, and social issues: what's the bottom line?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 125-139, February.
    27. 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.
    28. Lang, Mark & Maffett, Mark & Omartian, James D. & Silvers, Roger, 2020. "Regulatory cooperation and foreign portfolio investment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(1), pages 138-158.
    29. Aaron K. Chatterji & Rodolphe Durand & David I. Levine & Samuel Touboul, 2016. "Do ratings of firms converge? Implications for managers, investors and strategy researchers," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(8), pages 1597-1614, August.
    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. Eunice S. Khoo & Li Chen & Gary S. Monroe, 2023. "Shareholder election of CSR committee members and its effects on CSR performance," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3-4), pages 716-763, March.
    2. Kiyoung Chang & Hoje Jo & Ying Li, 2018. "Is there Informational Value in Corporate Giving?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(2), pages 473-496, August.
    3. Jongmoo Jay Choi & Hoje Jo & Jimi Kim & Moo Sung Kim, 2018. "Business Groups and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 931-954, December.
    4. Raymond Kwong & Man Lung Jonathan Kwok & Helen S. M. Wong, 2023. "Green FinTech Innovation as a Future Research Direction: A Bibliometric Analysis on Green Finance and FinTech," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-27, October.
    5. Andrew Bryant & Jennifer J. Griffin & Vanessa G. Perry, 2020. "Mitigating climate change: A role for regulations and risk‐taking," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 605-618, February.
    6. Chowdhury, Hasibul & Hodgson, Allan & Hasan, Mostafa Monzur, 2022. "Does a competitive external labour market affect corporate social responsibility? Evidence from industry tournament incentives," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C).
    7. Jacob Brower & Peter A. Dacin, 2020. "An Institutional Theory Approach to the Evolution of the Corporate Social Performance – Corporate Financial Performance Relationship," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 805-836, June.
    8. Sanja Pekovic & Sebastian Vogt, 2021. "The fit between corporate social responsibility and corporate governance: the impact on a firm’s financial performance," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 1095-1125, May.
    9. Yuan Yuan & Louise Yi Lu & Gaoliang Tian & Yangxin Yu, 2020. "Business Strategy and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(2), pages 359-377, March.
    10. Pandej Chintrakarn & Pornsit Jiraporn & Shenghui Tong & Napatsorn Jiraporn & Richard Proctor, 2020. "How do independent directors view corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Evidence from a quasi‐natural experiment," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 55(4), pages 697-716, November.
    11. Buchanan, Bonnie & Cao, Cathy Xuying & Chen, Chongyang, 2018. "Corporate social responsibility, firm value, and influential institutional ownership," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 73-95.
    12. Zhou, Fangzhao & Zhu, Jichen & Qi, Yawei & Yang, Jun & An, Yunbi, 2021. "Multi-dimensional corporate social responsibilities and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    13. Kais Bouslah & Lawrence Kryzanowski & Bouchra M’Zali, 2018. "Social Performance and Firm Risk: Impact of the Financial Crisis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(3), pages 643-669, May.
    14. Jeremy Galbreath, 2017. "The Impact of Board Structure on Corporate Social Responsibility: A Temporal View," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 358-370, March.
    15. Lars Moratis & Max van Egmond, 2018. "Concealing social responsibility? Investigating the relationship between CSR, earnings management and the effect of industry through quantitative analysis," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 1-13, December.
    16. Kiyoung Chang & Jean Kabongo & Ying Li, 2021. "Geographic proximity, long-term institutional ownership, and corporate social responsibility," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 297-328, January.
    17. Kim, Sooin & Yoo, Jungmin, 2022. "Corporate Opacity, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Financial Performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    18. Luis Otero-González & Pablo Durán-Santomil & Luis-Ignacio Rodríguez-Gil & Rubén Lado-Sestayo, 2021. "Does a Company’s Profitability Influence the Level of CSR Development?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-15, March.
    19. Mohammad Jizi, 2017. "The Influence of Board Composition on Sustainable Development Disclosure," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(5), pages 640-655, July.
    20. André Laplume & Kent Walker & Zhou Zhang & Xin Yu, 2021. "Incumbent Stakeholder Management Performance and New Entry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(3), pages 629-644, December.

    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:15:y:2023:i:19:p:14378-:d:1250983. 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.