IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ukm/jlekon/v54y2020i1p167-179.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Market Competition Motivate Corporate Social Responsibility? Insight from Malaysia

Author

Listed:
  • Kontesa, Maria

    (Head of Department Accounting Program Fakultas Ekonomi dan Bisnis Universitas Widya Dharma Pontianak INDONESIA)

  • Brahmana, Rayenda Khresna

    (Faculty of Economics and Business Universiti Malaysia Sarawak MALAYSIA)

  • Mail, Gesti Memarista

    (Faculty of Economics and Business Universitas Kristen Petra Surabaya INDONESIA)

Abstract

This study aims to examine the role of product market competition on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by engaging altruism and utilitarianism views. Using dynamic Generalized Method of Moment panel regression for 524 Malaysian non-financial industry listed companies from 2010 to 2016, we find that firms in a more competitive environments increase their CSR activities. We interpret these results as evidence that CSR is strategically chosen by firms not for the societal benefits, but more on business as usual; a support for utilitarianism view, i.e profit maximizations. It explains the rationale that CSR activities are less employed in a more monopolistic or oligarchic industry. Practically, this study suggests that the CSR activities are forced by market competition. Firms in a more competitive market need CSR as their non-market strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Kontesa, Maria & Brahmana, Rayenda Khresna & Mail, Gesti Memarista, 2020. "Does Market Competition Motivate Corporate Social Responsibility? Insight from Malaysia," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 54(1), pages 167-179.
    • Handle: RePEc:ukm:jlekon:v:54:y:2020:i:1:p:167-179
    DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/JEM-2020-5401-12
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ukm.my/jem/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/jeko_541-12.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/JEM-2020-5401-12?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
    ---><---

    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. Hsiang-Lin Chih & Hsiang-Hsuan Chih & Tzu-Yin Chen, 2010. "On the Determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility: International Evidence on the Financial Industry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 93(1), pages 115-135, April.
    3. 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.
    4. Botosan, CA & Harris, MS, 2000. "Motivations for a change in disclosure frequency and its consequences: An examination of voluntary quarterly segment disclosures," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 329-353.
    5. Haniffa, R.M. & Cooke, T.E., 2005. "The impact of culture and governance on corporate social reporting," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 391-430.
    6. Suaini Othman & Faizah Darus & Roshayani Arshad, 2011. "The influence of coercive isomorphism on corporate social responsibility reporting and reputation," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 7(2), pages 119-135, February.
    7. Nor Hawani Wan Abd Rahman & Mustaffa Mohamed Zain & Norashfah Hanim Yaakop Yahaya Al-Haj, 2011. "CSR disclosures and its determinants: evidence from Malaysian government link companies," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 7(2), pages 181-201, July.
    8. Yuan-Shuh Lii & Monle Lee, 2012. "Doing Right Leads to Doing Well: When the Type of CSR and Reputation Interact to Affect Consumer Evaluations of the Firm," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 105(1), pages 69-81, January.
    9. Kansal, Monika & Joshi, Mahesh & Batra, Gurdip Singh, 2014. "Determinants of corporate social responsibility disclosures: Evidence from India," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 217-229.
    10. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    11. John Antonakis & Samuel Bendahan & Philippe Jacquart & Rafael Lalive, 2010. "On making causal claims : A review and recommendations," Post-Print hal-02313119, HAL.
    12. 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.
    13. Sepideh Parsa & Reza Kouhy, 2008. "Social Reporting by Companies Listed on the Alternative Investment Market," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 79(3), pages 345-360, May.
    14. Wintoki, M. Babajide & Linck, James S. & Netter, Jeffry M., 2012. "Endogeneity and the dynamics of internal corporate governance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(3), pages 581-606.
    15. Johannes Hörner, 2002. "Reputation and Competition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(3), pages 644-663, June.
    16. Waris Ali & Jedrzej George Frynas & Zeeshan Mahmood, 2017. "Determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Disclosure in Developed and Developing Countries: A Literature Review," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(4), pages 273-294, July.
    17. Kumar Ramesh & Raiswa Saha & Susoban Goswami & Sekar & Richa Dahiya, 2019. "Consumer's response to CSR activities: Mediating role of brand image and brand attitude," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(2), pages 377-387, March.
    18. Sudipto Dasgupta & Xi Li & Albert Y Wang, 2018. "Product Market Competition Shocks, Firm Performance, and Forced CEO Turnover," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(11), pages 4187-4231.
    19. Oriol Iglesias & Stefan Markovic & Jatinder Jit Singh & Vicenta Sierra, 2019. "Do Customer Perceptions of Corporate Services Brand Ethicality Improve Brand Equity? Considering the Roles of Brand Heritage, Brand Image, and Recognition Benefits," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(2), pages 441-459, January.
    20. Davidson, Russell & MacKinnon, James G., 1993. "Estimation and Inference in Econometrics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195060119.
    21. Karuna, Christo, 2007. "Industry product market competition and managerial incentives," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2-3), pages 275-297, July.
    22. Suaini Othman & Faizah Darus & Roshayani Arshad, 2011. "The influence of coercive isomorphism on corporate social responsibility reporting and reputation," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 7(1), pages 119-135, March.
    23. Weijia You & Hui Shu & Suyuan Luo, 2018. "Competition, cooperation, and performance: an empirical investigation of Chinese online sellers," Information Systems and e-Business Management, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 743-760, November.
    24. Mark Bagnoli & Susan G. Watts, 2003. "Selling to Socially Responsible Consumers: Competition and The Private Provision of Public Goods," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(3), pages 419-445, September.
    25. 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.
    26. Abdelkader Sadou & Fardous Alom & Hayatullah Laluddin, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility disclosures in Malaysia: evidence from large companies," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(1), pages 177-202, March.
    27. Roberts, Robin W., 1992. "Determinants of corporate social responsibility disclosure: An application of stakeholder theory," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 595-612, August.
    28. Christopher Wickert & Andreas Georg Scherer & Laura J. Spence, 2016. "Walking and Talking Corporate Social Responsibility: Implications of Firm Size and Organizational Cost," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(7), pages 1169-1196, November.
    29. X. H. Meng & S. X. Zeng & X. M. Xie & G. Y. Qi, 2016. "The impact of product market competition on corporate environmental responsibility," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 267-291, March.
    30. 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.
    31. Chun‐Hung Chiu & Tsan‐Ming Choi & Xin Dai & Bin Shen & Jin‐Hui Zheng, 2018. "Optimal Advertising Budget Allocation in Luxury Fashion Markets with Social Influences: A Mean‐Variance Analysis," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 27(8), pages 1611-1629, August.
    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. Uz Zaman, Qamar & Ehsan, Sadaf & Hassan, Mohammad Kabir & Javed, Muzhar & Ul Hassan, Syed Iftikhar, 2022. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Zero Leverage," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 56(1), pages 33-46.

    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. María Luisa Pajuelo Moreno & Teresa Duarte-Atoche, 2019. "Relationship between Sustainable Disclosure and Performance—An Extension of Ullmann’s Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-33, August.
    3. Waris Ali & Jedrzej George Frynas & Zeeshan Mahmood, 2017. "Determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Disclosure in Developed and Developing Countries: A Literature Review," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(4), pages 273-294, July.
    4. Waris Ali & Jedrzej George Frynas, 2018. "The Role of Normative CSR‐Promoting Institutions in Stimulating CSR Disclosures in Developing Countries," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(4), pages 373-390, July.
    5. María del Mar Miras-Rodríguez & Domingo Martínez-Martínez & Bernabé Escobar-Pérez, 2018. "Which Corporate Governance Mechanisms Drive CSR Disclosure Practices in Emerging Countries?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-20, December.
    6. Weizhang Sun & Chunguang Zhao & Charles H. Cho, 2019. "Institutional transitions and the role of financial performance in CSR reporting," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(2), pages 367-376, March.
    7. Kansal, Monika & Joshi, Mahesh & Batra, Gurdip Singh, 2014. "Determinants of corporate social responsibility disclosures: Evidence from India," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 217-229.
    8. Aseem Kaul & Jiao Luo, 2018. "An economic case for CSR: The comparative efficiency of for‐profit firms in meeting consumer demand for social goods," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(6), pages 1650-1677, June.
    9. Kalpana Tokas & Kartik Yadav, 2023. "Foreign Ownership and Corporate Social Responsibility: The Case of an Emerging Market," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 24(6), pages 1302-1325, December.
    10. Chen, Shihua & Chen, Yulin & Jebran, Khalil, 2021. "Trust and corporate social responsibility: From expected utility and social normative perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 518-530.
    11. Elena Platonova & Mehmet Asutay & Rob Dixon & Sabri Mohammad, 2018. "The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure on Financial Performance: Evidence from the GCC Islamic Banking Sector," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(2), pages 451-471, August.
    12. 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.
    13. Kong, Dongmin & Shu, Yijia & Wang, Yanan, 2021. "Corruption and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China⋆," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    14. 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.
    15. Maretno Agus Harjoto, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility and degrees of operating and financial leverage," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 487-513, August.
    16. Alice Monti & Pierpaolo Pattitoni & Barbara Petracci & Otto Randl, 2022. "Does corporate social responsibility impact equity risk? International evidence," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 825-855, October.
    17. Megumi Suto & Hitoshi Takehara, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility intensity, management earnings forecast accuracy, and investor trust: Evidence from Japan," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(6), pages 3047-3059, November.
    18. He, Jingbin & Ma, Xinru, 2023. "Is corporate social responsibility engagement influenced by nearby firms? Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    19. Xiangyu Chen & Peng Wan, 2020. "Social trust and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 485-500, March.
    20. Fernando García & Jairo González-Bueno & Francisco Guijarro & Javier Oliver, 2020. "Forecasting the Environmental, Social, and Governance Rating of Firms by Using Corporate Financial Performance Variables: A Rough Set Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-18, April.

    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:ukm:jlekon:v:54:y:2020:i:1:p:167-179. 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: Muhammad Asri Abd Ghani (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/feukmmy.html .

    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.