IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/68059.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Social capital, trust, and firm performance: the value of corporate social responsibility during the financial crisis

Author

Listed:
  • Lins, Karl V.
  • Servaes, Henri
  • Tamayo, Ane

Abstract

During the 2008-2009 financial crisis, firms with high social capital, measured as corporate social responsibility (CSR) intensity, had stock returns that were four to seven percentage points higher than firms with low social capital. High-CSR firms also experienced higher profitability, growth, and sales per employee relative to low-CSR firms, and they raised more debt. This evidence suggests that the trust between the firm and both its stakeholders and investors, built through investments in social capital, pays off when the overall level of trust in corporations and markets suffers a negative shock.

Suggested Citation

  • Lins, Karl V. & Servaes, Henri & Tamayo, Ane, 2017. "Social capital, trust, and firm performance: the value of corporate social responsibility during the financial crisis," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 68059, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:68059
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/68059/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2008. "Trusting the Stock Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(6), pages 2557-2600, December.
    2. Stephen Knack & Philip Keefer, 1997. "Does Social Capital Have an Economic Payoff? A Cross-Country Investigation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1251-1288.
    3. Guiso, Luigi & Sapienza, Paola & Zingales, Luigi, 2015. "The value of corporate culture," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 60-76.
    4. Roland Bénabou & Jean Tirole, 2010. "Individual and Corporate Social Responsibility," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 77(305), pages 1-19, January.
    5. Ferrell, Allen & Liang, Hao & Renneboog, Luc, 2016. "Socially responsible firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(3), pages 585-606.
    6. Hong, Harrison & Kubik, Jeffrey D. & Stein, Jeremy C., 2008. "The only game in town: Stock-price consequences of local bias," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 20-37, October.
    7. Hong, Harrison & Kostovetsky, Leonard, 2012. "Red and blue investing: Values and finance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(1), pages 1-19.
    8. Eugene F. Fama & Kenneth R. French, 2008. "Dissecting Anomalies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(4), pages 1653-1678, August.
    9. Ing-Haw Cheng & Harrison Hong & Kelly Shue, 2013. "Do Managers Do Good with Other People's Money?," NBER Working Papers 19432, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. La Porta, Rafael, et al, 1997. "Trust in Large Organizations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(2), pages 333-338, May.
    11. Edward L. Glaeser & David Laibson & Bruce Sacerdote, 2002. "An Economic Approach to Social Capital," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(483), pages 437-458, November.
    12. Jarrad Harford & Sandy Klasa & William F. Maxwell, 2014. "Refinancing Risk and Cash Holdings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(3), pages 975-1012, June.
    13. Renée Birgit Adams & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2012. "A Trust Crisis," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 12(2), pages 123-131, June.
    14. Edmans, Alex, 2011. "Does the stock market fully value intangibles? Employee satisfaction and equity prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 621-640, September.
    15. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2004. "The Role of Social Capital in Financial Development," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 526-556, June.
    16. Deng, Xin & Kang, Jun-koo & Low, Buen Sin, 2013. "Corporate social responsibility and stakeholder value maximization: Evidence from mergers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(1), pages 87-109.
    17. Harrison Hong & Inessa Liskovich, 2015. "Crime, Punishment and the Halo Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility," NBER Working Papers 21215, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Paola Sapienza & Anna Toldra‐Simats & Luigi Zingales, 2013. "Understanding Trust," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 123(12), pages 1313-1332, December.
    19. Caroline Flammer, 2015. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility Lead to Superior Financial Performance? A Regression Discontinuity Approach," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(11), pages 2549-2568, November.
    20. Lorenzo Sacconi & Giacomo Degli Antoni (ed.), 2011. "Social Capital, Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Behaviour and Performance," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-30618-9, October.
    21. Alexander Borisov & Eitan Goldman & Nandini Gupta, 2016. "The Corporate Value of (Corrupt) Lobbying," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(4), pages 1039-1071.
    22. repec:bla:jfinan:v:58:y:2003:i:3:p:975-1008 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Duchin, Ran & Ozbas, Oguzhan & Sensoy, Berk A., 2010. "Costly external finance, corporate investment, and the subprime mortgage credit crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(3), pages 418-435, September.
    24. Carlin, Bruce Ian & Dorobantu, Florin & Viswanathan, S., 2009. "Public trust, the law, and financial investment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(3), pages 321-341, June.
    25. Amit Goyal & Pedro Santa‐Clara, 2003. "Idiosyncratic Risk Matters!," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(3), pages 975-1007, June.
    26. Henri Servaes & Ane Tamayo, 2013. "The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Firm Value: The Role of Customer Awareness," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(5), pages 1045-1061, May.
    27. Lucian Bebchuk & Alma Cohen & Allen Ferrell, 2009. "What Matters in Corporate Governance?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(2), pages 783-827, February.
    28. Daniel, Kent & Titman, Sheridan, 1997. "Evidence on the Characteristics of Cross Sectional Variation in Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 1-33, March.
    29. Markus Kitzmueller & Jay Shimshack, 2012. "Economic Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(1), pages 51-84, March.
    30. Robert G. Eccles & Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim, 2014. "The Impact of Corporate Sustainability on Organizational Processes and Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(11), pages 2835-2857, November.
    31. Gao, Feng & Lisic, Ling Lei & Zhang, Ivy Xiying, 2014. "Commitment to social good and insider trading," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 149-175.
    32. Di Giuli, Alberta & Kostovetsky, Leonard, 2014. "Are red or blue companies more likely to go green? Politics and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(1), pages 158-180.
    33. Dylan Minor, 2015. "The Value of Corporate Citizenship: Protection," Harvard Business School Working Papers 16-021, Harvard Business School.
    34. Katherine Scrivens & Conal Smith, 2013. "Four Interpretations of Social Capital: An Agenda for Measurement," OECD Statistics Working Papers 2013/6, OECD Publishing.
    35. 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.
    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. Servaes, Henri & Tamayo, Ane, 2015. "Social Capital, Trust, and Firm Performance during the Financial Crisis," CEPR Discussion Papers 10399, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Servaes, Henri & Amiraslani, Hami & Lins, Karl & Tamayo, Ane, 2017. "A Matter of Trust? The Bond Market Benefits of Corporate Social Capital during the Financial Crisis," CEPR Discussion Papers 12321, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Servaes, Henri & Tamayo, Ane, 2017. "The role of social capital in corporations: a review," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 69209, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Zhang, Zhuang & Chizema, Amon & Kuo, Jing-Ming & Zhang, Qingjing, 2022. "Managerial risk-reducing incentives and social and exchange capital," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(6).
    5. Dunbar, Craig & Li, Zhichuan (Frank) & Shi, Yaqi, 2020. "CEO risk-taking incentives and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    6. Li, Chengcheng & Wang, Xiaoqiong, 2022. "Local peer effects of corporate social responsibility," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    7. Incheol Kim & Hong Wan & Bin Wang & Tina Yang, 2019. "Institutional Investors and Corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance Policies: Evidence from Toxics Release Data," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(10), pages 4901-4926, October.
    8. 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.
    9. Gillan, Stuart L. & Koch, Andrew & Starks, Laura T., 2021. "Firms and social responsibility: A review of ESG and CSR research in corporate finance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    10. Bae, Kee-Hong & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Kwok, Chuck C.Y. & Zheng, Ying, 2019. "Does corporate social responsibility reduce the costs of high leverage? Evidence from capital structure and product market interactions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 135-150.
    11. Liu, Haiming & Chiang, Yao-Min, 2024. "Employment protection and environmental corporate social responsibility: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    12. Hui-Ju Tsai & Yangru Wu, 2022. "Changes in Corporate Social Responsibility and Stock Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(3), pages 735-755, July.
    13. Gao, Feng & Li, Yubin & Wang, Xinjie & Zhong, Zhaodong (Ken), 2021. "Corporate social responsibility and the term structure of CDS spreads," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    14. Krüger, Philipp, 2015. "Corporate goodness and shareholder wealth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 304-329.
    15. Liu, Xianda & Hou, Wenxuan & Main, Brian G.M., 2022. "Anti-market sentiment and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from anti-Jewish pogroms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    16. Rui Albuquerque & Yrjö Koskinen & Chendi Zhang, 2019. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Risk: Theory and Empirical Evidence," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(10), pages 4451-4469, October.
    17. 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.
    18. Chang, Ching-Hung & Chen, Sheng-Syan & Chen, Yan-Shing & Peng, Shu-Cing, 2019. "Commitment to build trust by socially responsible firms: Evidence from cash holdings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 364-387.
    19. Jie Cao & Hao Liang & Xintong Zhan, 2019. "Peer Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(12), pages 5487-5503, December.
    20. Bhandari, Avishek & Javakhadze, David, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility and capital allocation efficiency," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 354-377.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    trust; social capital; corporate social responsibility; financial crisis; stock returns;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ehl:lserod:68059. 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: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.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.