The Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Performance: An Application of Quantile Regression

• Published in: Frontiers of business research in China Vol. 6; no. 2; pp. 218 - 244
• Main Authors: George Wang, Yungchih, Lydia Hsu, Wen-Hsi, Chang, Kuang-Wen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Brill 2012; Higher Education Press; Higher Education Press Limited Company
• Subjects: Corporate governance; corporate social responsibility (CSR); corporate social responsibility index (CSRI); CSR; firm performance; Regression analysis; Social responsibility; socially responsible investment; stakeholders; Studies; 企业社会责任; 公司业绩; 公司治理; 分位数回归; 分量; 应用; 绩效; Taiwan
• ISSN: 1673-7326; 1673-7431
• DOI: 10.3868/s070-001-012-0011-3

This study empirically examines the relationship between a firm’s fulfilling of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and performance. We developed a CSR index (CSRI) to quantitatively evaluate CSR, which consists of four dimensions measuring a firm’s contributions to the economy, society, environment, and corporate governance, respectively. With data from publicly-listed firms in Taiwan during the period of 2004–2009, results of quantile regression show that fulfilling CSR has a significantly positive impact on firm performance, and that the impact in a more profitable firm tends to be significantly greater than that in a less profitable firm. Specifically, when a firm is more profitable, its management would be more willing to implement CSR. The implication is that a firm could pursue better performance while serving as a good corporate citizen.