The impact of corporate social responsibility on corporate financialization

Abstract

We examine the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on corporate financialization. Corporate financialization refers to the phenomenon where managers divert corporate resources from the core business to financial assets. Using a sample of Chinese firms between 2010 and 2018, we find that firms with better CSR scores have higher levels of corporate financialization. This result remains valid after a series of tests for robustness and endogeneity issues, suggesting a casual effect of CSR on corporate financialization. We also find that this effect is mitigated in private firms and firms with better internal control, higher management shareholding, and more financial analyst followings. We further explore the economic channel through which CSR promotes corporate financialization and find that CSR relieves financial constraints and enables firms to invest more in financial assets. Finally, we show that both CSR and financialization have significantly negative impacts on firm value.