Corporate social responsibility and tax avoidance: the effect of ownership structure

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and tax avoidance. It also looks at how ownership structure impacts this relationship. Based on a sample of 300 European companies over the period 2014 - 2019, we use OLS regression models and come up with a negative relationship between corporate social responsibility and tax avoidance, which is consistent with the concepts of agency theory. Furthermore, we find that family businesses mitigate this relationship. These results show that family firms are more socially responsible than non-family firms due to their socio-emotional endowments, and consequently are less tax avoidant.