Do shareholders support corporate social responsibility, or should companies ‘stick to their knitting’?

Abstract

This article seeks to empirically answer whether Australian shareholders support corporate social responsibility (‘CSR’) or prefer companies to maximise shareholder returns. Legally, companies can consider a wide range of stakeholder interests when deciding what is in the best interests of the company. Generally, most companies continue to pursue the shareholder primacy norm by seeking to maximise shareholder value. However, corporate Australia’s support for the Voice to Parliament (and before that, the plebiscite on marriage equality) departed from the shareholder primacy norm in lending its support to these causes through CSR activities. Missing from this discussion is the voice of shareholders. A survey of 236 Australians suggests that most investors would prefer companies ‘stick to their knitting’ and maximise profits. Where investors were willing to forgo some profit, the amounts are low. Yet, perversely, these investors hold prosocial attitudes in their consumer and donor decisions.