How Does Corporate Social Responsibility Affect Corporate Productivity? The Role of Environmental Regulation

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) plays a vital role in facilitating sustainable long-term development. Despite its importance, the specific mechanisms through which CSR interacts with business productivity have not been extensively explored. This paper selects 4167 Chinese enterprises from 2011 to 2021 for study to elucidate this mechanism. The results of the study show that (i) CSR has a significant positive effect on enterprise productivity. (ii) Environmental regulation has a negative and significant moderating effect on the effect of CSR. After endogeneity and robustness tests, the findings of (i) and (ii) remain valid. (iii) There is heterogeneity in (i)–(ii) concerning corporate social responsibility, corporate shareholding structure, region, and degree of marketization. Based on these findings, sound recommendations are proposed for enterprise managers and governments.