A Study on the Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Financial Performance

• Main Authors: Huang ,Yamin, 黃雅旻
• Other Authors: Ting, Pihui
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/04458005085952000916

碩士 === 長榮大學 === 企業管理學系碩士班 === 99 === Concerns about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) have grown significantly during the last two decades. The concept of CSR is gaining more and more attention in both the business and academic fields. Most of the theoretically oriented research on this subject has focused on investigating the connection between CSR and corporate financial performance. But the relationship may indicate negative, neutral, or positive linkages between CSR and financial performance. In other words, the link between CSR and financial performance has not been fully established. Therefore, the first objective of this study is to attempt to examine the impact of CSR activities on corporate financial performance. There are two conflicting views regarding the impact of engaging in CSR activities on the financial performance of a firm. The first one is that CSR activities improves the relationship between enterprises and stakeholders, and garners more benefits than the cost incurred. An alternative view is that the other is CSR activities increases costs and declines financial performance. Therefore, the second objective of this study is to explore how firms’ CSR activities affect their financial performance through changes in corporate income and expenses. Besides, the prevailing literature shows that the types of CSR activities affect the relationship between CSR activities and corporate financial performance. Therefore, the third objective of this study is to explore whether the mediating effects of firms’ income and expenses also depend on the types of CSR activities. The data in the study are based on the companies within the S & P 500 Index between 2002 and 2009. Moreover, I perform a Path analysis to test the hypotheses by using AMOS software. The findings of this study indicate that corporate social responsibility activities does not directly affect the company's return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE). The corporate social responsibility activities that performed by the enterprise will positively affect the company's gross profit, and thus positively affect the company's return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE). The corporate social responsibility activities that performed by the enterprise will also make the company's operating expenses, thereby reduce the company's return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE). Final, the effects of corporate social responsibility on financial performance is positive.