Employment Nondiscrimination Acts and Corporate Social Responsibility

The paper shows that US state-level employment nondiscrimination acts (ENDAs) protecting the equal treatment of LGBTs in the workplace have a spillover effect on firms’ non-diversity corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance. We find that product market competition plays an important role in shaping the ENDA-CSR relation, suggesting that firms proactively improve non-diversity CSR performance after ENDA enactments level the playing field of diversity. This positive effect is also more pronounced for firms with greater financial strengths, greater visibility and more socially responsible institutional investor ownership. Overall, our findings shed light on how public policies aimed at equal treatment of a particular group of employees can affect CSR policies related to other stakeholders.

Keywords: Employment Nondiscrimination Acts, Corporate Social Responsibility, Employee Treatment, Environmental Protection, Market Competition

JEL Classification: J15, M14, M14

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Chang, Xin and Jin, Yaling and Yang, Endong and Zhang, Wenrui, Employment Nondiscrimination Acts and Corporate Social Responsibility (May 31, 2023). Nanyang Business School Research Paper No. 23-19, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4465220 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4465220