Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Firm Features in the immediate aftermath of the COVID‐19 Pandemic.

14 Pages Posted: 17 Jan 2025 Last revised: 5 Feb 2025

See all articles by C. N. V. Krishnan

C. N. V. Krishnan

Case Western Reserve University - Department of Banking & Finance

Xiyao Tan

Case Western Reserve University - Weatherhead School of Management

Date Written: January 01, 2025

Abstract

We examine the relationships between key firm features and their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) scores in the context of the COVID‐19 pandemic and its aftermath. The pandemic created a unique environment that might have altered investor expectations, CSR priorities, and corporate strategies. We examine scores for (a) energy and water; (b) ethics, customer service, and labor; and (c) governance, as well as the (d) aggregate CSR score, and find that that large market‐cap and profitable firms are significantly associated with higher CSR energy and water management scores, CSR governance scores, and with higher CSR overall scores. This implies that these firms make these CSR investments, perhaps because of public scrutiny. However, these investments do not appear to lead to significant changes in key financial features such as market cap or Market Value of Equity (MVE), profitability as measured by Return on Assets (ROA), or growth (or the lack thereof) as measured by Book‐to‐Market ratio (BTM), at least in the short run suggesting that CSR benefits may be more strategic. 

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), CSR energy and water score, CSR ethics, customer service, and labor score, CSR governance score, firm features, Market Value of Equity (MVE), Return on Assets (ROA), Book-to-Market ratio (BTM), CSR investments, Return on Assets, Book to Market Ratio, CSR, CSR investments, Covid-19 effects

Suggested Citation

Krishnan, C. N. V. and Tan, Xiyao,
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Firm Features in the immediate aftermath of the COVID‐19 Pandemic.
(January 01, 2025). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5080008 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5080008

C. N. V. Krishnan (Contact Author)

Case Western Reserve University - Department of Banking & Finance ( email )

11119 Bellflower Rd
PBL 363
Cleveland, OH 44106-7235
United States
216-368-2116 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://weatherhead.case.edu/faculty/c-n-v-krishnan

Xiyao Tan

Case Western Reserve University - Weatherhead School of Management ( email )

10900 Euclid Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44106-7235
United States
2165514897 (Phone)

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