企业社会责任与财务业绩重新建立的良性循环外文翻译.docx

企业社会责任与财务业绩重新建立的良性循环外文翻译.docx

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企业社会责任与财务业绩重新建立的良性循环外文翻译

本科毕业论文（设计）

外文翻译

原文：

Corporatesocialresponsibilityandfinancial

performance:

the‘‘virtuouscircle’’revisited

Weexaminethecausalrelationbetweencorporatesocialresponsibility（CSR）andfinancialperformance.Consistentwithpaststudies,wefindthatthetwovariablesappeartoberelatedwhenweusetraditionalstatisticaltechniques.However,usingatimeseriesfixedeffectsapproach,wefindthattherelationbetweenCSRandfinancialperformanceismuchweakerthanpreviouslythought.Wealsofindlittleevidenceofcausalitybetweenfinancialperformanceandnarrowermeasuresofsocialperformancethatfocusonstakeholdermanagement.OurresultssuggestthatstrongstockmarketperformanceleadstogreaterfirminvestmentinaspectsofCSRdevotedtoemployeerelations,butthatCSRactivitiesdonotaffectfinancialperformance.WeconcludethatCSRisdrivenmorebyunobservablefirmcharacteristicsthanbyfinancialperformance.

Theareaofcorporatesocialresponsibility（CSR）hasbecomeanotabletopicbothinthebusinessandacademicpress.McWilliamsandSiegel（2001）defineCSRas‘‘actionsthatappeartofurthersomesocialgood,beyondtheinterestsofthefirmandthatwhichisrequiredbylaw,’’.ExamplesofCSRincludesupportoflocalbusinessesorcharities,developingrecyclingprograms,andpromotingminorityemployment.Thoughtheseactivitiescertainlyresultinsocietalbenefits,opinionsdifferastowhetherafirm’sCSRactivityenhancesfinancialperformance.Forinstance,CSRhasbeendescribedasbeing‘‘littlemorethanacosmetictreatment,’’whileanearlierarticleinthefinancialpresstoutedtheeconomicadvantagesforcompaniespracticingCSR.

CSRhasattractedtheattentionofmutualfundinvestors,includingTIAACREF,andanumberoffundsuseCSRasascreeningdeviceforinvestmentselection.However,anybenefitsinvestorsderivefromincludingsociallyresponsiblefirmsintheirportfoliosdonotappeartobeinformofsuperiorreturns.Bello（2005）matchessociallyresponsiblemutualfundstoconventionalfundsinthelate1990sandfindsnosignificantdifferenceinlong-runinvestmentperformanceorportfoliodiversificationbetweenthetwogroups.AccordingtoStatman（2000）,theDominiSocialIndex（DSI）didaswellastheS&P500between1990and1998.HefindsthatsomesociallyresponsiblefundsperformedworsethantheS&P500andtheDSI,butfarednoworsethanconventionalmutualfundsduringthetimeperiod.

AcademicresearchhasexaminedthecausalrelationbetweenCSRandfinancialperformance—whatissometimesreferredtoasthe‘‘virtuouscircle’’—todetermineif‘‘doinggood’’sociallyleadsto‘‘doingwell’’financially,andwhetherfirmsexhibitingsuperiorfinancialperformancedevotemoreresourcestosocialactivities.Whyshoulda‘‘virtuouscircle’’exist?

WaddockandGraves（1997）suggestthatpositivestakeholderrelationshipscanreducethelikelihoodofdifficultywhendealingwithgroupssuchasemployees,customers,andthecommunity.Inaddition,goodsocialperformanceandgoodmanagerialpracticemayberelated,sothisinturnmayleadtostrongfinancialperformance.Forinstance,Chengetal.（2006）findthatfirmswithstrongshareholderrightstendtohavealowercostofequitycapitalthancompetingfirms,whichsupportstheideathatreducingagencyproblemsbetweenstakeholdersandmanagementimprovesfinancialperformance.Ferreiraetal.（2008）findthatlargefirmsbenefitintheformofpositivelong-runstockperformancefollowingcertificationofqualitymanagement.Thissuggeststhatinthecaseoflargecompanies,goodmanagerialpracticedoesindeedimprovethebottomline.

Theempiricalevidencesuggeststhatavirtuouscircleexists.WaddockandGraves（1997）andHillmanandKeim（2001）findthatincreasedCSRleadstoenhancedfinancialperformanceandviceversa.McGuireetal.（1988）findthatprioryear’sstockreturnsandaccounting-basedperformancemeasuresarerelatedtocurrentmeasuresofCSR,butthatapastrecordofgoodsocialperformancedoesnotaffectthecurrentfinancialperformanceofafirm.

DespitetheextensivebodyofresearchonCSRandfinancialperformance,webelievethatadditionalanalysisiswarranted.Inthisstudy,weusealternativestatisticaltechniquestoprovidenewinsightsonthecausalrelationshipbetweenfirmperformanceandCSR.Thestudiescitedaboveandothersonthetopichavetypicallyemployedordinaryleastsquares（OLS）regressionswith1-yearlaggedvaluesofonevariable（e.g.,CSR）usedasdeterminantsoftheother（e.g.,ROA）.Indeed,wealsofindthatCSRandperformancearerelatedwhenweusestandardOLSregressionmodels.However,inatimeseriesfixedeffectsapproachwithover2,800firm-yearobservations,wefindthattherelationbetweenCSRandfinancialperformanceismuchweakerthanthatdocumentedinpaststudies.Wealsofindlittleevidenceofcausalitybetweenfinancialperformanceandnarrowermeasuresofsocialperformance.Overall,wefindweakevidencethatstrongstockmarketperformanceleadstogreaterlevelsofCSRthatfocusspecificallyonemployeerelations.However,CSRactivitydoesnotleadtochangesinafirm’sfinancialperformance.

ThisstudycontributestotheliteratureonCSRinseveralways.Weuseamorecomprehensivetime-seriesofCSRdatarelativetopaststudies.Also,previousresearchanalyzingthelinkbetweenCSRandfinancialperformancedoesnotaccountforpossiblepersistenceorunobservablecharacteristicsthatmayplayaroleinthelevelofCSRactivityundertakenbyafirm.WeexaminetheseimportantconsiderationsbyusingGrangercausalityandcontrollingforfirmfixed-effectsinourtimeseries.WealsouseaTobitspecificationformodelsofCSRcausalitytoaccountforthecensorednatureofthedata.Finally,ourspecificationsalsoincludeanalysisofnarrowmeasuresofsocialperformancesuchashowthecompanytreatsemployees,theenvironment,thecommunity,anddiversityissues.TheuseofappropriatestatisticalmethodsandexaminationofthecomponentsofCSRyieldaddedinsightsregardingtherelationbetweenCSRandfinancialperformance.

TomeasureCSR,weusetheKLDSocratesDatabase.Thisdatabaseratescompaniesonthevariousdegreesofsocialresponsibilityincludingcommunityparticipation,diversity,employeeinterests,environmentalconsiderations,andshareholderinterests.ThisindexissuperiortoalternativemeasuresofCSRbecauseitiscompiledbyanindependentratingservicethatfocusesonawiderangeoffirmsoverabroadspectrumofCSRscreens,whereasalternativemeasuresofCSRfocusonasmallsampleoffirmsoruseanarrowCSRscreen.EachscreenintheKLDdatabaseissummarizedintermsofstrengths（positivevalues）andconcerns（negativevalues）.Forinstance,thecommunityscreeniscalculatedonthebasisofstrengths,suchasgenerousgivingorsupportforeducationinthearea,andconcerns,suchasinvestmentcontroversiesornegativeeconomicimpactonthecommunity.

Wecalculateaweightedaverageoftheoverallindextorepresenteachfirm’saggregatelevelofCSR,usingtheweightsdevelopedbyWaddockandGraves（1997）.Weusetheseweightstofacilitatecomparisonofresults,andtohighlighttheeffectofadifferentestimationmethodologyonstatisticalinferences.WaddockandGravescalculateweightsusingexpertpanelevaluationsontherelativeimportanceofeachCSRattribute.Weightingsareasfollows:

Employeerelations:

0.168;Product:

0.154;Communityrelations:

0.148;Environment:

0.142;Treatmentofwomenandminorities:

0.136;Nuclearpower:

0.089;Militarycontracts:

0.086;SouthAfrica:

0.076.Oursampleextendsfrom1993to2000andincludesdataonmorethan600U.S.firms.Weassessfinancialperformanceusingbothaccounting（returnonassets,orROA）andmarket-based（commonstockreturns）measuresfromCompustat.

Previousstudiesoftherelationshipbetweenfinancialperformanceandsocialresponsibilityhavefailedtocontrolforunobservablecharacteristicsinpaneldatathatdifferbetweenfirmsbutareconstantovertime.Forexample,variablessuchascorporatecultureormanagerialinfluencemaybesignificantdeterminantsofCSRactivity.Usingafixedeffectsregressionmodelallowsustoestimatetheeffectsoftheindependentvariablesonthedependentvariablewhilecontrollingfortheeffectofunobservedvariables.

TheregressionresultssuggestalinkbetweenCSRandfinancialperformance.Aninterestingquestionarisesastothenatureofcausality,ifany,betweendoing‘‘good’’throughgreaterCSRactivityanddoing‘‘well’’financially.Doesgoodfinancialperformancecauseafirmtobecomemoresociallyresponsible,ordoesahighlevelofCSRleadtosubsequentsuperiorfinancialperformance?

GoodfinancialperformancemayresultinmoreresourcesbeingavailableforthepursuitofCSRgoals.AhighlevelofCSRmayattracttheattentionofinvestorsorcustomersormotivateemployeestoperformbetterandreducecosts,boostingfinancialperformance.Anotherpossibilityisthata‘‘virtuouscircle’’exists,andthecausalityrunsinbothdirections.

Beforediscussingourresults,acommentonmodelspecificationisinorder.ThetypicalproblemthatarisesinOLSregressionwhenlaggeddependentvariablesareincludedasregressorsisserialcorrelationintheerrorterm,renderingtheparameterestimatesbiasedandinconsistent.WetestforthisusingthemethodofMaddala（1971）andfindthatserialcorrelationisnotaprobleminourmodel.

HarrisonandFreeman（1999）notethatresearchonCSRhasovertimefocusedmoreonspecificmeasuresofsocialresponsibility,andlessontheaggregatesocialperformancemeasure.Forinstance,HillmanandKeim（2001）separatesocialperformanceintotwocomponents:

stakeholdermanagemen