Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure Approaches, Corporate Reputation, and Corporate Performance: Evidence from China

Wenwen Lyu; Zarina  Abdul Salam; Qiao Wang; Yanfang Xu

doi:10.5755/j01.ee.35.3.34564

Authors

Wenwen Lyu School of Economics and Management, Chuzhou University, China; Azman Hashim International Business School of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Zarina Abdul Salam Azman Hashim International Business School of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Qiao Wang School of Economics and Management, Chuzhou University, China
Yanfang Xu School of Economics and Management, Chuzhou University, China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.35.3.34564

Keywords:

CSR disclosure approaches, Corporate performance, Corporate reputation, Stakeholder Theory, SYS-GMM

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) entails balancing economic, social, and environmental aspects of business activities. The CSR report, a crucial non-financial disclosure tool, enables firms to effectively communicate their CSR strategies, actions' impacts, achievements, and shortcomings to stakeholders. It plays a pivotal role in shaping corporate reputation and performance. Therefore, enhancing CSR report quality is of great importance. This study examines the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure Approaches (CSRDA) and corporate performance, with consideration of corporate reputation's role in this connection. By drawing from stakeholder theory, signaling theory, and reputational capital theory, we address the gap in understanding CSRDA and corporate reputation (CR) linkage. Using the System-Generalized Method of Moments (SYS-GMM) and bootstrapping techniques, we explore this relationship in a dataset of 943 publicly listed Chinese companies from 2011 to 2019, accounting for incomplete CSR data during the pandemic period from 2020 to 2022. Our results indicate a positive association between CSR disclosure approaches and corporate performance, mediated by corporate reputation.

Author Biographies

Wenwen Lyu, School of Economics and Management, Chuzhou University, China; Azman Hashim International Business School of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Lyu Wenwen, Dr., received her Master's degree in Management from Hefei University of Technology in 2009. She is an associate professor at the School of Economics and Management of Chuzhou University and graduated from the Azman Hashim International Business School of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia with a PhD. Her research fields include corporate social responsibility, sustainability, accounting, financial management, financial performance, risk management, etc.

Zarina Abdul Salam, Azman Hashim International Business School of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Zarina Abdul Salam, Dr., is currently an associate professor at the Azman Hashim International Business School of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Her research fields include accounting, financial management, financial performance, risk management, etc.

Qiao Wang, School of Economics and Management, Chuzhou University, China

Qiao Wang received his Master's degree in Management from Anhui University in 2009. He is currently a professor at the School of Economics and Management of Chuzhou University. His research fields include economics, market investigation and evaluation, etc.

Yanfang Xu, School of Economics and Management, Chuzhou University, China

Yanfang Xu received her Master's degree in Management from Nanhua University in 2011. She is currently a senior lecturer at the School of Economics and Management of Chuzhou University. Her research fields include sustainability, accounting, auditing, financial management, financial performance, etc.