Do all CSR news affect market value equally?
ISSN: 1747-1117
Article publication date: 30 August 2019
Issue publication date: 20 October 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study explores the effects that media coverage of corporate social responsibility (CSR) news related to primary stakeholders (e.g. customers, employees and investors) and secondary stakeholders (e.g. community) have on the market value of companies, measured as the impact generated in the positive and negative abnormal returns for those companies.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 195 online papers published in the most important Spanish business newspaper during 2015, the authors implement an event study and a regression analysis that confirm the importance of CSR news for corporate financial goals.
Findings
The findings show that negative CSR news related to primary stakeholders such as investors and customers generate significant abnormal returns for companies that are notably larger than the abnormal returns generated by secondary stakeholders (e.g. community). Similarly, positive news related to primary stakeholders such as employees are the only positive news that affect market reactions significantly.
Originality/value
The study provides an empirical analysis that clarifies how media coverage of different types of CSR news affect the market value of companies. In doing so, the paper contributes to previous literature significantly because scant research exists that has compared the differential effects of CSR news focused on primary and secondary stakeholders. The findings are discussed under the premises of the managerial perspective of stakeholder theory.
Keywords
Citation
Pérez, A., López-Gutiérrez, C. and García de los Salmones, M.d.M. (2020), "Do all CSR news affect market value equally?", Social Responsibility Journal, Vol. 16 No. 8, pp. 1107-1123. https://doi.org/10.1108/SRJ-03-2019-0116
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited