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    On the Determinants of Corporate Social

    Responsibility: International Evidenceon the Financial Industry

    Hsiang-Lin Chih

    Hsiang-Hsuan ChihTzu-Yin Chen

    ABSTRACT. This article sets out to undertake a thor-

    ough, point-by-point examination of the theory postu-

    lated by Campbell (2007), in which an attempt is made to

    specify the conditions under which corporations may or

    may not act in socially responsible ways. In order to ensure

    the overall reliability of our study, and to attempt to pro-

    vide a new understanding of, and greater insights into,

    whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) is affected

    by financial and institutional variables, we empirically

    investigate a total of 520 financial firms in 34 countries,

    between the years 2003 and 2005. Our empirical findings

    are: (i) firms with larger size are more CSR minded, and

    the financial performance and CSR are not related; (ii)

    firms would actually act in more socially responsible ways

    to enhance their competitive advantages when the market

    competitiveness is more intense; (iii) financial firms in

    countries with stronger levels of legal enforcement tend to

    engage in more CSR activities; however, interestingly and

    rather strikingly, those firms in countries with stronger

    shareholder rights tend to engage in less CSR activities; and

    (iv) self-regulation within the financial industry has a sig-

    nificantly positive effect on CSR, with firms being found

    to act in more socially responsible ways in those countries

    which have more cooperative employeremployee rela-

    tions, higher quality management schools, and a better

    macroeconomic environment.

    KEY WORDS: corporate social responsibility (CSR),

    Dow Jones Sustainability Index, institutional theory,investor protection, legal enforcement

    Introduction

    In light of the accounting scandal at Enron, the recent

    Wall Streets crisis and the Madoff scandal, consid-

    erable commentary has begun to attribute such fraud

    to what is now being referred to as a decay in

    business morality (New York Times, 2002) and to

    interpret we dont just need a financial bailout; weneed an ethical bailout. We need to re-establish the

    core balance between our markets, ethics, and reg-

    ulations (New York Times, 2008).1 Such criticism

    goes some way explaining why leading speakers on

    public opinion, among consumers, investors, and

    commerce, in general, have begun to advocate a duty

    of enterprise leaders not to gear their businesses to-

    ward the pursuit of pure profit at the expense of

    fulfilling their obligations to their employees, to the

    environment, and to society as a whole.2

    Hsiang-Lin Chih is the Chairperson and Professor of Depart-

    ment of Banking and Cooperative Management at National

    Taipei University, Taiwan. His current research focuses oncorporate social responsibility, corporate governance, and

    financial institutions management. His writings have

    appeared in Journal of Quantitative and Financial

    Analysis, Journal of Banking and Finance, Corporate

    Governance: An International Review, Journal of

    Business Ethics, Academia Economic Papers and in

    other journals. He received his Ph.D. from the National

    Taiwan University in 1998.

    Hsiang-Hsuan Chih is currently the Associate Professor of

    Department of Finance in National Dong Hwa University in

    Taiwan. Her current research focuses on corporate finance,

    behavioral finance and corporate governance. Her recent publications includeJournal of Management, Review of

    Securities and Futures Markets, and Review of

    Financial Risk Management. She received her Ph.D.

    degree from National Central University in 2003.

    Tzu-Yin Chen is a research assistant for the Department of

    Banking and Cooperative Management at National Taipei

    University, Taiwan. Her research focuses on corporate social

    responsibility and financial institutions management. She

    received her master degree from the Department of

    Cooperative Economics, College of Business, National

    Taipei University, Taiwan.

    Journal of Business Ethics (2010) 93:115135 Springer 2009DOI 10.1007/s10551-009-0186-x

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    Although extensive research has already been

    undertaken in this particular area, the related studies

    have typically tended to focus on the relationship

    existing between corporate social responsibility

    (CSR) and financial performance (Coombs andGilley, 2005; Griffin and Mahon, 1997; Hillman and

    Keim, 2001; McWilliams and Siegel, 2000, 2001;

    Pava and Krausz, 1996; Roberts and Dowling, 2002;

    Rowley and Berman, 2000; Simpson and Kohers,

    2002; Waddock and Graves, 1997; Walsh et al.,

    2003). As such, little theoretical attention has thus far

    been placed on trying to gain a better understanding

    of whether or not, and if so why, corporations act in

    socially responsible ways (Campbell, 2007).3

    Margolis and Walsh (2003) have shown them-

    selves to be highly critical of the extant literature forits tendency to ignore several factors, other than

    corporate financial performance, which may well

    affect CSR; and indeed, there are now growing calls

    among other researchers (for example, Walsh et al.,

    2003) for much more serious theoretical inquiry into

    this issue. A prime example of such calls is provided

    by the study of Campbell (2007), which offers an

    institutional theory on CSR comprising a series of

    propositions specifying the conditions under which

    corporations are more (or less) likely to behave in

    socially responsible ways.

    The conditions proposed by Campbell includethe general financial condition of the firm, the health

    of the economy, the level of competition faced by a

    corporation (see also Shleifer, 2004), and certain

    institutional factors, including public and/or private

    regulations, the presence of non-governmental and

    other independent organizations, institutionalized

    norms, associative behavior among corporations, and

    organized dialog between corporations and their

    stakeholders.

    The primary aim of this article is to empirically

    investigate whether or not, and if so why, corpora-tions will tend to act in socially responsible ways. In an

    attempt to ensure the overall reliability of our study,

    we employ cross-country data so as to provide a firm

    understanding of, and greater insights into, whether

    CSR is affected by firm- and country-level variables.

    Furthermore, our study also attempts to investigate

    the determinants of socially responsible corporate

    behavior from various global dimensions, including

    firm-specific financial characteristics, regulations,

    institutions, and macroeconomic conditions.

    In order to effectively measure the degree of CSR

    across firms and countries, we take as our CSR

    firms, constituent companies of the Dow Jones

    Sustainability World Index (DJSI World), an index

    which is compiled as a result of cooperation betweenthe Dow Jones Indexes, STOXX Limited, and the

    SAM.4 In order to qualify for inclusion in the DJSI

    World Index, companies must be in the top 10% of

    the largest 2,500 companies in the Dow Jones World

    Index, in terms of three socially responsible dimen-

    sions: economic, environmental, and social.

    The economic dimension comprises four criteria:

    corporate governance, risk and crisis management,

    codes of conduct/compliance/corruption and bribery,

    and industry-specific criteria. The environmental

    dimension comprises three criteria: environmentalperformance (eco-efficiency), environmental report-

    ing, and industry-specific criteria. The social dimen-

    sion comprises six criteria: human capital development,

    talent attraction and retention, labor practice indicators,

    corporate citizenship/philanthropy, social reporting,

    and industry-specific criteria.5

    The financial firms extracted from these 2,500

    companies listed on the Dow Jones World Index are

    classified into two groups: the CSR Group, which

    includes the financial firms that are listed in the DJSI

    World, and the non-CSR Group, which includes

    those firms that are not listed in the DJSI World.6

    The remainder of this article is organized as

    follows. An explanation of the Campbell (2007)

    propositions specifying the determinants of CSR is

    provided in Determinants of CSR section, along

    with the selection of the appropriate measures to

    proxy for these determinants. An explanation on the

    empirical models used in this study is provided in

    Econometric model section, followed in Data and

    descriptive statistics section, by a summary of the

    data and the descriptive statistics. A discussion of the

    empirical results is undertaken in Empirical resultssection, with Conclusions section presenting the

    conclusions drawn from this study.

    Determinants of CSR

    Campbell (2007) offers a comprehensive institutional

    theory on CSR comprising a series of propositions

    specifying the conditions under which corporations

    are likely to behave in socially responsible ways. The

    116 Hsiang-Lin Chih et al.

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    protect outside investors by conferring on them the

    right to discipline insiders (for example, to replace

    managers), and also through the enforcement of

    contracts designed to limit the private control ben-

    efits of insiders.As a result, legal systems, which effectively protect

    outside investors, reduce the incentives for insiders

    to act in irresponsible ways, such as engaging in the

    manipulation or obfuscation of a firms earnings to

    conceal their own rent-seeking behavior. We

    therefore use the Shareholder Rights and Legal

    Enforcement indices as proxies for the legal envi-

    ronment across our sample countries. The former

    index, which is based on La Porta et al. (1998), is an

    aggregate measure of (minority) Shareholder Rights,

    comprising (i) the country allows shareholders tomail their proxy vote to the firm, (ii) shareholders

    are not required to deposit their shares prior to the

    general shareholders meeting, (iii) cumulative vot-

    ing or proportional representation of minorities in

    the board of directors is allowed, (iv) an oppressed

    minorities mechanism is in place, (v) the minimum

    percentage of share capital that entitles a shareholder

    to call for an extraordinary shareholders meeting is

    less than or equal to 10%, or (vi) shareholders have

    preemptive rights that can be waived only by a

    shareholders vote. The index ranges from 0 to 6,

    with a higher score indicating higher ShareholderRights. The latter index, also adopted by La Porta

    et al. (1998), measures the mean score across three

    legal variables for each country, comprising: (i) the

    efficiency of the judicial system; (ii) an assessment of

    the rule of law; and (iii) the corruption index. All

    three variables range from 0 to 10, with a higher

    score indicating a better legal enforcement.

    We also consider the origin of the legal system of

    each country, comprising English, French, German,

    or Scandinavian legal origins, essentially because our

    results may suffer from endogeneity bias if CSR,Shareholder Rights and Legal Enforcement are

    simultaneously determined. We address this concern

    by regarding the legal origins of the countries as legal

    environment variables, since a countrys legal origin

    can be considered as predetermined and exogenous

    (Leuz et al., 2003). La Porta et al. (1998) reported

    that the strongest measures for the legal protection of

    investors were generally found in English common

    law countries, while German and Scandinavian civil

    law countries provided medium-level protection,

    and French civil law countries demonstrated the

    weakest levels of protection.

    Private regulation and the presence of independentorganizations

    Campbell (2007) further proposes that Corpora-

    tions will be more likely to act in socially responsible

    ways if there is a system of well organized and

    effective industrial self-regulation in place to ensure

    such behavior, particularly if it is based upon the

    perceived threat of state intervention or broader

    industrial crisis, and if the state provides support for

    this form of industrial governance and also, that

    Corporations will be more likely to act in sociallyresponsible ways if there are private, independent

    organizations, including NGOs, social movement

    organizations, institutional investors, and the press,

    in their environment, who monitor their behavior

    and, when necessary, mobilize to change it.

    In order to identify appropriate measures to proxy

    for industrial self-regulation or the presence of

    independent organizations, we consider two kinds of

    principles, the Equator and Wolfsbergs principles.

    The Equator Principles were developed as a result of

    cooperation between 59 financial institutions and

    the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of theWorld Bank Group, while the Wolfsberg Principles

    were developed by the Wolfsberg Group, an asso-

    ciation of 12 global banks, in conjunction with

    Transparency International. An important criterion

    in the adoption of these principles is that if a financial

    firm adopts either the Equator or the Wolfsberg

    Principles, it will be required to act in socially

    responsible ways and to engage in sound environ-

    mental management practices.7,8

    Business education environment

    Campbell (2007) notes that Corporations will be

    more likely to act in socially responsible ways if they

    operate in an environment where normative calls for

    such behavior are institutionalized, for example, in

    important business publications, business school

    curricula, and other educational venues in which

    corporate managers participate. In order to measure

    the soundness of the business educational environ-

    118 Hsiang-Lin Chih et al.

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    ment across countries, we use the Quality of Man-

    agement Schools Index, taken from the Global

    Competitiveness Report of the World Economic For-um, with a higher score indicating a higher quality

    management school.

    Employeremployee relations

    Campbell (2007) also suggests that Corporations will

    be more likely to act in socially responsible ways if

    they belong to trade or employers associations, but

    only if these associations are organized in ways that

    promote socially responsible behavior and that

    Corporations will be more likely to act in socially

    responsible ways if they are engaged in institutional-ized dialog with unions, employees, community

    groups, investors and other stakeholders. In order

    to test these propositions, we use the Cooperation

    in LaborEmployer Relations Index, which is also

    taken from the Global Competitiveness Report, as an

    explanatory variable in our regression models. The

    scores range from 1 to 7, with a higher score

    indicating higher cooperative employeremployee

    relations.

    Econometric model

    In this section, we test the extent to which financial

    characteristics and institutional variables have an

    impact on the likelihood of firms engaging in CSR.

    We first of all classify the financial firms from the

    largest 2,500 companies included in the Dow Jones

    World Index into two groups, the CSR Group,

    which includes the financial firms listed on the DJSI

    World, and the non-CSR Group, which includes

    those firms that are not listed on the DJSI World.

    Equation 1 then tests the relationship between CSRand its determinants, as follows:

    CSRi;j;t a0 a1ROAi;j;t a2TAi;j;t a3Hj

    a4H2

    j a5LAWj a6QMSj;t

    a7CLERj;t a8REGj;t a9INFj;t

    a10IPIj;t a11CCIj ei;j;t; 1

    where CSRi,j,t is a dummy variable for sample firm

    i of country j at year t, which takes the value of 1

    if the firm belongs to the CSR Group and 0 if the

    firm belongs to the non-CSR Group9; ROAi,j,tthe return on assets for sample firm i of country j

    at year t; TAi,j,t the total assets for sample firm i of

    country j at year t; and Hj the H-statistics (obtainedfrom Chih and Cheng, 2008), which measure the

    degree of competitiveness in the financial industry

    of country j, with a higher value indicating greater

    competitiveness.10 LAWj comprises three kinds of

    law variables for country j, the legal origin, the

    Shareholder Rights index and the Legal Enforcement

    index. The legal origin for country j, which is

    taken from La Porta et al. (1998), is a set of dum-

    mies (French, German, and Scandinavian, with

    English as the omitted dummy). The Shareholder

    Rights index for country j, which is also takenfrom La Porta et al. (1998), ranges from 0 to 6,

    with a higher score indicating enhanced share-

    holder rights. The Legal Enforcement index for

    country j, which was again used by La Porta et al.

    (1998), ranges from 0 to 10, with a higher score

    indicating better legal enforcement.

    QMSj,t, the Quality Of Management Schools for

    country jat yeart, which ranges from 1 to 7, is taken

    from the Global Competitiveness Report of the World

    Economic Forum, with a higher score indicating a

    higher quality management school; cooperative

    employeremployee relations for country jat yeart(CLERj,t), ranging from 1 to 7, is the Cooperation in

    LaborEmployer Relations Index taken from the

    Global Competitiveness Report, with a higher score

    indicating better cooperative employeremployee

    relations.11 REGi comprises two types of industry

    self-regulatory measures for firm i, Equator Princi-

    ples and Wolfsberg Principles, which are dummy

    valuables taking the value of 1 if the firm adopts either

    Equator or Wolfsberg Principles, and 0 if the firm

    does not adopt either of these principles; the INF for

    country j at year t (INFj,t) is taken from the WorldDevelopment Index of the World Bank.

    IPIj,t, the Industrial Production Index for country

    j at year t, is taken from the International Financial

    Statistics of the International Monetary Fund, with a

    higher score indicating greater production within the

    industrial sector. CCIj, the Consumer Confidence

    Index for country j, is taken from ACNielsen, with a

    higherscore indicatingstronger consumer confidence.

    ei,j,t is the error term at yeart.

    119On the Determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility

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    Data and descriptive statistics

    Data sources

    We begin by searching through the sample countriesfor the names of the financial firms included in the

    largest 2,500 companies listed on the Dow Jones

    World Index and on the DJSI World. The former is

    provided by the Dow Jones Company, while the

    latter is provided by the Dow Jones Indices,

    STOXX Limited and the SAM Group.12

    The constituents that appear in the DJSI World

    index are classified as CSR firms, while those

    appearing in the Dow Jones World, but not in the DJSI

    World index, are referred to as non-CSR firms. We

    screen the Compustat Global Vantage database forthese firms to obtain the required financial data cov-

    ering the years 20032005. Our search, based upon

    these criteria, provided a final sample of 520 financial

    firms in 34 countries for the periodunder examination,

    giving a total of 1,323 firm years (Table I).

    Descriptive statistics

    As shown in Table I, the respective numbers of CSR

    and non-CSR financial firms in our sample are 176

    (54 + 57 + 65) and 1,141 (361 + 389 + 397). Thefirst column shows the names of the 34 sample

    countries, while the third to fifth columns report the

    number of sample firms included in the DJSI World

    index for each country and for each of the sample

    years. In 2005, for example, the countries with the

    highest number of financial firms in the DJSI World

    index were the UK (16), the US (8), and Australia (7),

    while 19 sample countries had no financial firms in the

    index.13 The last two columns in Table I present the

    average profitability (ROA) and asset size of the CSR

    and non-CSR financial firms for each country; basedupon the test of the means, before taking other insti-

    tutional factors into account, CSR-minded financial

    firms are found to be larger in size (t = 8.088) and

    have poorer financial performance (t = -2.051).Details on the basic H-statistics, Quality of Man-

    agement Schools, and cooperation in employerem-

    ployee relations are presented in Table II. The highest

    H-statistics are found in Taiwan (0.961), Hong Kong

    (0.938), and the Netherlands (0.880); conversely, the

    three countries with the lowest H-statistics are Spain

    TABLEI

    D

    escriptivestatisticsofCSRandfirm-specificvariablesoffinancialfirmsacross34countries

    Country

    Group

    No.offirms

    in2003

    No.offirms

    in2004

    No.offirms

    in2005

    No.offirms

    inEquator

    Principles

    No.offirms

    inWolfsberg

    Principles

    ROA(%)

    Totalassets

    (U

    S$Million)

    1

    Australia

    CSR

    6

    7

    7

    1

    4.54

    14,162.369

    Non-CSR

    12

    14

    14

    3.30

    9,101.424

    2

    Austria

    CSR

    Non-CSR

    2

    2

    3

    0.54

    136,642.317

    3

    Belgium

    CSR

    1

    1

    1

    1

    4.99

    24,706.973

    Non-CSR

    2

    2

    6.77

    7,583.625

    4

    Brazil

    CSR

    2

    1

    1

    1

    2.18

    52,242.24

    Non-CSR

    1

    2

    1

    2.16

    5,0804.307

    5

    Canada

    CSR

    2

    2

    2

    1

    0.55

    295,543.279

    Non-CSR

    15

    16

    17

    3

    1.10

    80,896.608

    120 Hsiang-Lin Chih et al.

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    TABLEI

    continued

    Country

    Group

    No.offirms

    in2003

    No.offi

    rms

    in2004

    No.offirms

    in2005

    No.offirm

    s

    inEquator

    Principles

    No.offirms

    inWolfsberg

    Principles

    ROA

    (%)

    T

    otalassets

    (US$Million)

    6

    Chile

    CSR

    Non-CSR

    3

    1

    1

    3.86

    11,281.022

    7

    Cyprus

    CSR

    Non-CSR

    1

    0.59

    26,263.753

    8

    CzechRepublic

    CSR

    Non-CSR

    1

    1.79

    20,910.400

    9

    Demark

    CSR

    Non-CSR

    3

    3

    4

    1.06

    20,518.144

    10

    Finland

    CSR

    Non-CSR

    1

    1

    2

    1.66

    40,192.083

    11

    France

    CSR

    2

    3

    4

    1.12

    253,968.332

    Non-CSR

    9

    7

    7

    0.56

    135,057.957

    12

    Germany

    CSR

    4

    4

    5

    1

    0.33

    651,731.829

    Non-CSR

    5

    5

    5

    0.60

    108623.276

    13

    Greece

    CSR

    Non-CSR

    4

    4

    5

    0.84

    44,514.190

    14

    HongKong

    CSR

    Non-CSR

    10

    11

    11

    4.50

    14,532.755

    15

    Hungary

    CSR

    Non-CSR

    1

    16

    Indonesia

    CSR

    Non-CSR

    2

    1

    1

    2.15

    18,037.317

    17

    Ireland

    CSR

    Non-CSR

    3

    3

    3

    0.91

    62,740.018

    18

    Italy

    CSR

    2

    3

    3

    0.60

    194,978.729

    Non-CSR

    13

    12

    12

    1

    0.61

    56,779.036

    19

    Japan

    CSR

    5

    5

    5

    0.57

    55,211.540

    Non-CSR

    60

    66

    66

    1

    0.40

    36,213.418

    20

    Malaysia

    CSR

    Non-CSR

    4

    4

    3

    1.22

    22,037.409

    21

    Mexico

    CSR

    Non-CSR

    2

    2

    3

    2.75

    12,578.068

    121On the Determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility

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    TABLEI

    continued

    Country

    Group

    No.offirms

    in2003

    No.offirms

    in

    2004

    No.offirms

    in2005

    No.offi

    rms

    inEquator

    Principle

    s

    No.offirms

    inWolfsberg

    Principles

    ROA

    (%)

    Totalassets

    (US

    $Million)

    22

    Netherlan

    ds

    CSR

    5

    5

    5

    3

    1

    0.68

    328

    ,757.548

    Non-CSR

    2

    2

    2

    1

    7.84

    7

    ,765.569

    23

    Norway

    CSR

    1

    1

    1

    0.81

    27

    ,310.645

    Non-CSR

    1

    1

    1

    0.77

    127

    ,997.89

    24

    Poland

    CSR

    Non-CSR

    2

    1.85

    22

    ,948.979

    25

    Portugal

    CSR

    Non-CSR

    3

    3

    3

    1

    0.70

    58

    ,733.174

    26

    Singapore

    CSR

    Non-CSR

    5

    4

    5

    1.09

    68

    ,865.162

    27

    SouthAfrica

    CSR

    1

    1

    2

    1

    1.08

    92

    ,469.844

    Non-CSR

    4

    6

    6

    5.33

    16

    ,428.717

    28

    SouthKorea

    CSR

    Non-CSR

    4

    5

    10

    0.88

    44

    ,781.883

    29

    Spain

    CSR

    1

    1

    1

    0.66

    726

    ,667.206

    Non-CSR

    5

    6

    10

    1

    0.86

    27

    ,930.871

    30

    Sweden

    CSR

    1

    1

    0.66

    146

    ,431.617

    Non-CSR

    4

    7

    7

    1.22

    64

    ,724.623

    31

    Switzerlan

    d

    CSR

    4

    4

    4

    1

    1

    0.50

    484

    ,090.325

    Non-CSR

    5

    5

    5

    0.80

    15

    ,176.147

    32

    Taiwan

    CSR

    Non-CSR

    12

    13

    13

    0.89

    41

    ,461.392

    33

    UK

    CSR

    13

    14

    16

    4

    2

    0.88

    14

    ,143.442

    Non-CSR

    23

    21

    17

    1

    1.36

    19

    ,028.417

    34

    USA

    CSR

    4

    4

    8

    3

    1

    0.86

    564

    ,245.896

    Non-CSR

    145

    161

    154

    1

    1.53

    12

    ,752.299

    Totals

    CSR

    54

    57

    65

    16

    7

    Non-CSR

    361

    389

    397

    10

    1

    Average

    CSR

    1.85

    356

    ,299.357

    Non-CSR

    2.46

    73

    ,746.644

    Testofmeans:CSR

    versusnon-CSR

    2.05**

    8.088***

    Notes:**Indicatessignificanceat

    the5%level;***indicatessignificanc

    eatthe1%level.

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    TABLE III

    Descriptive statistics of the legal and macroeconomic variables across 34 Countries

    Country Legal

    origina

    Legal

    enforcementb

    Shareholder

    rightsc

    Inflationd (%) IPIe

    (2000 = 100)

    CCIf

    1 Australia Eng 9.51 4 3.34 117

    2 Austria Ger 9.36 2 1.84 111.74

    3 Belgium Fr 9.44 2.12 102.80 100

    4 Brazil Fr 6.13 3 2.50 93

    5 Canada Eng 9.75 5 3.14 99.87 110

    6 Chile Fr 6.52 5 5.89 102

    7 Cyprus 110.70

    8 Czech Republic 0.05 134.04 97

    9 Demark Sc 10.00 2 2.04 102.69 119

    10 Finland Sc 10.00 3 0.86 106.78 99

    11 France Fr 8.68 3 1.53 101.29 77

    12 Germany Ger 9.05 1 0.52 102.74 89

    13 Greece Fr 6.82 2 2.39 99.66 87

    14 Hong Kong Eng 8.91 5 3.40 106

    15 Hungary 2.47 129.95 90

    16 Indonesia Fr 2.87 2 8.18 104

    17 Ireland Eng 8.36 4 2.73 124.95 112

    18 Italy Fr 5.74 1 2.70 96.23 89

    19 Japan Ger 9.17 4 2.26 99.18 76

    20 Malaysia Eng 7.72 4 4.75 120.17 114

    21 Mexico Fr 5.37 1 7.13 99.53 98

    22 Netherlands Fr 10.00 2 1.86 101.38 96

    23 Norway Sc 10.00 4 4.46 96.45 120

    24 Poland 1.64 129.94 10325 Portugal Fr 7.19 3 2.67 100.97 60

    26 Singapore Eng 8.93 4 1.83 103

    27 South Africa Eng 6.45 5 5.01 102

    28 South Korea Ger 5.55 2 5.63 124.97 62

    29 Spain Fr 7.14 4 4.15 101.31 101

    30 Sweden Sc 10.00 3 1.38 106.03 93

    31 Switzerland Ger 10.00 2 0.65 97.94 98

    32 Taiwan Ger 7.37 2 1.40 115.34 80

    33 UK Eng 9.22 5 2.48 96.21 99

    34 USA Eng 9.54 5 2.41 100.25 103

    Average 8.16 3.07 2.89 107.86 96.84

    SD 1.83 1.44 1.86 11.72 14.43

    Notes: aDetails on the legal origins, indicated by English (Eng), French (Fr), German (Ger) or Scandinavian (Sc), are taken from La Porta

    et al. (1998).bThe Legal Enforcement Index, as used in La Porta et al. (1998), ranges from 0 to 10, with a higher score indicating a better legal

    enforcement.cThe Shareholder Rights Index, ranging from 0 to 6, is also taken from La Porta et al. ( 1998), with a higher score indicating enhanced

    shareholder rights.dInflation Rates are taken from the World Development Index of the World Bank.eThe Industry Product Index (IPI) is taken from the International Financial Statistics, with a higher score indicating greater production

    levels within the industrial sector.fThe Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) is obtained from ACNielsen, with a higher score indicating stronger consumer confidence.

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    TABLE IV

    Determinants of corporate social responsibility

    Variables Model specifications

    (A) (B) (C) (D)

    Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat.

    Financial performance

    ROA 0.03** 2.40 0.04*** 2.82 0.03** 2.18 0.04** 2.48

    Total assets 0.26*** 6.53 0.27*** 6.54 0.25*** 6.37 0.26*** 6.47

    Competitiona

    H-statistics 0.13 0.59 5.03*** 4.50 -0.03 -0.13 3.09** 2.19

    H-statistics2 -4.75*** -4.84 -3.04** -2.49

    Legal environmentb

    French 0.82*** 4.45 1.16*** 5.90

    German 0.66*** 2.91 0.93*** 4.10 Scandinavian -0.06 -0.18 0.10 0.30

    Legal enforcement 0.12 1.57 0.11 1.37

    Shareholder rights -0.22*** -4.24 -0.24*** -4.53

    Quality of management school (QMS) and cooperation in laboremployer relations (CLER)c

    QMS 0.07** 1.97 0.06* 1.67 0.05 1.32 0.03 0.83

    CLER 0.04 0.78 0.10** 2.03 0.00 0.03 0.04 0.84

    Private regulation and the presence of independent organizationsd

    Equator Principles 0.57*** 3.20 0.56*** 3.11 0.62*** 3.45 0.62*** 3.40

    Wolfsberg Principles

    Economic environmente: INF (Inflation Rate), IPI (Industrial Production Index), and CCI (Consumer Confidence

    Index)

    INF -0.08* -1.78 -0.04 -0.80 0.01 0.12 0.02 0.41IPI 0.00 0.18 -0.00 -0.11 -0.00 -0.35 -0.00 -0.35

    CCI 0.03*** 3.81 0.03*** 4.13 0.01** 2.09 0.01* 1.75

    Constant -7.49*** -5.67 -9.11*** -6.89 -5.18*** -4.73 -5.74*** -5.01

    Log likelihood -380.23 -372.00 -380.19 -376.63

    q2 0.27 0.28 0.27 0.27

    Total no. of obs. 1,149 1,149 1,149 1,149

    Variables Model specifications

    (E) (F) (G) (H)

    Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat.

    Financial performance

    ROA 0.03** 2.28 0.04*** 2.72 0.03** 2.05 0.03** 2.36

    Total assets 0.26*** 6.49 0.26*** 6.54 0.25*** 6.39 0.25*** 6.52

    Competitiona

    H-statistics 0.17 0.78 5.65*** 5.63 0.08 0.36 4.12*** 3.39

    H-statistics2 -5.24*** -5.77 -3.84*** -3.58

    Legal environmentb

    French 0.80*** 4.22 1.13*** 5.63

    German 0.58** 2.49 0.87*** 3.71

    Scandinavian -0.05 -0.18 0.13 0.42

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    TABLE IV

    continued

    Variables Model specifications

    (E) (F) (G) (H)

    Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat.

    Legal enforcement 0.14* 1.77 0.14* 1.71

    Shareholder rights -0.22*** -4.08 -0.24*** 4.39

    Quality of management school (QMS) and cooperation in laboremployer relations (CLER)c

    QMS 0.06* 1.82 0.05 1.47 0.04 1.18 0.02 0.51

    CLER 0.02 0.36 0.08* 1.69 -0.03 -0.60 0.02 0.38

    Private regulation and the presence of independent organizationsd

    Equator Principles

    Wolfsberg Principles 1.18*** 3.96 1.25*** 3.96 1.28*** 4.25 1.39*** 4.11

    Economic environmente: INF (Inflation Rate), IPI (Industrial Production Index), and CCI (Consumer ConfidenceIndex)

    INF -0.08* -1.82 -0.04 -0.84 0.01 0.23 0.03 0.57

    IPI 0.01 0.70 0.00 0.46 0.00 0.16 0.00 0.25

    CCI 0.03*** 3.56 0.03*** 3.91 0.01** 1.97 0.01 1.51

    Constant -7.54*** -5.72 -9.33** -7.00 -5.50*** -5.16 -6.35*** -5.68

    Log likelihood -377.86 -368.71 -376.96 -372.09

    q2 0.27 0.29 0.27 0.28

    Total no. of obs. 1,149 1,149 1,149 1,149

    The independent variables of Models (A) and (B) include ROA, total assets, H-statistics, legal origins (French, German,

    and Scandinavian), Quality of Management Schools Index, Cooperation in LaborEmployer Relations Index, Equator

    Principles, Inflation Rate, Consumer Confidence Index, and Industrial Production Index; in Model (B), we add the

    square terms of the H-statistics to investigate whether the curvilinear relationship between competition and socially

    responsible corporate behavior exist. Models (C) and (D) use legal enforcement and shareholder rights as legal variables.

    The last four specifications, (E), (F), (G), and (H), take into account the Wolfsberg Principles.

    *Indicates significance at the 10% level; **indicates significance at the 5% level; ***indicates significance at the 1% level.

    q2 Measures the explanatory power of the newly added variables in the regression models (McFadden, 1974), with a

    higherq2 indicating a better model fit.

    Notes: aThe table presents the results of the regressions on the determining variables of the CSR measures. Companies

    included in the Dow Jones World Index are classified into two groups: (i) the CSR Group, i.e., companies included in the

    Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World) and (ii) the non-CSR Group, i.e., companies not included in the

    DJSI World. CSR is a dummy valuable which takes the value of 1 if the company belongs to the CSR Group and 0 if

    the company belongs to the non-CSR Group.bH-Statistics measure the competitiveness of the financial industry, with a higher value indicating more intensive com-

    petition.cLegal environment variables are taken from La Porta et al. (1998).dQMS measures the quality of management schools, with a higher value indicating a higher quality management school;

    CLER measures the employeremployee relationship, with a higher value indicating a better working relationship (both

    QMS and CLER are taken from the Global Competitiveness Report).eEquator Principles (Wolfsberg Principles) are dummy valuables which take the value of 1 if a firm adopts the principles

    and 0 if the firm does not adopt the principles.fThe Inflation Rate (INF) is taken from the World Development Index; the Industrial Production Index (IPI) is taken from

    the International Financial Statistics; and the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) is taken from ACNielsen, with a higher

    score indicating stronger consumer confidence.

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    TABLE V

    Determinants of corporate social responsibility: controlling the possible shortcomings of the DJSI-biased selection pro-

    cedure

    Variables Model specifications

    (A) (B) (C) (D)

    Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat.

    Financial performance

    ROA 0.02 1.26 0.02 1.09 0.01 0.81 0.02 1.06

    Total assets 0.25*** 6.10 0.26*** 6.13 0.24*** 5.98 0.26*** 6.30

    Competitiona

    H-statistics 1.13*** 3.90 1.19*** 3.83 0.68** 2.21 0.74** 2.24

    H-statistics2 0.40*** 3.26 0.50*** 3.82

    Legal environmentb

    French 0.63*** 3.06 0.39* 1.81 German 1.03*** 4.59 0.67*** 2.69

    Scandinavian 0.19 0.60 0.34 0.67

    Legal enforcement 0.19** 2.28 0.27*** 2.78

    Shareholder rights -0.20*** -4.38 -0.18*** -3.80

    Quality of management school (QMS) and cooperation in laboremployer relations (CLER)c

    QMS 0.04 0.96 0.01 0.35 -0.04 -0.75 -0.07 -1.30

    CLER 0.09 1.62 0.09 1.40 0.09* 1.77 0.09 1.50

    Private regulation and the presence of independent organizationsd

    Equator Principles 0.56*** 3.09 0.51*** 2.80 0.58*** 3.13 0.46** 2.50

    Wolfsberg Principles

    Economic environmente: INF (Inflation Rate), IPI (Industrial Production Index), and CCI (Consumer Confidence

    Index)INF 0.13** 2.48 0.10** 2.11 0.16*** 2.68 0.17*** 2.61

    IPI 0.00 0.41 0.01 0.74 0.00 0.33 0.01 0.57

    CCI 0.01 1.56 0.00 0.76 -0.01 -0.71 -0.01 -0.90

    Constant -7.11*** -4.72 -7.06*** -4.66 -5.12*** -3.66 -6.44*** -4.48

    Log likelihood -372.78 -359.19 -372.25 -351.48

    q2 0.27 0.29 0.27 0.31

    Total no. of obs. 1,078 1,031 1,078 1,031

    Variables Model specifications

    (E) (F) (G) (H)

    Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat.

    Financial performance

    ROA 0.02 1.74 0.02 1.00 0.01 0.68 0.02 0.90

    Total assets 0.24*** 6.06 0.25*** 6.05 0.23*** 5.92 0.25*** 6.22

    Competitiona

    H-statistics 1.23*** 4.46 1.27*** 4.25 0.84*** 2.94 0.88*** 2.84

    H-statistics2 0.42*** 3.38 0.51*** 3.81

    Legal environmentb

    French 0.61*** 2.88 0.36 1.63

    German 0.96*** 4.12 0.60** 2.34

    Scandinavian 0.24 0.75 0.44 0.88

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    TABLE V

    continued

    Variables Model specifications

    (E) (F) (G) (H)

    Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat.

    Legal enforcement 0.22** 2.44 0.29*** 2.87

    Shareholder rights -0.20*** -4.11 -0.17*** -3.60

    Quality of management school (QMS) and cooperation in laboremployer relations (CLER)c

    QMS 0.03 0.88 0.01 0.32 -0.04 -0.89 -0.08 -1.42

    CLER 0.07 1.17 0.07 0.97 0.06 1.19 0.06 0.99

    Private regulation and the presence of independent organizationsd

    Equator Principles

    Wolfsberg Principles 1.27*** 3.94 1.23*** 3.79 1.40*** 4.23 1.26*** 3.71

    Economic environmente

    : INF (Inflation Rate), IPI (Industrial Production Index), and CCI (Consumer ConfidenceIndex)

    INF -0.08** -1.82 0.09* 1.83 0.16** 0.23 0.17** 2.40

    IPI 0.01 0.70 0.01 0.97 0.01 0.16 0.01 0.77

    CCI 0.01 1.37 0.00 0.55 -0.01 -0.91 -0.01 -1.07

    Constant -6.97*** -4.55 -6.91*** -4.50 -5.12*** -3.63 -6.46*** -4.52

    Log likelihood -369.88 -356.06 -367.57 -347.40

    q2 0.27 0.30 0.28 0.32

    Total no. of obs. 1,078 1,031 1,078 1,031

    The independent variables of Models (A) and (B) include ROA, total assets, H-statistics, legal origins (French, German,

    and Scandinavian), Quality of Management Schools Index, Cooperation in LaborEmployer Relations Index, Equator

    Principles, Inflation Rate, Consumer Confidence Index, and Industrial Production Index; in Model (B), we add the

    square terms of the H-statistics to investigate whether the curvilinear relationship between competition and sociallyresponsible corporate behavior exist. Models (C) and (D) use legal enforcement and shareholder rights as legal variables.

    The last four specifications, (E), (F), (G), and (H), take into account the Wolfsberg Principles. More importantly, we

    exclude some developing countries without CSR firms, including Malaysia, Mexico, South Korea, and Taiwan, to focus

    on those countries with the co-existence of CSR and non-CSR firms.

    *Indicates significance at the 10% level; **indicates significance at the 5% level; ***indicates significance at the 1% level.

    q2 Measures the explanatory power of the newly added variables in the regression models (McFadden, 1974), with a

    higherq2 indicating a better model fit.

    Notes: aThe table presents the results of the regressions on the determining variables of the CSR measures. Companies

    included in the Dow Jones World Index are classifies into two groups: (i) the CSR Group, i.e., companies included in the

    Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World) and (ii) the non-CSR Group, i.e., companies not included in the

    DJSI World. CSR is a dummy valuable which takes the value of 1 if the company belongs to the CSR Group and 0 if

    the company belongs to the non-CSR Group.bH-Statistics measure the competitiveness of the financial industry, with a higher value indicating more intensive competition.cLegal environment variables are taken from La Porta et al. (1998).dQMS measures the quality of management schools, with a higher value indicating a higher quality management school;

    CLER measures the employeremployee relationship, with a higher value indicating a better working relationship (both

    QMS and CLER are taken from the Global Competitiveness Report).eEquator Principles (Wolfsberg Principles) are dummy valuables which take the value of 1 if a firm adopts the principles

    and 0 if the firm does not adopt the principles.fThe Inflation Rate (INF) is taken from the World Development Index; the Industrial Production Index (IPI) is taken from

    the International Financial Statistics; and the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) is taken from ACNielsen, with a higher

    score indicating stronger consumer confidence.

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    TABLE VI

    Determinants of corporate social responsibility: controlling the endogeneity problem

    Variables Model specifications

    (A) (B) (C) (D)

    Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat.

    Financial performance

    ROAt-1 0.03 1.60 0.03 1.31 0.03 1.59 0.03 1.47

    Total assets 0.25*** 6.24 0.25*** 6.04 0.24*** 6.01 0.25*** 6.18

    Competitiona

    H-statistics 0.41* 1.88 1.34*** 4.45 0.13 0.57 0.80*** 2.63

    H-statistics2 0.43*** 3.62 0.52*** 3.93

    Legal environmentb

    French 0.88*** 4.50 0.44** 2.04

    German 0.80*** 3.48 0.72*** 2.82 Scandinavian 0.06 -0.19 0.54 1.10

    Legal enforcement 0.18** 2.17 0.26*** 2.61

    Shareholder rights -0.23*** -4.84 -0.21*** -4.39

    Quality of management school (QMS) and cooperation in laboremployer relations (CLER)c

    QMS 0.07* 1.92 0.05 1.23 0.01 0.18 -0.04 -0.69

    CLER 0.05 0.95 0.05 0.82 0.02 0.41 0.06 1.07

    Private regulation and the presence of independent organizationsd

    Equator Principles 0.65*** 3.62 0.59*** 3.28 0.70*** 3.89 0.55*** 2.99

    Wolfsberg Principles

    Economic environmente: INF (Inflation Rate), IPI (Industrial Production Index), and CCI (Consumer Confidence

    Index)

    INF 0.01 0.46 0.06* 1.74 0.06 1.37 0.13** 2.29IPI 0.00 0.20 -0.00 -0.05 -0.00 -0.26 -0.00 -0.44

    CCI 0.03*** 3.80 0.01 0.88 0.01 1.60 -0.00 -0.60

    Constant -7.92*** -5.99 -6.29*** -4.42 -5.33*** -4.93 -5.44*** -4.41

    Log likelihood -363.28 -341.03 -360.81 -332.81

    q2 0.30 0.34 0.30 0.36

    Total no. of obs. 1,091 991 1,091 991

    Variables Model specifications

    (E) (F) (G) (H)

    Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat.

    Financial performance

    ROAt-1 0.02 1.29 0.02 1.06 0.02 1.34 0.02 1.23

    Total assets 0.25*** 6.23 0.25*** 6.10 0.24*** 6.15 0.25*** 6.24

    Competitiona

    H-statistics 0.42* 1.91 1.34*** 4.45 0.20 0.90 0.87*** 2.91

    H-statistics2 0.45*** 3.72 0.53*** 3.97

    Legal environmentb

    French 0.89*** 4.38 0.45** 2.03

    German 0.72*** 2.97 0.64** 2.43

    Scandinavian -0.08 -0.25 0.52 1.08

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    TABLE VI

    continued

    Variables Model specifications

    (E) (F) (G) (H)

    Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat. Coeff.f t-Stat.

    Legal enforcement 0.18** 2.12 0.27*** 2.59

    Shareholder rights -0.23*** -4.57 -0.20*** -4.18

    Quality of management school (QMS) and cooperation in laboremployer relations (CLER)c

    QMS 0.07* 1.91 0.05 1.27 0.01 0.17 -0.04 -0.70

    CLER 0.03 0.56 0.03 0.48 -0.01 -0.24 0.03 0.57

    Private regulation and the presence of independent organizationsd

    Equator Principles

    Wolfsberg Principles 1.17*** 3.87 1.07*** 3.53 1.25*** 4.13 1.06*** 3.45

    Economic environmente

    : INF (Inflation Rate), IPI (Industrial Production Index), and CCI (Consumer ConfidenceIndex)

    INF 0.00 0.14 0.05 1.35 0.05 1.09 0.12** 2.02

    IPI 0.00 0.66 0.00 0.40 0.00 0.28 -0.00 -0.04

    CCI 0.03*** 3.64 0.01 0.87 0.01 1.61 -0.00 -0.63

    Constant -8.01*** -5.99 -6.54*** -4.53 -5.67*** -5.32 5.72*** -4.71

    Log likelihood -362.55 -340.67 -360.00 -331.87

    q2 0.30 0.34 0.31 0.36

    Total no. of obs. 1,091 991 1,091 991

    The independent variables of Models (A) and (B) include ROA, total assets, H-statistics, legal origins (French, German,

    and Scandinavian), Quality of Management Schools Index, Cooperation in Labor-Employer Relations Index, Equator

    Principles, Inflation Rate, Consumer Confidence Index, and Industrial Production Index; in Model (B), we add the

    square terms of the H-statistics to investigate whether the curvilinear relationship between competition and sociallyresponsible corporate behavior exist. Models (C) and (D) use legal enforcement and shareholder rights as legal variables.

    The last four specifications, (E), (F), (G), and (H), take into account the Wolfsberg Principles. Other things being equal,

    the lagged ROA (ROAt-1) is used as the independent variable to prevent from the possible endogeneity problem.

    *Indicates significance at the 10% level; **indicates significance at the 5% level; ***indicates significance at the 1% level.

    q2 Measures the explanatory power of the newly added variables in the regression models (McFadden, 1974), with a

    higherq2 indicating a better model fit.

    Notes: aThe table presents the results of the regressions on the determining variables of the CSR measures. Companies

    included in the Dow Jones World Index are classifies into two groups: (i) the CSR Group, i.e., companies included in the

    Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World) and (ii) the non-CSR Group, i.e., companies not included in the

    DJSI World. CSR is a dummy valuable which takes the value of 1 if the company belongs to the CSR Group and 0 if

    the company belongs to the non-CSR Group.b

    H-Statistics measure the competitiveness of the financial industry, with a higher value indicating more intensive com-petition.cLegal Environment variables are taken from La Porta et al. (1998).dQMS measures the quality of management schools, with a higher value indicating a higher quality management school;

    CLER measures the employeremployee relationship, with a higher value indicating a better working relationship (both

    QMS and CLER are taken from the Global Competitiveness Report).eEquator Principles (Wolfsberg Principles) are dummy valuables which take the value of 1 if a firm adopts the principles

    and 0 if the firm does not adopt the principles.fThe Inflation Rate (INF) is taken from the World Development Index; the Industrial Production Index (IPI) is taken from

    the International Financial Statistics; and the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) is taken from ACNielsen, with a higher

    score indicating stronger consumer confidence.

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    those in Table IV, but the coefficients of H-statistic2

    turn out to be significantly positive. It indicates that

    the financial firms would actually act in more socially

    responsible ways to enhance their competitive advan-

    tages when the market competitiveness is extremelyintense, after we control the possible shortcomings of

    the DJSI-biased selection procedure. Therefore, the

    curvilinear relationship between competition and

    socially responsible corporate behavior, proposed by

    Campbell (2007), is actually not supported.14

    Second, we use the lagged ROA (ROAt1) as the

    independent variable in the probit regression, to

    prevent from the endogeneity problem. As shown in

    Table VI, most of the empirical results are found the

    same as those in Table IV, except that the coefficients

    of the lagged ROA turn out to be insignificantand those of H-statistics2 are significantly positive.

    The former result implies that the link between

    the corporate financial performance and CSR is

    insignificant; the latter result implies that the financial

    firms would actually act in more socially responsible

    ways to enhance their competitive advantages when

    the market competitiveness is extremely intense, and

    the curvilinear relationship between competition and

    socially responsible corporate behavior, proposed by

    Campbell (2007), is again not supported.

    Conclusions

    Our empirical findings are as follows. First, financial

    firms with larger size will be more CSR-minded,

    and the link between the corporate financial per-

    formance and CSR is insignificant. Second, financial

    firms would actually act in more socially responsible

    ways to enhance their competitive advantages when

    the market competitiveness is more intense. There-

    fore, the curvilinear relationship between competi-

    tion and socially responsible corporate behavior,proposed by Campbell (2007), is actually not sup-

    ported.

    Third, financial firms in countries with stronger

    legal enforcement measures engage in more CSR

    activities, but interestingly and rather strikingly,

    those firms in countries with stronger investor rights

    engage in less CSR activities. These findings, in fact,

    may induce a more complete understanding of the

    impact of shareholders rights. Since La Porta et al.

    (1997) find that countries with poor investor

    protections have smaller and narrower capital mar-

    kets, many related studies have typically tended to

    focus on the positive impact of the shareholder

    rights. La Porta et al. (2002), for example, find that

    stronger minority shareholder rights should beassociated with lower dividend payouts. Leuz et al.

    (2003) find that the legal protection of outside

    investors is a key determinant of the quality of

    financial information communicated by insiders to

    outsiders and find that earnings management decreases

    in stronger legal protection countries. Shen and

    Chih (2005) also find that stronger shareholder rights

    and greater transparency in accounting disclosure

    can reduce banks incentives to manage earnings. In

    our article, however, stronger shareholder rights are

    found to have the negative impact on the incentivesof firms to engage in CSR activities, since financial

    firms in countries with stronger shareholder rights

    may tend to be geared toward shareholders welfare

    at the expense of fulfilling their obligations to other

    stakeholders.

    Fourth, self-regulation in the financial industry

    has a significantly positive effect on CSR. Therefore,

    a financial firm, which adopts either the Equator or

    Wolfsberg Principles, will be an attractive invest-

    ment for socially responsible investors, since it will

    be effectively required to act in socially responsible

    ways and to engage in sound environmental man-agement practices, according to our findings. This is

    of vital importance in driving interest and invest-

    ments in CSR to the mutual benefit of financial

    firms and investors. Finally, we also conclude that

    financial firms in countries with more cooperative

    employeremployee relations, higher quality man-

    agement schools and a better macroeconomic envi-

    ronment will be more CSR minded.

    Acknowledgments

    The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support

    granted from the project NSC-96-2416-H-305-005-

    MY3 by the National Science Foundation in Taiwan.

    Notes

    1 See Norris (2002) and Friedman (2008).2 A formal definition of CSR emerged from an

    international meeting of the World Business Council

    132 Hsiang-Lin Chih et al.

    http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-
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    for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) which was

    organized and attended by 60 leading speakers on pub-

    lic opinion from inside and outside of the business

    world. This formal definition states that: CSR is the

    continuing commitment by business to behave ethicallyand to contribute to economic development while

    improving the quality of life of the workforce and their

    families as well as of the local community and society at

    large (WBCSD Stakeholder Dialog on CSR, Nether-

    lands, 68 September 1998).3 McWilliams et al. (2006) develop an excellent

    framework for consideration of the strategic implica-

    tions of CSR, and then go on to propose an agenda for

    additional theoretical and empirical research into CSR.4 The DJSI Series, which was first published in Sep-

    tember 1999, comprises five general benchmark indexes:

    the DJSI World Index, the Dow Jones STOXX Sustain-

    ability Index, the Dow Jones Euro STOXX Sustainabil-

    ity Index, the Dow Jones Sustainability North America

    Index, and the Dow Jones Sustainability United States

    Index, each of which, respectively, represents the overall

    indices of CSR companies in the global, European, Eu-

    rozone, North American and United States markets.

    According to the DJSI website, these indices provide as-

    set managers with reliable and objective benchmarks for

    the management of their sustainability portfolios. A total

    of 60 DJSI licenses are currently held by asset managers

    in 15 countries around the world for the management of

    a variety of financial products, including active and pas-

    sive funds, certificates and segregated accounts; theselicensees currently manage a total of over US$5 billion

    based in the DJSI. Since the aim of this article is to

    investigate the determinants of CSR on a global scale,

    we therefore select the DJSI World as our benchmark,

    as opposed to the remaining four DJSI Indexes.5 See the Dow Jones Sustainability World Indices

    Guide, version 9.1, January 2008.6 McWilliams and Siegel (2000) and Chih et al.

    (2008) use a similar approach to classify firms into

    socially responsible and socially irresponsible groups.

    We choose the financial industry mainly because, as a

    result of its large market capitalization, it represents one

    of the major industries, and also because firms of the

    same industry share more common features, thus help-

    ing to avoid confounding effects in the investigation of

    the CSR determinants. Furthermore, Griffin and Ma-

    hon (1997) also noted in their investigation of the

    CSR/CFP relationship that: the internal and exter-

    nal pressures in a given industryare expected to be

    the same within the industry and multi-industry stud-

    ies serve to confound this particular relationship.

    7 For a number of years, banks working in the pro-

    ject financing sector had been seeking ways to develop

    a common and coherent set of environmental and social

    policies/guidelines that could be applied globally and

    across all industry sectors. In October 2002, a smallnumber of banks convened in London, together with

    the World Bank Groups IFC, to discuss these issues.

    The banks in attendance jointly decided to try to devel-

    op a banking industry framework for addressing the

    environmental and social risks involved in project

    financing. This led to the drafting of the first set of

    Equator Principles by these banks, which were then

    launched in Washington, DC on 4 June 2003. As of

    March 2008, a total of 59 institutions had adopted these

    principles. The Equator Principles Financial Institutions

    (EPFIs) have consequently adopted these principles to

    ensure that the financed projects are developed in a

    manner which is socially responsible and which reflects

    sound environmental management practices. By doing

    so, negative impacts on project-affected ecosystems and

    communities should be avoided where possible, and if

    these impacts are unavoidable, they should be reduced,

    mitigated and/or appropriately compensated for (Equa-

    tor Principles, July 2006). Refer also to: www.equator-

    principles.com.8 The Wolfsberg Group is an association comprising

    of twelve global banks which aims to develop financial

    services industry standards, and related products, for

    Know Your Customer, Anti-Money Laundering and

    Counter Terrorist Financing policies. The group cametogether in 2000, at Chateau Wolfsberg in Switzerland,

    in the company of Transparency International, to pub-

    lish the Wolfsberg Anti-Money Laundering Principles

    for Private Banking (revised in May 2002). The group

    then published a Statement on the Financing of Terror-

    ism in January 2002, and also released the Wolfsberg

    Anti-Money Laundering Principles for Correspondent

    Banking in November 2002 and the Wolfsberg State-

    ment on Monitoring Screening and Searching in Sep-

    tember 2003. In 2004, the group focused on the

    development of a due diligence model for financial

    institutions. In June 2006, the group published two setsof guidelines: Guidance on a Risk-based Approach for

    Managing Money Laundering Risks and AML Guid-

    ance for Mutual Funds and Other Pooled Investment

    Vehicles. In early 2007, the group issued its Statement

    against Corruption, in close association with Transpar-

    ency International and the Basle Institute on Gover-

    nance. Refer also to: www.wolfsberg-principles.com.9 Since CSRi,j,t is a discrete dependent variable, we

    estimate the probit model in this article.

    133On the Determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility

    http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://www.equator-principles.com/http://www.equator-principles.com/http://www.wolfsberg-principles.com/http://www.wolfsberg-principles.com/http://www.equator-principles.com/http://www.equator-principles.com/http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-http://-/?-
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    10 Following Panzar and Rosse (1987) and Claessens and

    Laeven (2004), we estimate the following reduced-form

    revenue equation on pooled samples for each country:

    lnPit a b1 lnW1;it b2 lnW2

    ;it b3 lnW3;it c1 lnY1;it

    c2 lnY2;it c3 lnY3;it dD eit;

    where Pit is the ratio of gross interest revenue to

    total assets (proxy for output price of loans), W1,it is

    the ratio of interest expenses to total deposits and

    money market funding (proxy for input price of

    deposits), W2,it is the ratio of personnel expense to

    total assets (proxy for input price of labor), and W3,itis the ratio of other operating and administrative

    expense to total assets (proxy for input price ofequipment/fixed capital). The subscript i denotes

    bank i, and the subscript t denotes year t. We

    include several control variables at the individual

    bank level. Specifically, Y1,it is the ratio of equity to

    total assets, Y2,it is the ratio of net loans to total

    assets, and Y3,it is the logarithm of total assets (to

    control for potential size effects). We also use dum-

    my variables (D) for the years 1994 through 2003

    (we drop the year dummy for the year 1993) to

    control for the fixed effects of calendar years; for

    simplicity, these results are not reported in the

    tables. The H-statistic equals b1 + b2 + b3.11 We normalize QMS by dividing its mean by its

    standard deviation across management schools per coun-

    try per year, and also normalize CLER by dividing its

    mean by its standard deviation across firms per country

    per year.12 Refer to the two websites: www.djindexes.com and

    www.sustainability-indexes.com.13 It should be noted that in most of the emerging finan-

    cial markets, there are no CSR firms whatsoever, which

    implies that CSR firms are highly concentrated within the

    developed countries. For example, although Taiwan has as

    many as 13 financial firms listed on the Dow Jones WorldIndex, none of these is included in the DJSI World. Al-

    though this may well reflect the fact that developed coun-

    tries have much greater concern for CSR, it may also be

    simply due to the fact that companies in the developed

    countries are better known to DJSI analysts.14 In fact, in Table IV, we have excluded some coun-

    tries without CSR firms, including Chile, Cyprus,

    Czech Republic, Indonesia, Poland, Singapore, and

    South Africa, since some legal or macroeconomic vari-

    ables of these countries are not available. For example,

    there are no IPI data for Chile, Indonesia, Singapore,

    and South Africa, and no legal variables for Cyprus,

    Czech Republic, and Poland.

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    Hsiang-Lin Chih and Tzu-Yin ChenDepartment of Banking and Cooperative Management,

    National Taipei University,

    151, University Rd., San Shia, 23741,

    Taiwan, ROC

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    [email protected]

    Hsiang-Hsuan Chih

    Department of Finance, National Dong Hwa University,

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    Hualien, 97401, Taiwan, ROC

    E-mail: [email protected]

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