AAA Spark Meeting of Regions

The Efficiency of Corporate Social Responsibility Activities: Evidence from Targeted Poverty Alleviation Projects

• In Event: CSR-Sustainabilty Management

Abstract

Chinese firms are required to disclose their expenditures on targeted poverty alleviation (TPA) projects and the number of people being lifted out of poverty as a result. This unique setting provides both the input and output of a specific corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity, allowing us to examine its efficiency. We find that while firms under greater political pressure are more likely to spend on TPA, they are less efficient in lifting people out of poverty, resulting in a waste of resources. Firms required to issue CSR reports, larger firms, and firms that are more profitable than their industry peers run their TPA projects more efficiently. Our findings suggest that to improve CSR efficiency, the government should focus more on the output of CSR than the input and encourage efficient firms to actively manage their CSR activities.

Authors

• Ling Zhou, University of New Mexico

• Xiaobei Huang, North China University of Technology

• Yunling Song, Inner Mongolia University

• Lv Jianing, Capital University of Economics and Business