DOES CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY SAVE FIRMS? AN EXPLORATION OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, FIRM CAPABILITY, ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES, AND FIRM DEFAULT RISK

摘要

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) receives a growing attention from both academic researchers and business managers. Prior research has confirmed that CSR, by its ability of building strong corporate image and reputation, effectively improves firm's performance. However, in the resource-based framework (RBT) and dynamic capability theories (DCT), few researches have explored the interplay between CSR and firm attributes. Further, although the ongoing financial crisis spurs scholars to rethink extant theories and search new avenues to locate new drivers that help firm regain financial well-being, an important financial indicator of firm, default risk, has been largely neglected. The current research, by emphasizing the critical role of CSR, bridges these gaps in RBT, DCT, and default risk studies. It hypothesizes a relationship in which CSR, by its ability of reputation-building, helps firms reduce the risk of default. In addition, this paper formulates the moderating effects between CSR and firm capability, CSR and environmental dynamism/ complexity and depicts a more complete pattern of CSR's functions in different internal and external conditions.