Abstract
This article examines the relationship between the social performance of companies and their financial performance, analyzed from the systematic risk perspective. The analysis is divided into two parts. We first investigate the relationship between the social performance of companies and their systematic risk. We then look at the link between social performance and the performance of the securities of the company. The empirical results show a negative relationship between social performance and systematic risk, resulting in a higher profitability of securities of high social performance in times of instability and depression in financial markets. The implementation of social responsibility strategies can therefore be regarded as insurance to limit sensitivity to systematic risk and preserve the value of the shareholders against the adverse effects of a crisis or bad economic conditions.
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Notes
The market trend is defined in this work as bull if the monthly returns of the S&P500 index are > 0 and bear if they are < 0.
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Braune, E., Charosky, P. & Hikkerova, L. Corporate social responsibility, financial performance and risk in times of economic instability. J Manag Gov 23, 1007–1021 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10997-019-09476-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10997-019-09476-y