Corporate Social Responsibility and the Pollution Haven Hypothesis: Evidence from Multinationals’ Investment Decision in China

Abstract

This paper tests the pollution haven hypothesis by examining the relationship between environmental regulation and foreign investment with consideration of the role of corporate social responsibility, which has so far been neglected. Using multinationals' investment data from China, our results in general support the pollution haven hypothesis that less stringent environmental regulation is more attractive for multinationals to invest in China, but high social responsibility can counteract attractiveness of weak environmental regulation.

Market differentiation threshold and the relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate financial performance

“…This study used the CSR ratings of the firms presented in the CSRHub (https://www.csrhub.com), which was a company that specialized in categorizing and reporting the CSR values. The recent CSR‐related studies have used the CSRHub index (Acabado et al, ; Bu, Liu, Wagner, & Yu, ; Thanetsunthorn, ). Furthermore, the CSRHub derived data from various sources for estimating the CSR performance of the firms.…”

Are Family Firms Really More Socially Responsible?

“…Therefore, they are less likely to suffer from social desirability biases. While not as widely used in management as the KLD database, the CSRHub has recently been used in the context of social responsibility both in academic (Bu, Liu, Wagner, & Yu, 2013) and practitioner environments (Gidwani, 2013). Lastly, like KLD, it includes employee and governance performance indicators so its categorization of social practices fits with the distinction we have made between internal and external socially oriented practices.…”

A fragmented environmental state? Analysing spatial compliance patterns for the case of transparency legislation in China

“…The Environmental Kuznets Curve (Grossman and Krueger 1991) represents a well-documented concept that establishes a connection between economic development and environmental protection. Several empirical studies on China confirm this claim (Dean et al 2009;Bu et al 2013;Shen 2008;Zhang and Fu 2008). We, therefore, use per capita gdp as a control variable in our baseline model.…”