Corporate social responsibility, media attention and firm value: empirical research on Chinese manufacturing firms

Alongside the ever-increasing development of the global economy, firms worldwide have gradually realized the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in business practices. But there are hot debates on whether CSR pays off, and how does CSR contribute to firm value remains unclear. The direct test of the relationship between CSR and firm value seems to be imprecise and spurious since it may be influenced by many indirect factors. This study aims to demonstrate whether corporate social responsibility is positively or negatively associated with firm value, and to specify the mechanisms of the relationship from a media attention perspective. The manufacturing industry in China provides the background for this study. To test the proposed hypotheses, data was gathered for manufacturing firms listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange from 2011 to 2013. Empirical results indicate that CSR performance is positively related to firm value, and that media attention has a mediating effect between CSR and firm value.