Investigating the Impact of Different Religions on Corporate Social Responsibility Practices: A Cross-National Evidence

Abstract

The growing interest in the impact that organizations have on society has made Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) a matter of extraordinary relevance. Religions are among the factors that may drive the adoption of more CSR practices and, as such, may play a significant role in their promotion. The aim here is to discover whether religions contribute to the development of a broader range of CSR initiatives on the basis of Stakeholder, and Legitimacy theories. We studied the impact of different religions on an index made up of 122 CSR practices that include social and environmental issues. We tested the hypothesis proposed through panel data models for a sample composed of 13,884 firm-year observations from 30 countries. Our findings suggest that certain religions, such as Christianity, Judaism, and Buddhism, have a positive influence on the adoption of CSR practices. Companies operating in countries with a high percentage of adherents to these religions are more prone to undertake CSR activities. However, Islam, Hinduism, and Folk religions record an inverse trend that evidences a negative link.

JEL codes: M14, M16

Keywords

corporate social responsibility religions stakeholder theory legitimacy theory

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