Corporate governance and social responsibility

Purpose – This paper aims to draw on the stakeholder theory to examine the association between corporate governance and social responsibility. Design/methodology/approach – This paper hypothesized that corporate governance is positively associated with corporate social responsibility (CSR), and good corporate governance also leads to good social responsibility in the following year. Corporate governance was measured by using the corporate governance index provided by Brown and Caylor (2006, 2009). CSR data come from Kinder, Lydenberg and Domini (KLD), Inc. Findings – Regression analysis documents significant evidence to support a positive association between corporate governance and social responsibility. Evidence suggests that good governance leads to good CSR performance. Originality/value – The results should interest managers who engage in behavior leading to or maintaining strong corporate governance mechanisms, financial analysts who conduct research on corporate governance and firm performance and policymakers who design and implement guidelines on corporate governance mechanisms. Moreover, results of this study can increase individual investors’ confidence in investing in companies with stronger corporate governance.