Does Organisation Capital Affect Corporate Social Responsibility?

This paper investigates the impact of organisation capital (OC) on corporate social responsibility (CSR) using a sample of Chinese listed companies from 2009 to 2022. Employing corporate ESG indicators as a proxy for CSR performance, we find that OC significantly enhances CSR engagement. However, this positive relationship becomes less prominent for firms operating in heavily polluting industries and among firms with higher earnings volatility. These results suggest that pollution intensity and earnings uncertainty may limit the effectiveness of OC in driving CSR improvements. Further analyses reveal that the positive relationship is weaker among state-owned enterprises, smaller firms, service firms, and firms with CEO-chairperson duality. Mechanism analyses suggest that corporate visibility serves as a key underlying mechanism through which OC positively influences CSR performance. Firms with higher OC tend to be more visible to the public, making them more inclined to align with stakeholder expectations and proactively enhance their CSR performance. This study enriches the literature by providing new insights into the determinants of CSR performance and the economic consequences of OC.