Corporate Responsibility and Financial Performance: The Role of Intangible Resources Articles uri icon

publication date

  • May 2010

start page

  • 463

end page

  • 490

issue

  • 5

volume

  • 31

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0143-2095

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1097-0266

abstract

  • This paper examines the effects of a firm's intangible resources in mediating the relationship between corporate responsibility and financial performance. We hypothesize that previous empirical findings
    of a positive relationship between social and financial performance may
    be spurious because the researchers failed to account for the mediating
    effects of intangible resources. Our results indicate that there is no
    direct relationship between corporate responsibility and financial
    performance—merely an indirect relationship that relies on the mediating
    effect of a firm's intangible resources. We demonstrate our theoretical
    contention with the use of a database comprising 599 companies from 28
    countries.