Investigating the relation between CSR disclosure and firm value & the moderating effect of financial ratio’s; a specification curve analysis.

Abstract

This study will examine the relation between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) disclosure and firm value in a new context that features a Specification Curve Analysis, a method that is relatively new in general and a novelty in the field of accounting. The subject paper will be the paper by Naseem et al. (2019), which finds that CSR disclosure has a positive relation with firm value and finds that financial ratios have a moderating role in this relation. Sample data contains more than 2.000 non-financial companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange from 2008 to 2012. SCA features between 1.408 and 2.112 different model options. This paper finds that (1) it can lend no support to the findings of the subject paper regarding the positive relation between CSR disclosure and firm value and (2) it is inconclusive about the findings of the moderating role of financial ratios in this relation. Overall, this paper contributes not only using the SCA, but also in the context of the relation of CSR disclosure and firm value, as existing literature provides mixed results in such, alongside the use of financial ratios here, which was a novelty in the subject paper.