Abstracts Category : Other

The impact of corporate social responsibility on corporate financial performance in the banking industry

by Sara Almeida

The present research aims to investigate the direct impact of CSR, both overall and dimensionwise, on banks financial performance. While KLD ratings were used to operationalize CSRthrough overall and dimensional variables (environment, community, human rights, employeerelations, diversity, product and governance); ROA and Tobins Q ratio were selected tomeasure CFP.A sample of 96 U.S. banks was drawn and analysed through correlations and OLS regressions.Results support CSR as a multidimensional concept, showing that richer insights weregenerally collected when banks CSR performance was considered at a dimensional level. Inparticular, this study suggests that: (i) statistical significance is rarely obtained when banksoverall CSR performance is considered; (ii) banks CSR dimensions have differently changedafter the 2008 financial crisis; (iii) individual dimensions of banks CSR have distinct impactson CFP; (iv) the direct impact of banks CSR performance on their CFP has remainedunchanged after the 2008 financial crisis; and (v) banks size and their geographical scope ofactivity moderate the impact of specific CSR dimensions on CFP.Advisors/Committee Members: Carree, Martin, Miguel, Antnio.