The Influence of Media Coverage of Corporate Social Responsibility Projects on the Market Value of Shares of Russian Companies

Abstract

The study empirically analyzes the impact of media coverage of corporate social responsibility projects both in the media and by the official press centers of companies on the market value of the shares of these companies. Such coverage can have both positive and negative effects. The research interest is whether corporate social responsibility projects are important to investors. The purpose of this study is to create a model for assessing the impact of media coverage of corporate social responsibility projects on the market value of companies' shares. Based on data on the market value of shares of Russian companies, using regression models, the influence of the press coverage of such projects on the market value of shares was estimated. Thus, the hypothesis was confirmed that official company news about corporate social projects and news published by external sources have a connection with the market value of shares. In addition, the study found that corporate social responsibility project news published by a company has a greater impact on institutional investors, while news published by external sources has a greater impact on individual investors. An industry-specific phenomenon has been identified. News published by the company on corporate social responsibility projects has a greater impact on stock prices in the metals, telecommunications, fuel, oil and gas and energy industries, while the coverage of such projects in external sources has a greater impact in the banking sector, construction and development, and the financial sector. The models proposed in the study have fairly high predictive and explanatory quality. This suggests that Russian public companies are following an international trend towards an increase in the number of corporate social responsibility projects and information about such projects is quite important for investors. The application of the proposed model allows us to understand how the market expectations will change as a whole, and therefore to predict the movement of shares in the short term.