Corporate social responsibility and labor investment efficiency: evidence from China

PurposeWe expect to provide a complete theoretical framework and large sample evidence on the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the efficiency of labor investment. We also hope to provide micro-evidence based on labor investment behavior for the two-sided impact of corporate CSR behavior.Design/methodology/approachThis paper measures labor investment efficiency by estimating the difference between actual and expected net hiring of enterprises. CSR is measured on the basis of the CSR score of Chinese listed companies published by Hexun.com. A regression model is constructed to analyze the relationship between CSR and labor investment efficiency. Possible endogeneity problems are controlled by lagging independent variables, propensity score matching method and difference-in-difference method.FindingsResults show that CSR can improve labor investment efficiency by reducing over-hiring and under-hiring in emerging markets. The existence of the mediating effect of agency cost, information disclosure quality and employment fluctuation confirms that CSR improves labor investment efficiency through two mechanisms of corporate governance and labor market friction. The improvement effect of CSR on labor investment efficiency is more significant in non-state-owned, high CEO shareholding ratio and high-average urban wage enterprises.Originality/valueIn conclusion, our study is an important supplement to the existing research on the factors affecting labor investment efficiency. Our research conclusions will be helpful for enterprises in developing countries or enterprises in labor-intensive industries to improve labor investment inefficiency. The conclusion of the mechanism analysis in this paper provides more complete and reliable microscopic evidence for accurately identifying the specific path of CSR's impact on labor investment efficiency. This paper verifies the positive impact of CSR from the perspective of labor investment efficiency in the context of a developing country, which provides evidence for the theoretical conflicts related to CSR based on the effectiveness of enterprise labor investment decisions.