Research On The Impact Of Corporate Social Responsibility On Corporate Financial Performance From The Perspective Of Innovation Capability

The debate on the relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate financial performance has been a hot topic in the field of corporate social responsibility research over the past few decades.However,existing studies have not yet reached a consistent conclusion on the relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate financial performance,especially the impact of innovation in the relationship between the two variables has not received enough attention.In fact,some studies have confirmed that ignoring innovation factors that have a significant impact on financial performance when analyzing the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance may misestimate the impact of corporate social responsibility on financial performance.It is worth noting that the existing empirical literature on the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance in China still lacks the consideration of innovation factors.Therefore,it is of great theoretical significance to explore the relationship between Chinese corporate social responsibility and corporate financial performance from the perspective of innovation capability.Moreover,due to the later beginning of corporate social responsibility practice in China,some enterprises not only fail to establish the correct awareness of social responsibility,but also have the problem of lacking of social responsibility.In fact,the impact of corporate social responsibility on corporate financial performance determines the attitude and investment effort of enterprises towards social responsibility activities.Therefore,clarifying the relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate financial performance in China from the perspective of innovation capability not only provides clear theoretical guidance for Chinese enterprises to undertake social responsibility,but also helps to motivate enterprises to fulfill social responsibility more initiatively and actively.Based on the above theory background and realistic background,taking China’s A-share listed companies as the research sample,this paper attempts to answer the following two questions to clarify the relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate financial performance from the perspective of innovation capability:(1)Whether innovation capability is an important factor affecting corporate financial performance,and whether ignoring innovation capability will misestimate the relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate financial performance.(2)Whether innovation capability plays a mediating or moderating role in the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance.Focusing on the above problems,this paper firstly empirically analyzes the relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate financial performance without considering innovation capability by using the dynamic panel threshold model.The empirical results show that:(1)There is a nonlinear relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate financial performance.(2)Corporate social responsibility has a double threshold effect on corporate financial performance,and the positive impact of corporate social responsibility on corporate financial performance is diminishing marginally.Secondly,in order to ensure whether innovation capability is an important factor affecting corporate financial performance,and to provide empirical support for the subsequent examination of the possible mediating role of innovation capability between corporate social responsibility and financial performance,this paper examines the impact of innovation capability on corporate financial performance and the impact of corporate social responsibility on innovation capability.The empirical research results show that:(1)Innovation capability has a significantly positive impact on corporate financial performance.(2)The corporate ownership property has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between innovation capability and corporate financial performance,which means that the positive effect of innovation capability on financial performance is more significant in non-state-owned enterprises.(3)Corporate social responsibility has a significantly positive impact on the innovation capability of enterprises.(4)Compared with non-state-owned enterprises,the positive effect of corporate social responsibility on innovation capability is more significant in stateowned enterprises.Compared with enterprises in social responsibility-sensitive industries,the role of corporate social responsibility in promoting innovation capability is more significant in companies of non-social responsibility-sensitive industries.Finally,based on the above research results,this paper examines the relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate financial performance under the condition of controlling innovation capability,and makes a comparative analysis with the previous research conclusion under the condition of not controlling innovation capability.In addition,this paper further explores the mediating or moderating role that innovation capability may play in the relationship between the two variables.The empirical results show that:(1)The nonlinear relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate financial performance still holds under the condition of controlling innovation capability,and corporate social responsibility has a single threshold effect on corporate financial performance generally.The marginal diminishing effect of the positive impact of corporate social responsibility on financial performance is still valid,but the impact is weakened,which means ignoring the innovation factor will overestimate the impact of corporate social responsibility on financial performance.(2)This paper uses innovation input,innovation output and innovation efficiency to measure corporate innovation capability,but only the former two play a partially mediating and positive moderating role in the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance.(3)The corporate ownership property plays a positive moderating role between corporate social responsibility and corporate financial performance,the social responsibility sensitivity of the industry in which the enterprise is located plays a negative moderating role in the relationship between the two variables.This paper provides a new perspective on how enterprises can achieve better financial performance and the impact mechanism of corporate social responsibility on financial performance by analyzing the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance in China and examining the impact of innovation capability on the relationship between the two variables.At the same time,it also confirms the necessity of considering the impact of innovation when studying the relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate financial performance,which fills the gap in theoretical and empirical research related to corporate social responsibility in China to a certain extent.In addition,the research conclusions of this paper provide theoretical and empirical support for the optimization of the incentive mechanism of social responsibility in China,the standardization and popularization of social responsibility by industry associations,and the practice of corporate social responsibility.