The Enigmatic Impact of Corporate Social Responsibilities on the Economic Performance of Brazilian Companies Chinese

Abstract

The financial implication of the adoption of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices is still an obscure field of study, because studies suggest controversial results. Thus, this research aimed to examine the relationship CSR and economic performance of the companies of corporate sustainability index (ISE) of mercantile and futures exchange of São Paulo stock exchange (BM&FBOVESPA). The amount of companies allowing online access to their responses of the ISE questionnaire determined the sample of this research. Thus, for the study period from 2011 to 2012, it has been possible to access the responses of 12 companies, composing the overall sample of this research. The results of the regression analysis allow to statistically assert that for the sample used, environmental performance (EP) contributes to improving economic performance, measured by all financial metrics used: return on equity (ROE), return on assets (ROA), and net profit (NP). Statistically, it is only possible to say that social performance (SP) contributes to improving NP. In terms of market metrics, none of the null hypothesis was rejected, i.e., in any cases, it has been possible to affirm, on a statistical base, that SP and EP contribute to improving the market value (MV) and systematic risk. Thus, it is understood that the stakeholder theory has potential to explain the Brazilian situation regarding the aspects of CSR and financial ones under the accounting and the shareholder theory explains this relation, when viewed with the aid of market measurements.