The DOI matches its Crossref record; 162 of the 166 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Robustness of the Corporate Social and Financial Performance Relation: A Second‐Order Meta‐Analysis
Open accessAbstract
For many decades, there has been a debate about the relation between corporate social/environmental performance (CSP) and corporate financial performance (CFP). Our study presents a review of academic research on this topic by applying a second‐order meta‐analysis. The data sample combines 25 previous meta‐analyses yielding a sample size of one million observations. Our results demonstrate a highly significant, positive, robust, and bilateral CSP‐CFP relation. The relation is positive regardless of whether firms focus on ecological or social aspects, though corporate reputation turns out to be a key CSP determinant. We find a particularly strong CSP‐CFP relation for operational CFP. Furthermore, we add a new perspective on potential biases resulting from the studies’ publishing source: social issues‐oriented journals and methodological weaker papers do not distort the positive CSP‐CFP relation. Our conclusion is: Based on the extant literature, the business case for being a good firm is undeniable. © 2018 The Authors. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management published by ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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“Several other meta-studies find a more robust positive relation between CSR performance or activities and financial performance (e.g., Orlitzky et al. 2003; Busch and Friede 2018; Atz et al. 2020).”
From Mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting: economic analysis and literature review (2021) · cites this paper as Busch and Friede 2018
In the citing paper
“Studies have shown that integrating sustainability aspects in the organisation is beneficial in terms of reputation, 47 productivity 48 and access to financial resources.49”
From Artificial Intelligence and Sustainable Decisions (2023) · cites this paper as Busch and Friede (2018)
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Cited by
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Mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting: economic analysis and literature review
Christensen, H. B., Hail, L., & Leuz, C. (2021) · Review of Accounting Studies · doi:10.1007/s11142-021-09609-5 · Cited by 1,923
Resiliency of Environmental and Social Stocks: An Analysis of the Exogenous COVID-19 Market Crash
Albuquerque, R., Koskinen, Y., Yang, S., & Zhang, C. (2020) · The Review of Corporate Finance Studies · doi:10.1093/rcfs/cfaa011 · Cited by 1,234
“2 See, for example, the meta-analyses of ESG activities and financial performance by Orlitzky, Schmidt, and Rynes (2003), Margolis, Elfenbein, and Walsh (2010), and Busch and Friede (2018).”
BackgroundEnvironmental, social and governance (ESG) activity and firm performance: a review and consolidation
Huang, D. Z. (2019) · Accounting and Finance · doi:10.1111/acfi.12569 · Cited by 698
Composition and Activity of the Board of Directors: Impact on ESG Performance in the Banking System
Birindelli, G., Dell’Atti, S., Iannuzzi, A. P., & Savioli, M. (2018) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su10124699 · Cited by 499
“A great number of studies have investigated the link between sustainability performance (expressed by an ESG score or other measures of CSR) and CFP by showing, in most cases, a highly significant, positive and robust relationship, which holds across the countries and industries investigated [14].”
BackgroundMeta-analyses on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): a literature review
Velte, P. (2021) · Management Review Quarterly · doi:10.1007/s11301-021-00211-2 · Cited by 503
Metadata
- Authors
- Busch, T., & Friede, G.
- Affiliations
- Universität Hamburg (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Busch, Timo
- Venue
- Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2018-03-30
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 583-608
- ISSN
- 1535-3958 (ISSN-L)
- 1535-3966
- OpenAlex
- W2795278713
- Cited by
- 345
- References
- 166
- Citations by year
- 2026: 40 · 2025: 42 · 2024: 56 · 2023: 54 · 2022: 55 · 2021: 49 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 40.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Corporate Identity and Reputation
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Environmental Sustainability in Business
- Keywords
- corporate social performance, corporate financial performance, corporate reputation, ecological performance, social performance, operational performance, publication bias
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