题 目：Social Norms, Geography, and CSR Activism

报告人：Chen Chen(陈晨)，莫纳什大学商学院,副教授

时 间：2019年5月27日（星期一），15：00-16：30

地 点：嘉庚二512室

主持人：刘 峰 教授

参 加 者：对会计、财务研究有兴趣的师生

论文摘要：We examine whether the social norms that institutional investors are exposed to in their home locality affect their willingness to support corporate social responsibility (CSR) activism in other parts of the US. We find that the shareholdings of non-local institutional investors from localities with strong CSR norms are positively related to the likelihood that a firm is targeted by a CSR-related shareholder proposal, the percentage of votes cast in favor of that proposal, and the likelihood that the proposal is ultimately successful. Our results are robust to a variety of alternative specifications. Further, we find that these relations are stronger if the target firm is located in an area with weak CSR norms. Thus, our results suggest that non-local institutional investors are influenced by the social attitudes they face at home, and these local norms can affect their support for CSR activism aimed at investees outside their home region. In particular, institutional investors from areas with strong CSR norms can act as a conduit for promoting better CSR practices, especially for investees located in areas with weak CSR norms.