Religious Values Motivating CSR: An Empirical Study from Corporate Leaders’ Perspective

Using a panel data of 806 U.S. firms from 2006 to 2015, we find that in their ratings of corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance, firms with top managers who attended religiously affiliated schools outperform their peers with no such managers. The positive relationship between religious school attendance (RSA) and CSR performance is stronger among firms with lower level of community religiosity or less external monitoring (e.g., fewer analysts following or institutional investors). Our findings lend support to early theoretical work that suggests managerial CSR-oriented values (e.g., religious values) can be key motivating factors for CSR initiatives.