Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure and Performance: A Meta-Analytic Approach

Abstract

Currently, a lack of consensus exists in the literature on the link between performance and corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD). A meta-analysis was carried out to shed light on this controversial topic, using the ABI/Inform Complete and EconLit databases as search tools. To isolate articles with substantive, methodological relevance, various filters were used. In addition to other criteria, all articles had to contain certain keywords related to the study’s variables and at least one of the seven keywords indicating empirical data analysis. As a result of this procedure, the meta-analysis included only 95 articles. To process the sample, we employed the procedure developed by Hunter and Schmidt. The results show that the CSRD-performance relationship is not significant enough for practical purposes. However, an analysis of moderating variables revealed that the connection becomes of practical importance when moderated by three key variables: region, type of disclosure, and measures of organization size. This research’s findings make a significant contribution by clarifying the links between CSRD and performance and identifying which variables can explain the diverse results of previous research. Regarding limitations, the meta-analysis was subject to the availability of published research and included only studies that reported Pearson correlation coefficients and standardized beta coefficients.