How can regulators affect corporate social responsibility? Evidence from regulatory disclosures of consumer complaints in the U.S.

IF 5.5 3区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS, FINANCE

British Accounting Review Pub Date : 2024-01-01 DOI:10.1016/j.bar.2023.101280

Yujie Wang , Albert Tsang , Yi Xiang , Shuo Yan

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Regulators are increasingly seeking ways to incentivize firms to improve corporate social responsibility (CSR) while minimizing criticism of direct interventions in firm behavior. This study takes advantage of two exogenous regulatory shocks initiated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in the US. In 2011, the CFPB enabled the private filing of consumer complaints against financial firms, and in 2013, these complaints were publicly disclosed. Our findings reveal a positive association between consumer complaints and subsequent CSR performance of the targeted financial firms (referred to as focal firms). Notably, this association becomes significant only after the public disclosure of complaints. Furthermore, we observe a spillover effect on the CSR performance of non-focal firms operating in the same area as the focal firms. Collectively, these findings suggest that mandatory disclosure of consumer complaints is one effective regulatory strategy to motivate both focal and non-focal firms to enhance their CSR performance.

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监管机构如何影响企业的社会责任?美国监管机构披露的消费者投诉证据

监管机构越来越多地寻求激励企业改善企业社会责任(CSR)的方法，同时尽量减少对直接干预企业行为的批评。本研究利用了美国消费者金融保护局(CFPB)发起的两个外生监管冲击。2011年，CFPB允许消费者对金融公司的私人投诉，2013年，这些投诉被公开披露。我们的研究结果揭示了消费者投诉与目标金融公司(称为焦点公司)随后的CSR绩效之间的正相关关系。值得注意的是，这种关联只有在投诉公开披露后才变得重要。此外，我们观察到在同一地区运营的非焦点企业与焦点企业的企业社会责任绩效存在溢出效应。综上所述，这些发现表明，强制披露消费者投诉是一种有效的监管策略，可以激励重点企业和非重点企业提高其企业社会责任绩效。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

British Accounting Review BUSINESS, FINANCE-

CiteScore

8.60

自引率

3.90%

发文量

审稿时长

76 days

期刊介绍： The British Accounting Review*is pleased to publish original scholarly papers across the whole spectrum of accounting and finance. The journal is eclectic and pluralistic and contributions are welcomed across a wide range of research methodologies (e.g. analytical, archival, experimental, survey and qualitative case methods) and topics (e.g. financial accounting, management accounting, finance and financial management, auditing, public sector accounting, social and environmental accounting; accounting education and accounting history), evidence from UK and non-UK sources are equally acceptable.