Does corporate social performance lead to better financial performance? Evidence from Turkey

In the past two decades, research on the relationship between corporate social performance (CSP) and corporate financial performance (CFP) has seen considerable growth; however, evidence from Turkey remains scarce, and the results are not uniform. To address this lack, this study investigates the impact of CSP on CFP from the perspective of stakeholder theory. Following the investigation of 47 publicly listed companies from the BIST Corporate Governance Index (XKURY) in the period 2014–2018. The results demonstrate that CSP positively affects CFP in both the short and long term. This study addresses the lack of Turkish experience, and the results indicate that CSP is an intangible resource in corporate strategy that can improve the competitive power of Turkish enterprises. Furthermore, the study emphasizes the positive role of CSP in short-term and long-term CFP in the Turkish context from the stakeholder perspective. The results have implications for Turkish policymakers regarding the rational use of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to promote economic development and insights for Turkish enterprises in terms of gaining stakeholders' trust and improving investors' valuation through the strategic use of CSR to achieve long-term, sustainable development of enterprise competitiveness and finance.