In this study, we examine the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deal premiums. More precisely, we explore the value enhancing role of target’s pre-acquisition CSR performance at an M&A transaction by focusing on the deal premiums. We also examine whether firms in the service industries experience a higher deal premium due to their CSR performance compared to firms in other industries. We use several data sources (i.e. MSCI ESG KLD STATS, FactSet, Compustat and CRSP) to compile the final sample of the study, 277 completed acquisitions over the period 1996–2018. We use ordinary least square regression to estimate empirical models and find that target’s pre-acquisition CSR performance is positively related to deal premium. Moreover, the moderation analysis indicates that the positive effect of targets’ CSR performance on deal premium is more profound for firms operating in the service industries than those in non-service industries. The findings of the study is robust to different operationalizations of deal premium. Additionally, examining the positive and negative CSR attributes separately, we reveal consistent evidence with the prediction that positive CSR involvement of target firms increases the deal premium.

在本研究中，我们研究了企业社会责任（CSR）绩效对并购（M＆A）交易溢价的影响。更准确地说，我们通过关注交易溢价来探讨目标公司在并购交易中的收购前CSR绩效的增值作用。我们还研究了与其他行业的公司相比，服务行业的公司是否因CSR表现而获得更高的交易溢价。我们使用多个数据源（即MSCI ESG KLD STATS，FactSet，Compustat和CRSP）来汇编研究的最终样本，在1996年至2018年期间完成了277项收购。我们使用普通最小二乘回归估计经验模型，发现目标公司的收购前CSR绩效与交易溢价成正相关。而且，适度分析表明，服务业企业的目标企业社会责任绩效对交易溢价的积极影响比非服务业企业更为明显。该研究的结果对于不同的交易溢价操作具有鲁棒性。此外，分别检查正面和负面的CSR属性，我们揭示了一致的证据，即预测与目标公司积极的CSR参与会增加交易溢价。