With the advent of responsible business, ensuring social responsibility in sourcing is of interest to both academics and practitioners. In this study, we examine one way of achieving this goal: ethical sourcing initiatives (ESIs). ESIs refer to a firm’s formal and informal actions to manage sourcing processes in an ethical and socially responsible manner. While ESIs have been established as an important part of corporate social responsibility, it is unclear whether, how, and when this corporate effort is economically beneficial. We conduct an event study estimating the shareholder value effect of 159 publicly traded firms’ ESIs and find that the stock market reacts positively to ESIs in general. We also compare market reactions under different conditions including reactive versus proactive ESIs, and their interactions with initiative timing, firm size, and financial risk. Additionally, we find that ESIs are associated with long-term stock price and operating performance. Overall, our findings clarify the potential economic benefits of corporate ESIs and encourage buying firms to take these initiatives selectively according to business contexts.

随着负责任企业的到来，确保采购中的社会责任对学者和从业者都十分重要。在这项研究中，我们研究了实现这一目标的一种方法：道德采购计划（ESI）。ESI是指公司以道德和对社会负责的方式来管理采购流程的正式和非正式行动。虽然ESI已被确立为企业社会责任的重要组成部分，但尚不清楚这种企业努力是否，如何以及何时在经济上是有益的。我们进行了一项事件研究，以评估159家上市公司的ESI的股东价值效应，并发现股市总体上对ESI做出积极反应。我们还比较了在不同条件下的市场反应，包括被动ESI和主动ESI，以及它们与主动时机的相互作用，公司规模和财务风险。此外，我们发现ESI与长期股价和运营绩效相关。总体而言，我们的发现阐明了企业ESI的潜在经济利益，并鼓励收购公司根据业务环境有选择地采取这些举措。