In this study we investigate the relationship between political corruption and corporate social responsibility (CSR) strengths. We provide evidence that firms situated in U.S. states with higher levels of corruption exhibit poorer CSR strengths. Our results survive an array of robustness and endogeneity tests. We identify a positive (negative) effect on a firm’s CSR reporting or disclosure practices (the rater’s assessment of the firm’s CSR activities and policies) after state-level exogenous shocks from political scandal revelations for firms headquartered in the scandal states. We show that firms with higher political connections obtained through campaign contributions rely less on CSR strengths for a given level of corruption. Additionally, we find that the influence of corruption on CSR is larger than that of other traditional external societal norms, namely, social capital and religiosity.

在这项研究中，我们调查了政治腐败与企业社会责任 (CSR) 优势之间的关系。我们提供的证据表明，位于美国腐败程度较高的州的公司表现出较差的企业社会责任优势。我们的结果经受住了一系列稳健性和内生性测试。我们确定了总部设在丑闻州的公司的政治丑闻曝光造成州级外生冲击后，对公司的 CSR 报告或披露实践（评估者对公司 CSR 活动和政策的评估）的积极（消极）影响。我们表明，对于给定的腐败水平，通过竞选捐款获得更高政治关系的公司较少依赖企业社会责任优势。此外，