We examine the role of corporate culture in M&As by utilizing a unique corporate social responsibility (CSR) dataset, providing in-depth information on multiple dimensions of organizational culture in 22 developed markets. In accordance with the prediction of the culture clash theory, a wider divergence between the CSR corporate cultures of the acquiring and target firms is associated with lower acquirer announcement and long-run returns as well as synergistic gains for the combined firm. Cultural misalignment also increases the time required to finalise a deal, reduces the likelihood of deal completion and the percentage of stock payment. Our results are robust to alternative explanations (e.g., similarities in national culture, acquirer CSR performance, institutional configurations), different regression specifications, and additional cultural misalignment measures. Our findings highlight the importance of the need for a deeper understanding of the role of CSR for the target selection process, integration planning, and financing choice of M&As to corporations and their investors.

我们利用独特的企业社会责任 (CSR) 数据集研究企业文化在并购中的作用，提供有关 22 个发达市场的组织文化多个维度的深入信息。根据文化冲突理论的预测，收购公司和目标公司的 CSR 企业文化之间更大的差异与较低的收购方公告和长期回报以及合并后公司的协同收益有关。文化失调还增加了完成交易所需的时间，降低了交易完成的可能性和股票支付的百分比。我们的结果对其他解释（例如，国家文化的相似性、收购方 CSR 绩效、制度配置）、不同的回归规范、以及额外的文化错位措施。我们的研究结果强调了需要更深入地了解企业社会责任在企业及其投资者的并购目标选择过程、整合规划和融资选择中的作用的重要性。