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Corporate social (ir)responsibility and firm risk: The role of corporate governance

Craig G. Dunbar et al.

Journal of Financial Research2026https://doi.org/10.1111/jfir.70054article
AJG 3ABDC A
Weight
0.50

Abstract

We study how corporate governance moderates the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate social irresponsibility (CSI), and firm risk. We find that CSR reduces risk for firms with strong governance. In contrast, CSI increases firm risk more significantly for firms with stronger governance, suggesting that backlash is more severe when well‐governed firms engage in irresponsible behavior. Overall, our evidence indicates that the negative impact of CSI for well‐governed firms outweighs the risk‐reducing benefits of CSR. These findings provide strong support for information intensity arguments.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/jfir.70054

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@article{craig2026,
  title        = {{Corporate social (ir)responsibility and firm risk: The role of corporate governance}},
  author       = {Craig G. Dunbar et al.},
  journal      = {Journal of Financial Research},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/jfir.70054},
}

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Corporate social (ir)responsibility and firm risk: The role of corporate governance

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.