Corporate social responsibility and firm value: Do firm size and age matter? Empirical evidence from European listed companies

While the current empirical literature has focused predominantly on the direct relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firm value, in this paper, we aim to explore firm-level moderators that may contribute to disentangling this relationship. Based on a dataset of Western European listed companies, we use a moderation analysis of panel data to examine whether firm size and age drive the impact of CSR on firm value. Our estimations show that the relationship between CSR and firm value is moderated by firm size and age so that it is negatively impacted when small and/or young companies are considered. This finding seems to be consistent with the view that CSR initiatives could be ineffective in smaller and younger companies due to their lack of financial resources, experience, reputation, etc. Implications for firms are also discussed.