Corporate social responsibility and enterprise value: The mechanism of marketing competitiveness and customer awareness

Since the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was introduced to China in the 1990s, after nearly 30 years of rapid development, more and more scholars have realized that CSR has generated huge benefits for business operation and the correlation between CSR and enterprise value has been extensively studied, but no consistent conclusions have been reached thus far. The current body of research has identified varying relationships – among them positive correlation, negative correlation, and irrelevance. Therefore, in order to deeply analyze the intrinsic link between CSR and enterprise value, this study starts with intermediate variables that affect the relationship and identifies indirect influences on enterprise value. A sample of CSR-rated A-share listed companies from 2013-2015 – published by Runling Global (RKS), China’s most authoritative third-party CSR rating agency – is used to demonstrate the functional mechanism of CSR on enterprise value based on marketing information and economic theory. The internal relationship between CSR and enterprise value, and how it is indirectly affected by contingency factors and intermediate variables, is also explored. Based on the previous studies, this paper combines stakeholder and marketing information with economic theory to explore the indirect effects of contingency factors and intermediate variables in the relationship between CSR and enterprise value. From the perspective of enterprise competitiveness, the study selects marketing activities that are closely related to enterprise value, and analyzes marketing competitiveness as a mediator for the first time. Performance evaluation indicators of marketing competitiveness are measured using the growth rate of sales revenue, process evaluation indicators are characterized by innovation intensity (R&D intensity = net intangible assets/total assets), and the intermediary role of marketing competitiveness in the relationship between CSR and enterprise value is explored. At the same time, the moderating role played by customers’ awareness in their relationship is examined, and the function of adjustment in the relationship between two is tested on a measure of enterprise advertising intensity (advertising expenditure/revenue) and the degree of media attention (LN (1+the number of CSR activities reported from 618 newspapers in the data year)), in representing customers’ awareness. A conceptual model for establishing the mechanism of CSR on the enterprise value is also studied, and regression analysis of the panel data conducted using the fixed effect and random effect models. Combining theoretical analysis with empirical testing, this study discovers a new theoretical path and empirical basis for further research on the relationship between CSR and enterprise value. In the literature review section, the paper expounds the basic concepts of CSR and marketing competitiveness, as well as the impact of CSR on enterprise value in the homeland and abroad, in addition to summarizing research results on the relationships between marketing competitiveness, customer awareness, CSR, and enterprise value. The hypothesis of this study is proposed based on the analysis in the theoretical section of the paper. The empirical analysis section outlines the design content of research samples, data sources, variable definitions, and model construction, and select models based on dependent variables, independent variables, and related control variables. The regression analysis of the panel data reveals that CSR is positively correlated with enterprise value, and enterprises engaged in CSR activities promote the ability of marketing to add value by increasing the value of competitive advantage and the innovation intensity of marketing competitiveness, with the latter also playing a part in mediating the effect. The use of marketing intensity to raise customer awareness has significantly increased the impact of CSR on enterprise value, but increased media attention as a means to enhance customer awareness has not yielded significant benefits. Finally, the stability of the regression results is proved by replacing the dependent variable (the rate of return on assets, ROA changed to TobinQ) and the control variable in a robustness test. The results of this study emphasize that companies can bring synergistic returns through appropriate combinations of external CSR initiatives and internal competitiveness, which can help to enhance corporate image and reputation, fulfill the needs of stakeholder groups, and ultimately achieve the creation of economic and social shared value.