This paper studies the empirical relation between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and
corporate financial performance in Korea using a sample of 1222 firm-years during 2002—
2008. We measure corporate social responsibility by both an equal-weighted CSR index
and a stakeholder-weighted CSR index suggested by Akpinar et al.(2008). Corporate
financial performance is measured by return on equity, return on assets, and Tobin's Q. We
find a positive and significant relationship between corporate financial performance and the …

We attempt to provide a more nuanced view of the relationship between corporate social
responsibility (CSR) and firm financial performance using a competitive-action perspective.
We argue that competitive action should be considered as an important contingency that
determines the effects of CSR activities on firm financial performance. Using data for 113
publicly listed US firms in the software industry between 2000 and 2005, we found that
socially responsible activities (positive CSR) enhance firm financial performance when the …