Title

The Effects Of Public Pressure On Csr Behavior In A Capital Market Experiencing Excessive Moral Debt

Keywords

Corporate social responsibility; Moral debt; Sarbanes- oxley act of 2002; Social legitimacy

Abstract

The events surrounding the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (Sarbanes) offer an opportunity to reflect on the influences of public pressure and possible public policy shifts on CSR behavior in a capital market experiencing excessive moral debt. Using the passage of Sarbanes to symbolize a potential public policy shift driven by public pressure, we examine the influence of social legitimacy variables on corporate social responsibility (CSR) behavior before (1991-2001) and after (2002-2005) the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. We posit that changes in CSR strategies surrounding the passage of Sarbanes were used to maximize stakeholder interests by addressing social legitimacy involving corporate accountability issues. Our findings support that CSR behaviors were significantly influenced by the public pressure variables of Sarbanes and company size, but were not significantly influenced by our economic legitimacy control measures, with the exception of a positive significant interaction between Leverage and Sarbanes for CSR Strengths. It appears that post- Sarbanes CSR behaviors were used to address social legitimacy concerns. Further, as CSR Weaknesses ratings exceeded CSR Strengths ratings post-Sarbanes, it appears that transparency of actual CSR performance may have improved post-Sarbanes. © 2012 American Accounting Association. All rights reserved.

Publication Date

1-1-2012

Publication Title

Accounting and the Public Interest

Volume

12

Issue

1

Number of Pages

87-105

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.2308/apin-10233

Socpus ID

84871551771 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/84871551771

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