Using a large sample of public firms in 51 countries during the period from 2010 to 2015 and a two-stage least squares (2SLS) regression with an instrumental variable (IV), this study investigates how corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate governance (CG) mechanisms interact to influence a firm’s intellectual capital (IC) efficiency. The empirical results reveal that CSR engagement and CG structures influence the firm efficiency in managing IC. This study contributes to managerial practice by demonstrating the causal effect of CSR on value-added intellectual capital (VAIC) measures and the positive impact of CG on both CSR engagement and the efficiency with which firms manage their IC. Furthermore, the current study provides an additional understanding of the relationship among CSR engagement, CG practices, and the determining factors of IC efficiency within a comprehensive framework.

This study analyzes whether and how corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects the financial performance of the European banking industry. According to agency theory, CSR engagement should be negatively related to financial performance. By contrast, from the stakeholder perspective and according to the resource-based view, CSR should positively impact banks’ financial performance. Over a period of six years (2009-2015) following the explosion of the sub-prime crisis, the econometric estimates of the current study confirm a positive effect of CSR engagement on banks’ financial performance. Net interest income and profitability increase with the increase in social performance. At the same time, CSR is negatively related to non-performing loans. Therefore, in contrast to the trade-off model, our results support a win-win vision of the relationship between the social and financial performance of banks.