O Fator Moderador da Reputação Corporativa sobre a RSC na Agressividade Fiscal

Objective: This study analyzed the influence of corporate reputation (CR) as a moderator of the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the tax aggressiveness of companies listed on B3. Method: The sample included 106 publicly traded companies listed on the Brazilian stock exchange from 2010 to 2021, generating 1,272 observations. The panel data model was used for data analysis. The proxy for CR was the Exame Magazine Yearbook classification. For CSR, the Refinitiv Eikon® ESG score was collected. The Normalized Differential ETR was used as a proxy for tax aggressiveness. Results: The results showed a negative relationship between tax aggressiveness and CR and no statistical significance between tax aggressiveness and CSR. However, the relationship is reversed when CR moderates CSR, which can be explained by the Moral Licensing Theory, in which companies with moral credits (represented by CR and high levels of CSR) would use their moral license to be more aggressive. Contributions: This study proposes the Normalized Differential ETR, a measure of tax aggressiveness intended to obtain greater precision and reliability. Additionally, an innovative contribution is the analysis of the moderating role of CR on the effect of CSR on aggressiveness.