Social capital and retail investor behavior: evidence from the corporate social irresponsibility shocks in Taiwan

• We examine how local social capital (SC) influences retail investor behavior. • We use corporate social irresponsibility (CSIR) events from Taiwan. • Investors with higher SC are less likely to purchase underpriced CSIR stocks. • This norm-driven restraint reflects a form of socially responsible investing. • We extend this behavior in an East Asian market. In this paper, we use granular trading data from Taiwan between 2012 and 2016 to examine how local social capital influences retail investor behavior during corporate social irresponsibility (CSIR) events. Therefore, we are responding to longstanding calls in the international finance literature to explore investor behavior in non-US markets with distinct institutional and cultural characteristics. We find that investors residing in cities with higher social capital are less likely to purchase underpriced stocks following the announcements of negative events despite the potential for positive abnormal returns. This norm-driven restraint reflects a form of socially responsible investing motivated by community-based values rather than economic rationality. By documenting this behavior in an East Asian market, we extend the external validity of social norm theories developed in Western settings and contribute to a more nuanced understanding of how localized social preferences can influence asset pricing and capital allocation in a global context.