Does ownership matter for corporate social responsibility disclosure in banks? evidence from China

Existing literature on the relationship between ownership and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been mainly focused on non-financial firms. While a few studies have explored how ownership influences banks’ CSR, most of them are based on Western or Islamic finance contexts. Our study contributes to the literature by examining the effects of different ownership types in CSR engagement among 110 large Chinese banks from 2009 to 2020, including state ownership and foreign ownership. Our findings reveal a significant positive correlation between CSR engagement and foreign ownership, whereas state ownership does not show a similar association with the CSR index. This suggests that different owners impact CSR involvement due to their distinct economic roles in society. Our research underscores the importance of considering the diverse effects of ownership structure on CSR engagement within the Chinese banking sector, highlighting the need to account for shareholder background in discussions of shareholder activism. Additionally, it emphasises the necessity of addressing the multidimensional nature of banks’ CSR, providing new insights into the dynamics of shareholder influence on corporate social responsibility.