Indigenous religious traditions and corporate reputation: evidence from Chinese A-share listed firms

This study examines whether indigenous religious traditions shape corporate reputation. Using Chinese A-share listed firms from 2009 to 2023, indigenous religious traditions are measured by the number of Buddhist and Taoist sites around firms’ office locations. The results show that stronger local religious traditions are significantly and positively associated with subsequent corporate reputation. This conclusion remains robust after a series of robustness and instrumental-variable checks. Additional evidence is consistent with reputation-building responses through higher CSR disclosure quality, stronger innovation output, and fewer general internal control deficiencies disclosed in firms’ internal control evaluation reports. The findings suggest that indigenous religious traditions serve as an important informal institutional source of corporate reputational incentives in emerging markets.