Research on the Business Performance Transmission Mechanism of Corporate Social Responsibility from the Perspective of Social Trust

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-758-3_12How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Corporate Social responsibility; Business performance; Social trust; Technological innovation; Moderating effects; Inverted U-shaped relationship; Mediating effect

Abstract

In the context of the deep integration of the digital economy and the concept of sustainable development, corporate social responsibility has evolved from a moral initiative to a core strategic issue, and its intrinsic connection with business performance has become the focus of attention in the academic and practical fields. Social trust, as a core component of informal institutions, profoundly influences the value conversion efficiency of corporate social responsibility behavior, while technological innovation, as the core driving force for enterprise development, acts as a key transmission carrier in the process of corporate social responsibility affecting business performance. This paper takes A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2013 to 2022 as the research sample. After eliminating abnormal samples, 22,156 valid observations were obtained. A regression model was constructed using Stata17.0 software to systematically analyze the influence law of corporate social responsibility on business performance, explore the moderating effect of social trust, and test the mediating transmission mechanism of technological innovation. To address potential endogeneity issues, instrumental variable (IV) regression, system generalized method of moments (system GMM) and difference-in-differences (DID) methods are adopted, and relevant identification tests such as weak instrument and overidentification are conducted; for measurement robustness, alternative indicators of core variables (CSR, technological innovation, social trust) are used for re-testing; heterogeneity analysis is expanded to industry types, firm size, enterprise lifecycle and R&D intensity subgroups; economic significance is quantified by calculating the changes of business performance at different CSR investment levels and estimating the confidence interval of the inflection point; the technological innovation transmission mechanism is further decomposed into financing constraints, human capital and absorptive capacity channels, and nonlinear mediation tests and sensitivity checks are implemented. The study found that there is a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between corporate social responsibility and business performance. Moderate fulfillment of social responsibility can maximize business returns, while excessive investment can cause resource misallocation and thereby inhibit performance improvement; Technological innovation plays a significant partial mediating role in the inverted U-shaped relationship, that is, corporate social responsibility affects business performance by influencing the level of technological innovation; Social trust reinforces the inverted U-shaped relationship, and in regions with high trust, both the promoting effect of social responsibility on business performance and the inhibitory effect of excessive investment are more pronounced, and social trust also positively moderates the mediating transmission path of technological innovation. The research conclusions of this paper provide theoretical support and practical reference for enterprises to optimize their social responsibility investment strategies, improve technological innovation efficiency, and formulate development plans in combination with the regional trust environment, while enriching the research system of the value effect of corporate social responsibility from the perspective of informal institutions and technological innovation.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Yuanyuan Wang
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/08
TI  - Research on the Business Performance Transmission Mechanism of Corporate Social Responsibility from the Perspective of Social Trust
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 7th International Conference on Management Science and Engineering Management (ICMSEM 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 112
EP  - 134
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-758-3_12
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-758-3_12
ID  - Wang2026
ER  -