Disclosed corporate misconduct: Do companies change for the better? : Exploring the effects of legal penalties and reputational damage on subsequent changes in CSR performance

Abstract: Corporate social responsibility has attracted broad attention of scholars and practitioners over the past decades. However, organizations are at the same time frequently exposed for acts of corporate misconduct, accompanied by media coverage, public disapproval and financial penalties. This master thesis attempts to connect these two concepts by explaining changes in corporate social responsibility as a consequence of preceding irresponsibility. Based on a sample of misconduct events that were disclosed and penalized in the United States between 2010 and 2017, this work focusses on two factors that are argued to stimulate higher CSR performance. First, it is reasoned that the height of imposed financial penalties from governmental agencies leads to more responsible practices, as their unmediated effect sensitizes managers to increase measures against transgressive behavior, which aims to prevent reoccurrence and further penalties in the future. Second, the misconduct causes damage to stakeholders and thereby impairs the overall corporate reputation. Since firms are dependent on stakeholder goodwill, they will consequently increase their CSR performance to repair the reputational losses. Results from empirical data analyses confirm the positive effect of reputational damage, but give no support to the hypothesized impact of legal penalties on CSR enhancement. When assessing the effect of both factors on the subsequent behavior of the respective parent organizations, mixed and non-significant results indicate that there is no negative legitimacy spillover within the intrafirm network. The findings provide valuable implications for managers and promising directions for future research.