Résumés
Abstract
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is part of the larger debate on whether firms engage in CSR to promote social interests or strictly to achieve legitimacy and thus are implicitly involved in some form of greenwashing. This paper investigates the effect of CSR on tax avoidance. Based on a sample of French listed companies, the results show that firms engaging in CSR adopt tax avoidance practices. The results also show that the disciplinary roles of debt and corporate governance mitigate this positive effect. Additional evidence shows that family-owned firms overinvesting in CSR are unlikely to engage in tax avoidance for socioeconomic wealth purposes. The results are robust to alternative measures of tax avoidance and endogeneity concerns.
Keywords:
- CSR,
- tax avoidance,
- corporate governance,
- leverage,
- family ownership,
- risk management
Résumé
La responsabilité sociale des entreprises (RSE) fait partie du débat plus large sur la question de savoir si les entreprises s’engagent dans la RSE pour promouvoir des intérêts sociaux ou strictement pour atteindre la légitimité et sont donc implicitement impliquées dans une forme de « greenwashing ». En se basant sur un échantillon des entreprises françaises cotées, les résultats montrent que les entreprises engagées dans la RSE adoptent des pratiques d’évasion fiscale. Les résultats montrent également que les rôles disciplinaires de la dette et de la gouvernance d’entreprise atténuent cet effet positif. Des preuves supplémentaires montrent que les entreprises familiales qui investissent trop dans la RSE sont peu susceptibles de s’engager dans l’évasion fiscale à des fins de richesse socio-économique.
Mots-clés :
- RSE,
- évasion fiscale,
- gouvernance d’entreprise,
- effet de levier,
- actionnariat familial,
- gestion des risques
Resumen
La responsabilidad social de las empresas (RSE) es parte del debate más amplio sobre si las empresas se involucran en la RSE para promover intereses sociales o estrictamente para lograr la egitimidad y, por lo tanto, están implícitamente involucradas en alguna forma de “greenwashing”. Basados en una muestra de empresas francesas que cotizaron en bolsa, los resultados muestran que aquellas que se dedican a la RSE adoptan prácticas de evasión fiscal. Los resultados también muestran que el rol disciplinario de la deuda y la gobernanza corporativa mitigan este efecto positivo. Evidencia adicional muestra que es poco probable que las empresas familiares que invierten en exceso en RSC se involucren en la elusión fiscal con fines de riqueza socioeconómica.
Palabras clave:
- RSC,
- evasión fiscal,
- governanza corporativo,
- apalancamiento,
- propiedad familiar,
- gestión de riesgos
Parties annexes
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