Does intellectual capital efficiency explain corporate social responsibility engagement-firm performance relationship? Evidence from environmental, social and governance performance of US listed firms

This paper examines the effect of corporate social responsibility on firm performance by accounting for the role of Intellectual capital efficiency as a mechanism underlying Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)– firm performance association. In this study, we consider 2132 US companies and develop a structural model for CSR, Intellectual Capital (IC), and firm performance while contemplating endogeneity issues in analyses over the period of 2009–2018. The value-added intellectual capital co-efficient is employed as a proxy measure for IC performance, taking into consideration corporate performance and governance measures. The findings suggest that CSR has a significant effect on firm performance. In particular, the findings reveal that CSR has a link with IC, indirectly affecting a firm performance, and the association between CSR and firm performance is partially mediated by Intellectual capital efficiency.