Digital Finance and Corporate Social Responsibility: Empirical Evidence from Listed Companies in China

Digital finance is of great significance in promoting corporate social responsibility. This paper empirically investigates the relationship between digital finance and corporate social responsibility based on the Digital Inclusive Finance Index compiled by Peking University. It is found that the development of digital finance has a significant driving effect on the fulfilment of CSR, and this conclusion still holds after endogeneity treatment. The paper further explores its mechanism of action and finds that digital finance promotes CSR mainly by relaxing corporate financing constraints and enhancing corporate investment efficiency. In addition, the paper also finds that there is heterogeneity in the impact of digital finance on CSR, with more significant effects on encouraging CSR in provinces with a relatively low degree of marketisation and among non-state-owned enterprises.