Does corporate social responsibility gap hinder corporate innovation?

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) gap refers to companies prioritizing external CSR practices over internal ones, yet its impact on corporate innovation remains unexplored. Using the data of Chinese listed companies from 2010 to 2021, we investigate the impact of CSR gap on corporate innovation. The results reveal that the CSR gap has a dampening effect on corporate innovation. Specifically, the larger the CSR gap, the lower the firm's patent output. We also find that CSR disclosure and regional economic development strengthen the negative effect, while employee stock ownership plan weakens the effect. The heterogeneity test shows that the inhibitory effect of the CSR gap is stronger in high-tech and larger firms. This study deepens the understanding of the relationship between CSR and innovation, and provides useful insights into how enterprises can fulfill their CSR to gain advantages.