CSR Disclosure and Investor Behavior: A Proposed Framework and Research Agenda

How market participants respond to corporate disclosure forms an important cornerstone in many areas of accounting and finance research. This article synthesizes behavioral research on how an increasingly important type of corporate disclosure, namely corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure, affects investor behavior. Structuring the extant accounting and finance literature, we derive a holistic framework that consolidates observed drivers of investors' information processing and resulting investment decision making when confronted with CSR disclosure. We identify both disclosure and individual investor characteristics that determine investor behavioral response to disclosed CSR-related information. Drawing on the proposed framework, we pinpoint knowledge gaps in the literature and provide guidelines for further research. Fundamental issues for future work include the decoupling of specific behavioral drivers through innovative measurement, the reliable identification of causal effects, and the incorporation of investors' social interactions.