This study investigates the effectiveness of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) board committee. Using a sample of Chinese firms, we find a positive effect of establishing a CSR committee on firms’ overall CSR performance. This positive effect is mainly driven by hiring committee members with CSR-related expertise, devoting more effort to CSR-related matters, and actively addressing CSR issues, and is more pronounced for firms facing greater media coverage or stricter scrutiny. Further, the CSR committee also positively affects a firm’s sales and Tobin’s Q. Overall, the paper provides new insights into the effectiveness of a CSR committee.
Chen et al. (Thu,) studied this question.