“The Impact Of Ownership Structure On Corporate Social Responsibility: An Empirical Evidence For European Firms”

In this paper we supplement existent research on the relation between Corporate Social Performance and Corporate Financial Performance by studying the link between corporate social responsibility and ownership structure in Europe. Neither theory nor empirical studies seem to agree to what effect is more likely to emerge or under what conditions large shareholders are beneficial or not to the firm’s other stakeholders. To our knowledge there are very few empirical studies on corporate social responsibility that take into account the firm’s ownership structure and there is no empirical evidence for Europe. We examine a sample of 646 European firms during the period 2001-2003, and we frame the research question within a comprehensive typology of possible relationships between corporate social responsibility and ownership, which accommodates all of the arguments and empirical findings presented in the literature.