Disaster Relief, Inc.

Disaster Relief, Inc.

Hao Liang, Cara Vansteenkiste

Series number :

Serial Number: 
709/2020

Date posted :

November 03 2020

Last revised :

November 10 2020
SSRN Share

Keywords

  • Natural disasters • 
  • corporate philanthropy • 
  • shareholder value • 
  • strategic benefits • 
  • agency costs

We investigate the motivations and value implications of corporate philanthropy by exploiting a global sample of publicly listed firms from 45 countries that provide disaster-relief grants to affected communities.

We argue that, while in general corporate philanthropy entails agency concerns, the saliency of large, attention-grabbing natural disasters amplifies the strategic benefits of donating. We find that the returns from donating increase with disaster severity and become positive for firms that rely more on reputation and social image. Returns are also higher for countries with low government relief support, for medium-sized donations, and for in-kind donations. Overall, our results highlight the strategic role of corporate philanthropy, which can lead to net increases in firm value and societal welfare if the strategic benefits of donating are sufficiently large.

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Authors

Dr.
Real name:
Hao Liang
Research Member
Singapore Management University, Lee Kong Chian School of Business
Dr.
Real name:
Cara Vansteenkiste
UNSW Business School