Corporate life cycle, organizational financial resources and corporate social responsibility

This study examines the association between the corporate life cycle and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Motivated by the resource-based theory, we hypothesize and find supportive evidence that the resource base and competitive advantages allow mature firms to invest more in CSR-related activities than firms at other stages of the corporate life cycle. We further examine the role of financial resources in explaining the relation between the corporate life cycle and CSR. Our results show that size, profitability and slack resources moderate the association between the corporate life cycle and CSR. These findings are robust when subjected to a series of sensitivity tests.