Threshold effect of government subsidy, corporate social responsibility and brand value using the data of China's top 500 most valuable brands

PLoS One. 2021 May 25;16(5):e0251927. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251927. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

An increasing number of firms have begun to attach importance to corporate social responsibility (CSR) to obtain sustainable strategic advantages in the competitive market. On the basis of nonlinear perspective, panel data of A-share listed companies in the ranking list of China's Top 500 Most Valuable Brands in 2012-2018 and Hansen panel threshold regression technology were adopted. With government subsidy and CSR being threshold variables, the internal mechanism about the influence of government subsidy and CSR on brand value was explored. Results show that the following. (1) CSR has a significantly inverted U-type threshold effect on brand value. (2) Government subsidy facilitates CSR with diminishing marginal utility. (3) When a difference exists in the strength of government subsidy, the influence of CSR on brand value presents a significant N-type law. Furthermore, threshold regression method was used to innovatively explore the complex nonlinear relationship among government subsidy, CSR, and brand value. This relationship has a significantly practical significance for listed firms for weighing the business decisions regarding the input of CSR and brand value, as well as subsidy policies for enterprises by the government.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Banking, Personal / economics
  • China
  • Financial Management
  • Financing, Government / economics*
  • Humans
  • Marketing / economics*
  • Organizations / economics*
  • Policy
  • Public Policy / economics
  • Regression Analysis
  • Social Responsibility*
  • Statistical Distributions

Grants and funding

This work was support by The National Social Science Fund of China Project "Research on online and offline multi-channel integrated services of new retail enterprises" (19BGL104) to YQ.