Sustainable Dividend Policies and CSR Disclosure: How Strategic Investors Influence Wealth Distribution
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In: Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 2025.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Sustainable Dividend Policies and CSR Disclosure
T2 - How Strategic Investors Influence Wealth Distribution
AU - Heinzel, Niklas
AU - Lueg, Rainer
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s). Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management published by ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - This study investigates how strategic investors influence the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure and dividend policy in US firms. Drawing on agency and stakeholder theory, we conceptualize dividends not merely as financial signals but as instruments of stakeholder-oriented wealth distribution. Using panel data from S&P 500 firms (2007–2021) and a fixed effects regression approach, we test whether CSR disclosure affects both the likelihood and the magnitude of dividend payments, and how this relationship is moderated by the presence of strategic ownership (e.g., pension funds, governments, and employee stock plans). We find that CSR disclosure increases both dividend propensity and dividend yield. Strategic investors positively moderate the initiation of dividends but negatively moderate dividend size—suggesting a tension between signaling accountability and preserving long-term capital. These findings enhance our understanding of sustainable governance and offer implications for CSR reporting, ownership design, and financial policy.
AB - This study investigates how strategic investors influence the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure and dividend policy in US firms. Drawing on agency and stakeholder theory, we conceptualize dividends not merely as financial signals but as instruments of stakeholder-oriented wealth distribution. Using panel data from S&P 500 firms (2007–2021) and a fixed effects regression approach, we test whether CSR disclosure affects both the likelihood and the magnitude of dividend payments, and how this relationship is moderated by the presence of strategic ownership (e.g., pension funds, governments, and employee stock plans). We find that CSR disclosure increases both dividend propensity and dividend yield. Strategic investors positively moderate the initiation of dividends but negatively moderate dividend size—suggesting a tension between signaling accountability and preserving long-term capital. These findings enhance our understanding of sustainable governance and offer implications for CSR reporting, ownership design, and financial policy.
KW - CSR disclosure
KW - dividend policy
KW - institutional investors
KW - stakeholder governance
KW - strategic ownership
KW - sustainable finance
KW - Management studies
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105018191796&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/csr.70197
DO - 10.1002/csr.70197
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:105018191796
JO - Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management
JF - Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management
SN - 1535-3958
ER -