Executive compensation, internal control quality, and corporate social responsibility in China

Abstract We explore the relations among executive compensation, internal control quality (ICQ), and corporate social responsibility (CSR), focusing on improving the CSR outcomes of listed firms in China. Our findings are fourfold. First, we document that executive compensation and ICQ have a significant positive impact on CSR. Second, we find that executive compensation positively affects ICQ; hence, we identify ICQ as a channel that can further improve the impact of executive compensation on CSR. Third, we discover that the documented effects are stronger in state‐owned firms than in non‐state‐owned firms. Fourth, we observe that regulatory changes have both positive and negative impacts on CSR. Our findings are less vulnerable to endogeneity and have key implications for policy makers.