Overseas Investment, Corporate Social Responsibility and Market Value: Based on the Host Country Heterogeneity Perspective

Based on the quasi-experimental method of Difference in Difference with Propensity Score Matching (PSM-DID), this paper analyzed the relationship between overseas investment, host country characteristics, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) with the sample of Chinese A-share listed companies. We find that: (1) overseas investment strategies can improve the CSR performance. (2) the effect of corporate overseas investment on CSR is more pronounced for the host country located in Asia, or with more complete legal and economic systems and closer cultural backgrounds. (3) overseas investment can reduce the negative impact of the disadvantages of outsiders on the enterprise value by better fulfilling their employees and social responsibilities, thus helping enterprises to enhance the market value. The findings suggest that overseas investment enterprises implement differentiated CSR strategies to unleash development vitality and create market value.