Does corporate social responsibility reduce share price premium? Evidence from China's A- and H-shares

We examine the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on stock price premiums between firms' two share classes, A- and H-shares, in China. For Chinese companies which are listed both in Hong Kong as H-shares and at the same time in Shanghai or Shenzhen as A-shares, significant stock price premiums (AH-share premiums) are documented for A-shares. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms, we find that AH-share premium is significantly lower for firms issuing CSR reports. We also examine the relation between the quality of CSR disclosure and AH-share premium and find that higher CSR disclosure quality is associated with lower AH-share premium. Further investigation suggests that the negative relation between CSR disclosure (quality) and AH-share premium is due to the information asymmetry reduction resulting from (high-quality) CSR disclosure.