THE NEXUS BETWEEN CSR AND FINANCIAL ACCESSABILITY: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PAKISTAN & INDIA

Abstract

CSR emerged as a safeguard against financial scandals which contributes in financial accessibility and recently, the CSR practices have fascinated the shareholders and stakeholders across the world in this regard. This study aimed to determine relationship of CSR activities with financial accessibility for public listed firms in Pakistan and India by using the panel data of Pakistani and Indian non-financial firms over the period of 2016 to 2020. The findings depict that the CSR activities significantly and positively affects financial accessibility of organizations in both economies. This study reveals that the businesses with more CSR activities encounter comparatively fewer capital constraints and has improved financial accessibility. This research emphasizes the significant role of capital markets in evaluating the value creation capacity for the firms with better CSR policies. The stakeholders and legitimacy theories support this study as they motivate the businesses for improved CSR activities.