Moderated mediation effects of corporate social responsibility performance on tax avoidance: evidence from China

Using data of publicly listed Chinese companies practicing corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities between 2009 and 2016, this study empirically examines whether CSR performance has a conditional indirect effect (or moderated mediation effect) on the level of corporate tax avoidance. We find that corporate profitability serves as a full mediator in the association between CSR performance and corporate tax avoidance. CSR performance reduces corporate profitability, and corporate profitability in turn increases the level of corporate tax avoidance. In other words, CSR performance first reduces corporate profitability, and therefore results in lower corporate tax avoidance. Moreover, CSR performance does not significantly moderate the effect of corporate profitability on corporate tax avoidance. Therefore, our results suggest that CSR performance has an indirect, but not a conditional, effect on the level of corporate tax avoidance.