Corporate social responsibility, media freedom, and firm value

We examine whether the media freedom level of a country plays a mediating role in the interaction between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and B2C industries or between CSR and advertising intensity, and influences firm value. Using the 19,130 firm-year data covering 40 countries over the 2002-2014 period, we find the interaction terms are positively associated with financial performance in countries with full media freedom, while being negatively or insignificantly associated in countries with partial or no media freedom. These empirical findings indicate that CSR activities enhance the value of firms located only in countries where media freedom is fully guaranteed.