Alvina Oriekhova

This study aims to investigate whether corporate social responsibility activities are associated with more or less tax avoidance by focusing on this interrelationship in mandatory vs. voluntary regulatory regimes. The sample includes 6,668 firm-year observations of Chinese A-share firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges over 2011–2019. The study uses corporate culture and risk management theories to develop the hypotheses. Regression analysis and various robustness tests are employed to test the hypotheses. The data are retrieved from the HEXUN CSR system and CSMAR and WIND databases.
Consistent with the predictions of corporate culture theory, which argues that aggressive tax avoidance cannot be synchronously coupled with corporate social responsibility, the paper finds that notwithstanding regulatory regime, when the level of corporate social responsibility increases, the level of tax aggressiveness decreases. Thus, the results show that firms reporting corporate social responsibility tend to be less tax aggressive. Firms that engage in more corporate social responsibility activities are less likely to be tax aggressive, irrespective of regulatory regimes in place. Moreover, pollution indicators have little effect on corporate social responsibility and tax aggressiveness in Chinese institutional settings. The study contributes to the business ethics literature by implying the role of tax avoidance as a part of CSR and not as a separate non-CSR element of companies’ activities.

Acknowledgment
This paper is co-funded by the European Union through the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) within the project “Embracing EU corporate social responsibility: challenges and opportunities of business-society bonds transformation in Ukraine” – 101094100 – EECORE – ERASMUS-JMO-2022-HEI-TCH-RSCH-UA-IBA/ERASMUS-JMO-2022-HEI-TCHRSCH https://eecore.snau.edu.ua/

The paper delves into the relationship between accounting conservatism, valued by financial stakeholders, and corporate social performance (CSP), esteemed by non-financial stakeholders. This study assesses the potential impact of financial reporting practices, specifically accounting conservatism, on a firm’s CSP activities, which has significant implications for diverse stakeholders. Employing an accrual-based proxy for accounting conservatism and the social contribution value per share from the Shanghai Stock Exchange as a proxy for CSP, the study utilizes a sample of 25,490 year-company observations of A-share listed companies on China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges spanning from 2008 to 2019. Empirical findings indicate a negative correlation between accounting conservatism and CSP. The study suggests that higher levels of social performance are associated with reduced conservatism in financial reporting, indicating that firms prioritize CSP over the interests of financial stakeholders by adopting less conservative financial reporting policies. Aligned with agency theory, these results underscore that socially responsible firms are less inclined to employ accounting conservatism in reporting earnings. This study establishes a connection between firms’ unconventional and less traditional activities, such as CSP, and conservative financial reporting, offering valuable insights for investors, analysts, and regulators.

Acknowledgment
This paper is co-funded by the European Union through the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) within the project “Embracing EU corporate social responsibility: challenges and opportunities of business-society bonds transformation in Ukraine” – 101094100 – EECORE – ERASMUS-JMO-2022-HEI-TCH-RSCH-UA-IBA / ERASMUS-JMO-2022-HEI-TCHRSCH https://eecore.snau.edu.ua/

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Global progress toward universal access to affordable, reliable, and clean energy has stalled, with over two billion people still lacking access to clean cooking, and affordability pressures are rising. AI is emerging as an energy-intensive technology and a potential enabler of more equitable energy systems. This paper assesses whether AI vibrancy contributes to advancing energy equity across countries while accounting for differences in economic capacity. The study employs a balanced panel of 36 countries from 2017 to 2023 (252 observations), drawing on the Global AI Vibrancy Tool, World Bank Open Data, and the World Energy Council’s Energy Trilemma Index. Box–Cox transformations were applied to address skewness, and panel econometric models (fixed and random effects) with robust standard errors were estimated. The FE model shows no significant within-country effect of AI vibrancy on energy equity (R² = 0.012). The RE model indicates a positive association: a one-unit increase in the AI vibrancy score results in an improvement of 0.00165 in the energy equity index (p < 0.01). At the same time, GDP per capita exerts a strong and highly significant effect (p < 0.001). The RE model explains 12.4% of the overall variation in energy equity. After correcting for heteroscedasticity and cross-sectional dependence, GDP per capita remains significant, whereas the effect of AI vibrancy weakens to marginal significance (p ≈ 0.09). Country-specific effects further reveal systematic over- and under-performance beyond what AI vibrancy and income predict, underscoring the critical role of governance and institutional quality in shaping energy equity outcomes.

Acknowledgment
The article was prepared as a part of the MSCA4Ukraine project 06030419, European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, the European Research Executive Agency, or the MSCA4Ukraine Consortium. Neither the European Union nor the European Research Executive Agency, nor the MSCA4Ukraine Consortium as a whole, nor any individual member institutions of the MSCA4Ukraine Consortium can be held responsible for them.