Corporate Social Responsibility and Employee Safety: Evidence from Korea

Employees are an integral part of a company's sustainable growth and they expect a safe working environment. Therefore, analyzing the factors that affect employee safety is important. In this context, we analyze the effect of corporate social responsibility investment on employee safety. Using Korean listed company data from 2012 to 2014, we regress corporate social responsibility scores on workplace injuries. The Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression results show that higher corporate social responsibility scores are associated with fewer working days lost owing to workplace injuries. Moreover, while workplace injuries have a clear negative effect on firm value, corporate social responsibility activity significantly reduces this negative effect. Our findings imply that investment in corporate social responsibility can improve workplace safety and contribute to a company's sustainable growth.