Political Relations and CSR-Firm Performance: Evidence from India (WITHDRAWN)

The impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on performance is gaining increasing attention and has generated an ongoing debate. We contribute to this critical topic by proposing that this relationship varies with firms’ political relations. First, we argue that in the domain of internal political relations, membership and board interlocks within a business group strengthen the relationship between CSR and performance because these connections provide valuable CSR experience from other business group affiliates. Second, in the domain of external political relations, we argue that the presence of former civil servants and government-connected members on the board facilitates access to important insights on government priorities that reinforce the impact of CSR on performance. Finally, we propose that in the domain of contextual political relations, the alignment of political parties at the national and subnational level enables companies to implement coherent CSR initiatives that increase the performance benefits of CSR.