Abstract:
We investigate the relationship between the corporate social responsibility practices of local domestic firms and their engagement with foreign markets using four waves of panel data on a sample of more than 4,500 manufacturing firms from Viet Nam. We develop a measure of corporate social responsibility that combines compliance with labour standards, management commitment to corporate social responsibility, and community activities. We find a strong relationship between engagement in international markets and the corporate social responsibility activities of firms, with the exception of trade with China. Results suggest that firms in export-intensive sectors engage in more corporate social responsibility activities, while those in sectors with higher levels of imports engage in less.