Analyst forecast quality and corporate social responsibility: The mediation effect of corporate governance

Purpose – We examine the mediating role played by corporate governance (CG) in the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and analyst forecast quality.
Design/methodology/approach – We raise three specific questions: (1) Does CG play a mediating role in the relationship between CSR and analyst forecast quality? (2) If so, is such mediation effect of CG reduced for firms with weak governance? (3) Do firms with superior CSR performance experience higher analyst forecast quality through the mediation effect of CG?
Findings – Our results suggest that CG serves as a partial mediator that facilitates CSR’s positive influence on analyst forecast quality. However, further analyses show that in firms with a low governance score, CG does not have a mediation effect. Conversely, we find that firms with superior CSR performance have higher forecast quality through the mediation effect of CG. We also find that the mediation effect of CG is more pronounced for the environmental component than for the social component of CSR.
Originality – To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the role of CG as a mediator between CSR and analyst forecast quality and to reveal that the strength of this effect varies depending on firms’ CG level and CSR commitment.