Does corporate social responsibility improve value-added intellectual capital efficiency in food and agribusiness firms in India?

This study empirically investigates the implications of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the value-added intellectual capital efficiency of food and agribusiness firms in India. This study uses the firm-level data collected from the Prowess database of the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy for 362 food and agribusiness companies in 2019. The study contributes to the theoretical and managerial practices by assessing the causal relationship between the value-added intellectual capital (VAIC) and CSR for food and agribusiness firms in an emerging economy, i.e., India. The results suggest a significant mean difference in the key characteristics of firms with and without CSR expenditure. Further, there is a significant relationship between CSR and Value-Added Intellectual Capital Efficiency in the Indian food and agribusiness firms. Finally, the regression analysis indicates that CSR expenditure has a positive and significant implication on value-added intellectual capital (beta = 0.119, p < 0.01), including all the dimensions of firm's capital efficiency except structural capital; i.e., capital employed (beta = 0.095, p < 0.01), human capital (beta = 0.145, p < 0.01) and intellectual capital (beta = 0.124, p < 0.01). However, CSR does not seem to have significant implications on structural capital standalone (beta = 0.044, p > 0.10), implying that the structural capital efficiency of the firms does not get affected by CSR expenditure. The findings of the study provide a good reason for implementing mandatory CSR, which goes beyond the performance of firms, as there is a positive and significant impact of CSR on the Value-Added Intellectual Capital of the firms. This paper contributes to the existing literature by providing extended understanding on the relationship between CSR and VAIC among food and agribusiness firms.