Social capital during the coronavirus pandemic: the value of corporate benevolence

In this paper, we explore market reaction to announcements of corporate donations associated with the COVID-19 crisis. Companies larger firm size, higher leverage, institutional ownership, and ESG rankings are more likely donate COVID relief. We observe statistically significant positive abnormal returns over event window, driven by a subsample community relief funds. Our results support notion strategic, reputational premium for participating firms. Consistent signalling theory, find firms without scores show share price responses benevolence announcements. This finding suggests is less anticipate acts from missing scores. findings suggest that positively reacts philanthropy news during The strongest stock related those or favourable