Does CSR Improve Corporate Performance?Based on the Empirical Analysis of Chinese A-share Listed Companies

Taking 1397 A-share listed companies in China from 2011 to 2019 as a research sample, this paper takes consumers’ preference and government subsidies as the intermediary variables to study the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on corporate performance.The conclusions are as follows: CSR can positively promote corporate performance, but there is a threshold for this fulfillment, and continuing to fulfill CSR after exceeding the threshold will lead to a decline in performance, that is, the relationship between CSR and corporate performance is “inverted U”; CSR can help to obtain consumers’ preference and government subsidies, thereby improving corporate performance. The threshold in the eastern region is larger than that in the central and western regions, and there is an “inverted U” relationship between CSR and corporate performance; The thresholds for state-owned enterprises and private enterprises to fulfill their CSR are 0.4677 and 0.4535.Therefore, enterprises should realistically fulfill their CSR, which will help to better enhance the competitiveness of enterprises.