Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is widely presumed to pay. The evidence, however, remains uneven, and much of it is silent on how and when responsible conduct is converted into financial outcomes. This study examines two organisational mechanisms and one boundary condition in that conversion process. Drawing on stakeholder theory and the dynamic capability perspective, it models customer satisfaction (CS) and dynamic capability (DC) as sequential mediators of the association between CSR and firm financial performance (FFP), and managerial support (MS) as a moderator of the direct CSR–FFP path. The setting is the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), an emerging capital market in which CSR reporting is largely voluntary and institutional arrangements are still consolidating. Data were obtained from 126 senior and middle managers of listed firms through a self-administered questionnaire and analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). CSR is positively and significantly associated with FFP (β = 0.361, p < 0.01). The sequential indirect path through CS and DC is positive and significant (β = 0.798, p < 0.01), and the direct path remains significant, indicating partial mediation. MS positively moderates the CSR–FFP association (β = 0.102, p < 0.05). The findings support a mechanism-and-boundary reading of the CSR–performance relationship: CSR appears to be associated with financial performance not as an automatic entitlement but through stakeholder responses and organisational capability, and the strength of the direct association varies with the level of managerial support. Because the design is cross-sectional and performance is measured perceptually, the results should be read as evidence of association rather than of causation, and as evidence about Ghanaian listed firms rather than about emerging markets in general.

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