What's in the Words? Development and Validation of a Multidimensional Dictionary for CSR and Application Using Prospectuses

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and initial public offerings (IPOs) are important aspects of research across multiple academic disciplines, primarily accounting, finance, and management. This research paper seeks to link streams of research through the development of a content analytic dictionary using computer-aided text analysis (CATA). The dictionary, validated in the context of U.S. IPOs between 2011 and 2013, revealed four dimensions of corporate social responsibility. Each of these dimensions is used to predict IPO size in terms of offering price and total shares offered, as well as underpricing on the first day of trade. This research provides a new measure of CSR that can be generalized to other text documents issued by a corporation. Researchers may find this tool useful as we continue to advance our understanding of the explicit and implicit meanings embodied in the CSR disclosures made by corporations.