What colour is your performance?

Sammanfattning: This paper explores the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firm performance. The findings are based on the analysis of 126 firms from the Nordic region over the period of 2010-2014. We do not find conclusive empirical evidence on the relationship between CSR and financial performance measured at the same year based on the correlation analysis. When performing regression analysis and lagging social performance measure, we overall find mixed proof of CSR and financial performance relationship, when measuring the latter with accounting- and market-based measures. We provide evidence that CSR performance and financial performance have a negative interrelation of negligible magnitude, with the effect mostly coming from environmental and corporate governance domains. Additional analysis reveals a non-linear relationship between ownership by institutional investors and financial performance. We come to the conclusion that financial performance and employer inclusion in the Employer Attractiveness Ranking are positively interrelated. Contrary to our conjecture, we find no conclusive evidence on CSR affecting inclusion in the ranking.