Investigating the direct and indirect effects of rent and tax revenues on corporate social responsibility regarding the mediating role of democracy: Relying on the resource curse hypothesis

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of accounting, Faculty of economic and administrative sciences, Mazandaran university

2 Department of Accounting, Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences, Mazandaran University, Babolsar, Iran

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility is one of the concepts that can be affected by intra-corporate factors and macro-political and economic parameters. Therefore, in this study, we examine the direct and indirect effects of natural resources rents and tax revenues on the corporate social responsibility through the mediating role of democracy. In fact, this study seeks to expand the resource curse hypothesis and examine its negative effects on corporate social responsibility. The research hypotheses are examined using data from 183 countries, during the period 2015 to 2023, and the models are estimated using the Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) and PCSE methods. To examine the mediating role of democracy, the Baron and Kenny model (1986) and the Sobel test are used, and to determine the type of mediation, the variance accounted for (VAF) is used. The results of FGLS method show a negative and significant effect of natural resources rents and a positive and significant effect of tax revenues on corporate social responsibility and the mediating role of democracy in both relationships. Furthermore, the results of estimating the models using the PCSE method are quite similar to the results of the FGLS method, except the effect of tax revenues on corporate social responsibility is not significant.Therefore, it can be concluded that natural resources rents, by weakening the accountability environment, both at the micro and macro levels, leads to a negative effect on corporate social responsibility, and in contrast, tax revenues act as a lever towards accountability and strengthens the democratic environment at both levels, ultimately leading to strengthening corporate social responsibility.

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References

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Journal of Accounting Advances
Volume 18, Issue 1
September 2026
Pages 255-284

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History

  • Receive Date: 31 January 2026
  • Revise Date: 05 June 2026
  • Accept Date: 22 June 2026

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