Abstract: It has been attached more importance whether Chinese overseas investment companies can use their dual institutional environment and social code of conduct in their home countries and host countries to regulate their behavior and improve their social responsibilities. Adopting data of Chinese listed companies from 2010 to 2016, this paper investigates how overseas investment affects corporate social responsibility (CSR) from a heterogeneity perspective by employing methods of propensity score matching (PSM) and difference-in-difference (DID). The empirical results show that overseas investment significantly improves the level of CSR, and the heterogeneity of host country affects the effect of overseas investment on CSR; the positive effect of overseas investment on CSR can be enhanced when the host country possesses similar culture with China and when the level of economic development is higher, but when the host country is an emerging market economy, this effect is relatively low; attributes and regional differences of corporate also influence the positive effect of overseas investment on CSR: the effect of overseas investment on CSR is higher among the firms located in the eastern region than that in the central or western regions; compared to non-state-owned enterprises, overseas investment plays a greater role on CSR in state-owned enterprises. Therefore, the targeted guidance of different types of enterprises for different types of overseas investment is an important way to enhance the level of CSR.

Key words: overseas investment, corporate social responsibility, Propensity Score Matching, Difference-In-Difference