Does positive CSR increase willingness to invest in a company based on performance? The incremental role of combined assurance

We examine whether the communication of combined assurance is effective in increasing favourable investment decisions towards a company with negative financial performance. We find that the communication of combined assurance, compared to when only corporate social responsibility (CSR) assurance is communicated, results in a more significant impact on investors’ decisions to invest when the company has negative performance, but this effect is less significant when the company has positive performance. When the company has positive performance, perceived reliability and willingness to invest do not change regardless of whether combined assurance is included or not.