{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T01:18:33Z","timestamp":1760059113620,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,23]],"date-time":"2025-05-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1747958400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Systems"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Multinational corporations (MNCs) face significant reputational and performance risks from product recalls, yet the severity of these consequences varies across national markets. While prior research suggests that corporate social responsibility (CSR) can buffer against such crises, limited attention has been paid to how country-level institutions shape this effect. This study examines whether\u2014and under what institutional conditions\u2014CSR reputation mitigates the negative market consequences of product recalls. We focus on how the insurance-like effect of CSR varies with the level of corruption in a country\u2019s institutional environment. Using panel regression analysis and hand-collected data from 14 global automotive manufacturers across eight countries (2007\u20132015), we find that firms with stronger CSR reputations experience significantly smaller declines in market share after recall announcements. Furthermore, this buffering effect is amplified in countries with higher corruption levels, suggesting that when formal institutional trust is weak, CSR signals play a greater role in stakeholder perceptions. These findings advance CSR literature by showing that its reputational benefits are contingent on institutional context and contribute to international business scholarship by revealing how national-level corruption interacts with firm-level reputational assets during crises.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/systems13060402","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,23]],"date-time":"2025-05-23T06:16:03Z","timestamp":1747980963000},"page":"402","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Buffering Effect of CSR Reputation During Product Recalls: Evidence from Global Automakers Across Institutional Contexts"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Yutong","family":"Liu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Business Administration, Hongik University, Seoul 04066, Republic of Korea"}]},{"given":"Eunjung","family":"Hyun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Business Administration, Hongik University, Seoul 04066, Republic of Korea"}]},{"given":"Yongjun","family":"Choi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Business Administration, Hongik University, Seoul 04066, Republic of Korea"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"100296","article-title":"Corporate fraud and firm value: Evidence from Volkswagen\u2019s diesel emissions scandal","volume":"26","author":"Boston","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. 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