Abstract: Does the construction of a social credit system have a governance effect on the decoupling of corporate social responsibility? The existing researches paid little attention to it. By making use of the pilot policy of China’s social credit system reform and the data from A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2010 to 2020, this paper examines the impact of the reform pilot of social credit system on corporate social responsibility decoupling with the dual difference method. The findings show that the pilot reform of the social credit system can significantly improve the decoupling of corporate social responsibility. Further research reveals that the pilot reform of the social credit system can enhance regional trust, improve enterprise information transparency, and suppress managers’ short-sighted behaviors, thereby improving the decoupling of corporate social responsibility. The heterogeneity analysis shows that in the enterprises with lower internal governance quality and those in the socially responsible sensitive industries, the pilot reform of the social credit system has a more significant governance effect on the decoupling of corporate social responsibility. The economic consequence analysis reveals that the pilot reform of the social credit system has improved the decoupling of corporate social responsibility, reduced corporate financial risks, and helped to enhance corporate values. Therefore, it is necessary to continue to deepen the construction of the social credit system and guide managers to focus on sustainable development of enterprises.

Key words: social credit system, social responsibility decoupling, regional trust levels, information transparency, managerial myopia