Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Tax Avoidance: Evidence from Tunisian Context
This study investigates the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and tax avoidance among publicly listed banks in a developing economy, using evidence from Tunisia. The analysis is based on a sample of nine banks listed on the Tunis Stock Exchange (BVMT) over the period 2012–2018, drawing on data from annual reports and publicly available disclosures. Employing quantitative analysis, the results indicate that banks with lower engagement in economic and environmental responsibility are more likely to engage in tax avoidance practices. In contrast, stronger involvement in social responsibility initiatives is associated with a significantly lower propensity for tax avoidance. These findings suggest that the nature and scope of CSR activities play an important role in shaping banks’ tax-related behaviour and contribute to the broader literature on corporate governance, CSR, and fiscal compliance in emerging markets.
© The Author(s) 2025. Published by RITHA Publishing. This article is distributed under the terms of the license CC-BY 4.0., which permits any further distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited maintaining attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and URL DOI.
Article’s history: Received 25th of October, 2025; Revised 30th of November, 2025; Accepted for publication 15th of December, 2025; Available online: 30th of December, 2025. Published as research article in Volume I, Issue 2(2), 2025.
Salah, A. (2025). Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Tax Avoidance: Evidence from Tunisian Context. Applied Journal of Economics, Law and Governance, Volume I, Issue 2(2), 187-204. https://doi.org/10.57017/ajelg.v1.i2(2).05
Credit Authorship Contribution Statement: Salah, A. is the sole author of this article and was responsible for the study’s conceptualisation, data collection, empirical analysis, interpretation of results, and the writing and final approval of the manuscript.
Conflict of Interest Statement: The author declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Acknowledgment/Funding: N/A
Data Availability Statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Ethical Approval Statement: This study is based exclusively on secondary data obtained from publicly available annual reports and corporate disclosures. It did not involve human participants, personal or sensitive data, animals, or any experimental intervention; therefore, ethical approval was not required.
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