Abstract: In order to explore whether Chinese listed sports companies’ performance of social responsibility is an embodiment of shareholders value weapon or a tool used by the management for interests, the present paper conducted a systematic analysis and test on the stock price crash risk caused by sports listed companies’ social responsibility from the perspective of asymmetric risk, while with reference to China’s A-share stock market environment and institutional background. The results show that: listed sports companies’ social responsibility and stock crash risk present a significant positive relationship. Listed companies’ performance of social responsibility worsens the stock price crash risk, and listed companies are faced with the crash effect of social responsibility; further grouped regression analysis found that the crash effect of listed sports companies’ social responsibility is only faced by those companies which were forced to disclose information or failed to acquire third-party information attestation. Conclusion: the embodiment characteristics of Chinese listed sports companies’ social responsibility is tool-oriented rather than value-oriented.

Key words: listed sports companies, social responsibility, share price crash risk, tool hypothesis