Altendorfer, AndreasAndreasAltendorfer0000-0002-0464-6648Eierle, BrigitteBrigitteEierle0000-0003-0779-2218Küster, StephanStephanKüster2025-03-202025-03-2020260001-30721467-6281https://fis.uni-bamberg.de/handle/uniba/107068This study examines how firms’ adoption of corporate social responsibility frameworks (CSRFs) that follow different user orientation approaches affects information asymmetry in capital markets. We draw on novel hand-collected adoption data from seven established CSRFs for a sample of STOXX Europe 600 firms from 2017–2020. Our findings reveal that CSRFs that primarily target investors are associated with lower information asymmetry, whereas those that target a broad group of stakeholders are not. In particular, we find that capital markets place importance on firms’ common reporting practice of adopting multiple investor-oriented CSRFs simultaneously. Our analysis finds that the climate-change-focused CSRFs are the primary forces behind reducing information asymmetry. Our results have important implications for the current standard-setting initiatives of the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group and the International Sustainability Standards Board as well as for firms adopting CSRFs.engCSR frameworksCSR reportingCSR standardsInformation asymmetryMaterialityStandard-settingarticle10.1111/abac.12365