Abstract: Fulfilling corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a core task of corporate management, so it is very important to construct a CSR-promoting mechanism. Based on the data of A share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges from 2010 to 2020, this paper tests whether directors' and officers' (D&O) liability insurance is a promoting mechanism for management to fulfill their CSR. The findings are as follows. Firstly, D&O liability insurance can enhance the enthusiasm of the management in fulfilling CSR and the enhancing effect is especially significant for the companies that operate in a poor legal environment. Secondly, the enhancement is achieved mainly because the insurance makes management more optimistic. Further test shows that the CSR-promoting effect of D&O liability insurance is mainly reflected at the levels of employee, supply chain and environmental liability. And the promoting effect is more significant in state-owned enterprises and large-scale companies. This paper provides a new perspective for CSR-promoting mechanism, and also provides a new way for the capital market to fully understand the function of D&O liability insurance and further promote the high-quality development of listed companies through the insurance.

Key words: D&O liability insurance, corporation social responsibility, management optimism, text analysis, regional legal environment