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Amélie Charles, Rey Dang and Etienne Redor
Numerous empirical studies have been conducted to analyze the impact of board gender diversity (BGD) on firm performance without being able to establish a clear relationship. In…
Abstract
Numerous empirical studies have been conducted to analyze the impact of board gender diversity (BGD) on firm performance without being able to establish a clear relationship. In this paper, we reassess the relationship between BGD and firm performance by using a quantile regression approach. Our results indicate that BGD matters only across a subset of the firm performance distribution. Moreover, when the possible endogeneity of the relationship between BGD and firm performance is taken into account, there are some conditions under which a positive and significant relationship is observed for the eight lowest quantiles.
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Holly Chiu, Dov Fischer and Hershey Friedman
Board diversity has been an important topic in corporate governance. Extant literature examines the overall diversity in the boardroom and its impact. However, since important…
Abstract
Purpose
Board diversity has been an important topic in corporate governance. Extant literature examines the overall diversity in the boardroom and its impact. However, since important decisions are usually taken by the committees, it is important to also examine diversity in committees. We use the Coca-Cola Company as the case study and examine its diversity in both audit and finance committees. Our goal is to raise the awareness of researchers, board nominating committees, and diverse directors themselves, as to whether diverse directors are placed in the right positions to allow them to contribute their diverse views and experiences.
Methodology/Approach
We conducted a case study of the Coca-Cola Company using its proxy statement in both 2016 and 2018.
Findings
While Coca-Cola’s self-reported board diversity stood at 27% in 2016, and increased to 31% by 2018, the critical audit and finance committees showed a distinct lack of diversity. Focusing on gender diversity for the purposes of this chapter, we investigated two possibilities: (1) that the lack of committee diversity is due to the lack of finance and leadership skills of those board members who were from underrepresented groups, but this possibility does not seem likely, (2) that the presence of a female CFO removed the urgency to place board members from underrepresented groups on the audit and finance committees.
Value
We provide a cautionary perspective on the implementation of diversity policies at the highest levels of an organization. The pursuit of diversity, like other admirable corporate goals, can degenerate into a check-the-box mentality. When this happens, diversity can become viewed as a substitute for real competency rather than a complement to existing competencies.
Practical Implications
It is suggested that boards revise the recruiting and selecting process to include more female candidates, and be sensitive how and where those diverse directors can best contribute their perspectives and experiences.
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Navaz Naghavi, Saeed Pahlevan Sharif and Hafezali Bin Iqbal Hussain
This study seeks to add more insights to the debate on “whether”, “how”, and “under which condition” women representation on the board contributes to firm performance. More…
Abstract
Purpose
This study seeks to add more insights to the debate on “whether”, “how”, and “under which condition” women representation on the board contributes to firm performance. More specifically, the current study aims to investigate if the effect of board gender diversity on firm performance is dependent on macro factors of national cultures.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used the generalized method of moments regression and a data set consists of 2,550 company year observations over 10 years.
Findings
The results indicated that cultural variables interact with board diversity to influence firm performance. Having women on the board in countries with high power distance, individualist, masculine and low-uncertainty avoidance culture influences the firm performance negatively.
Originality/value
The findings indicate that the effects of corporate governance structure on firm performance depends on culture-specific factors, providing support for the argument that institutional norms that are governed by cultural norms affect the effectiveness of corporate governance structure.
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Pablo Rodríguez-Gutiérrez, Carmen Correa and Carlos Larrinaga
This paper aims to generate insights about the transformative potential of integrated reporting by exploring organisational adoption of non-financial reporting design archetypes…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to generate insights about the transformative potential of integrated reporting by exploring organisational adoption of non-financial reporting design archetypes available in the field.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the concept of design archetype, this study conducts an exploratory interpretative based on qualitative semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis. The study is based on the Spanish integrated reporting field.
Findings
This study reveals that IIRC framework lacks the transformative potential to become an environmental disturbance for corporate reporting practice. It explains how organisations, in their attempt to seek coherence with underlying interpretative schemes, change their structural arrangements (structure, processes and systems) to adopt sustainability and integrated reporting design archetypes available in the field. Though organisational differences are portrayed, the transition from a sustainability-reporting archetype to an integrated-reporting archetype does not seem to be easily achieved.
Research limitations/implications
Due to its exploratory nature, further investigation of the transformative potential of integrated reporting is needed to address intra-organisational factors such as internal stakeholder interests, organisational values, individual or collective agency to embed interpretative schemes into structural arrangements, and technical and managerial capabilities enabling action.
Practical implications
Findings inform practitioners and policymakers about the hindrances to integrated reporting implementation to be considered for prospective regulation and standardisation.
Social implications
The study reflects on the difficulties for both mainstreaming sustainability to influence decision-making and developing reporting archetypes coherent with integrated thinking.
Originality/value
By focusing on archetype design, the paper provides insights to assess the transformative potential of integrated reporting.
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Carmen Correa and Carlos Larrinaga
The purpose of this paper is to consider the potential of engagement research by exploring the literature on engagement research. Engagement research in social and environmental…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider the potential of engagement research by exploring the literature on engagement research. Engagement research in social and environmental accounting (SEA) aims to enhance the social, environmental and ethical accountability of organizations and conceives that understanding SEA demands engaging with the (social and organizational) fields in which SEA is envisaged and practiced.
Design/methodology/approach
In this respect, the paper suggests a dialogue between the expectations about engagement research and what has been delivered in the literature. This paper reviews 32 articles publishing engagement research studies to explore the methodology of engagement research.
Findings
The paper concludes that this methodology is consistent with notions of research in the context of application and extended peer-review communities. Further, this study shows a promising cross-fertilization between interpretive insight and critical enlightenment in engagement research. The paper also explores in more depth three methodological issues: what is specific about engagement research, particularly compared to stakeholder engagement; that the decision about the locus of engagement research does not seem to be driven by the characteristics of organizations, but by the potential insight and enlightenment that the empirical setting can yield; and, finally, that engagement research requires more space for reflexivity.
Originality/value
This paper provides a reference for the methodological design of engagement research studies.
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The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the diverse literature on board demographic diversity and to provide avenues for future research.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the diverse literature on board demographic diversity and to provide avenues for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
The study provides a comprehensive literature review of theoretical and empirical studies published in leading management journals from 1989 to 2015.
Findings
The literature review revealed several aspects that are related to board demographic diversity. These aspects have been classified into: definitions and types of board diversity, dimensions of board demographic diversity, measurement and outcomes of board diversity, reasons for existing conflicting empirical findings about the relationship between board diversity and firm dynamics, and research on mediators and moderators.
Originality/value
Issues pertaining to board demographic diversity identified in this paper have theoretical and practical implications, and include avenues for future research.
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Esther Albelda Pérez, Carmen Correa Ruiz and Francisco Carrasco Fenech
The purpose of this paper is to explore the interplay between strategy, environmental management systems and environmental accounting, and their role in improving environmental…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the interplay between strategy, environmental management systems and environmental accounting, and their role in improving environmental performance.
Design/methodology/approach
By engaging with organisations through field research, this paper analyses the aspects of the European Community's Eco‐Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), an environmental management system (EMS), that act as catalysts for change through the development of intangible assets that improve environmental performance. Evidence is collected from semi‐structured interviews with environmental managers and management accountants from ten Spanish EMAS registered sites.
Findings
The embedding mechanisms of EMAS are considered. From the analysis, six valuable intangible assets for improving environmental performance were identified: awareness of employees; environmental knowledge, skills and expertise of employees; the commitment of managers; cross‐functional coordination; the integration of environmental issues in strategic planning process; and, the use of management accounting practices. These intangible assets were used to define three levels of environmental embeddedness: primary, visible, and advanced.
Practical implications
This paper provides insights into the interface between environmental management systems and management accounting and the implications of this for organisational change and environmental performance.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to fieldwork research within the environmental accounting literature by engaging with organisations in addressing the question of how EMAS improves environmental performance. Furthermore, it demonstrates that involvement primarily of internal, but also external, participants enhances further development of EMAS.
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