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The purpose of this paper is to examine the joint effect of supervisor influence and investor perspective on novice auditors’ assessments of accounting estimates.

The experiment used a 2 × 2 between-subjects design, randomly assigning proxies of novice auditors among four conditions. The authors manipulated the supervisor’s level of emphasis on evidence that suggests accounting estimate adjustment and whether auditors are prompted to take an investor perspective. Participants were asked to assess the misstatement risk of the allowance for doubtful accounts of the client company.

The authors find that auditors assign a higher (lower) risk of misstatement when their supervisor places high (low) emphasis on evidence suggesting accounting adjustment. The authors also find that contrary to the belief that taking the perspective of investors could enhance objectivity and independence, investor perspective leads to a decrease (rather than an increase) in auditors’ perceived risk of misstatement when the supervisor places low emphasis on evidence suggesting accounting adjustment.

This study provides early evidence on the efficacy of investor perspective and is one of the first to document an unintended consequence of asking auditors to take an investor perspective.

This paper aims to provide a multidisciplinary framework that allows an integrated understanding of reasons of success or failure in equity crowdfunding (ECF), a Fintech digital innovation of the traditional entrepreneurial finance, defining a future research agenda.

A systematic literature review (SLR) has been conducted on 127 documents extracted from two multidisciplinary repositories (Elsevier’s Scopus and Clarivate Analytics Web of Science) for the period between 2015 and early 2022. After a systematized series of inclusion and exclusion criteria, in line with the objectives and conceptual boundaries, a final list of 32 peer-reviewed articles written in English was analyzed by the authors through a meta-synthesis and thematic analysis to identify the key themes and dominant concepts.

Results show that the body of literature is recent and fast growing. The proposed integrative framework of existing research indicates that the outcome of an ECF campaign is related to signals conveyed by entrepreneurs in the form of hard information (firm characteristics, financial information, business characteristics and project description) and soft information (intellectual capital, human capital, social capital and social media network), catalyzed by digital media that facilitate also personal interactions between entrepreneurs and investors. Similarly, external factors (investors and campaign characteristics, with the fundamental role of ECF platform managers in building trust between entrepreneurs and investors) allow for the alleviation of information asymmetries. The present study sheds light on which signal mechanisms are decisive in improving the outcome, taking into consideration various disciplines which follow different but complementary perspectives.

Entrepreneurs should adapt to the transition toward the digital era, exploiting alternative financial instruments and learning effective signaling strategies, within a large variety of skills requested. Platform managers can obtain more focused information on selected entrepreneurial projects more efficiently.

Although it is fast-growing, the field of research is very recent, still fragmented and limited to the perspective/discipline followed. This SLR is, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first multidisciplinary and integrative analysis of reasons that motivates success, or failure, of an equity-based crowdfunding campaign. The digital nature of ECF encourages future research to move toward more pioneering and unconventional theories and research methods. Hence, the authors add to the existing literature by proposing future patterns of research based on an integration of highly technological skills and behavioral/psychological approaches.

Over the past two decades, the topics of Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) have attracted an increasing amount of interest, reflecting a growing sensitivity of investors and corporations towards environmental, social and governance issues.

This survey offers an overview of the academic literature on ESG/CSR through the lens of investors, institutions and firms. We first discuss the definitions of ESG and CSR and their relationship to each other.

We next describe how ESG is measured and note problems with the measurement of and quality of ESG data and discrepancies between different measures of ESG. We then turn our attention to investors, examining what types of investors invest in ESG and the role of institutional investors in ESG. From the firm's perspective, we discuss why firms themselves conduct ESG. We also summarize the literature on the impact of ESG on firms: how ESG affects firms' financing, disclosure and reporting activities and firm performance. Finally, we describe other consequences of the focus of ESG and CSR on firms and investors.

This survey offers an overview of the academic literature on ESG/CSR through the lens of investors, institutions and firms.

This paper aims to clarify the relationship between the voting and engagement behaviour of institutional investors, i.e. institutional investor stewardship behaviour, and the enactment of stewardship by corporate boards. In doing so, this paper contributes to the evaluation of contemporary corporate governance systems and provides recommendations for the redesign of these systems.

This paper is based on a qualitative exploratory descriptive research study into assumed, prescribed and the actual behaviour of institutional investors. Their behaviour is explored through a survey and in-depth interviews with global institutional investors.

The prescription of institutional investor stewardship behaviour and the exploration of actual behaviour from an investors’ perspective led to the conclusion that assumed institutional investor stewardship exists variously as either “in form” (i.e. measured by compliance to the relevant corporate governance code) or “in substance” (i.e. the actual behaviour from the investors and investee companies’ perspective). The results suggest that that institutional investors’ actual stewardship behaviour as global investors requires a nuanced conclusion about the existence of institutional investor stewardship.

Although the number of semi-structured interviews with institutional investors was limited to just 14, these interviewees represent the majority share in terms of market capitalisation of Dutch listed companies. Additional research could clarify the perspective of other investors, such as pension funds and private investors.

The outcome of this research can serve as input for corporate governance reforms in the preambles of governance codes and the prescribed principles and best practice provisions of corporate governance and stewardship codes. This research identifies opportunities for further academic research to enrich the understanding of the role of institutional investors in enacting corporate stewardship.

This paper contributes to furthering the understanding of the mechanisms by which institutional investors, through their behaviour, contribute to enacting stewardship through their corporate boards. This is an important part of the corporate social responsibility of institutional investors. It also triggers a dialogue about the social and environmental impacts of stock listed companies.

This paper fulfils an identified need to develop knowledge about new paradigms and offers a more integrated approach to corporate governance reforms in terms of the role of institutional shareholders in the promotion of good corporate governance.

Purpose – This chapter investigates the role of enabling organizations in the processes whereby institutional investors collectively influence corporate managers on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues. We develop a framework combining stakeholder and collective action theory to explain how institutional investors influence corporations through collective engagement and to specify how enabling organizations influence this process.

Methodology/approach – To evaluate our framework, we investigate the role of the organizational platform provided by the United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) initiative in supporting institutional investors’ collaborative engagement with corporations on ESG issues.

Findings – Our findings clarify how investors enhance their sources of power, legitimacy and urgency and attract managers’ attention through collaborative engagement, and show how they manage these attributes to reshape the legitimacy and urgency of their claims in the eyes of managers. Our results also show how enabling organizations such as the PRI initiative facilitate the emergence of collective action by lowering barriers to entry and providing a mobilizing structure, support collaborative efforts by adding their own legitimacy, normative power and persistence to the collaborative engagement, and create conditions for a lasting dialogue between investors and managers by providing a hybrid organizational space.

Social implications – In explaining how to enhance institutional investors’ collective action on ESG issues, this paper shows how we could reorient financial market forces toward sustainability.

Originality/value of paper – The paper benefited from a unique access to confidential and internal data from the UN-PRI initiative and provides a new framework.

This paper aims to critically examine the conceptualisation of the principle of materiality, which is one of the most divisive concepts in current regulatory work on standard setting for sustainability reporting. This paper pays particular attention to the current agenda for standard setting for sustainability reporting and the related discourse, including the International Sustainability Standard Board (ISSB) Exposure Draft IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information. A new conceptualisation of materiality is proposed based on the critique.

The academic and grey literature relating to current regulatory work on sustainability reporting, responses to the ISSB General Requirement Exposure Draft and sustainability reporting frameworks and standards are reviewed. This review also includes the papers in this journal’s special issue on standard setting for sustainability reporting. This review is used to develop original views on how materiality could be conceptualised and interpreted for sustainability reporting. This paper’s viewpoint is built on the criticisms of various definitions of materiality found in the literature and the author’s original critique of the materiality definitions provided in various reports and standards/frameworks on sustainability reporting.

Both financial materiality and double materiality approaches have drawbacks. A single materiality approach underpinned by accountability for financial and non-financial capitals instead of decision usefulness for any stakeholder is proposed. The proposed conceptualisation is also underpinned by the need to recognise dependencies between the environment, society and organisations when creating long-term enterprise value. The proposed approach is expected to trigger real changes in organisational practices to pursue a purpose beyond profit.

The proposed approach to defining materiality for sustainability reporting bridges the divide between financial materiality and social and environmental materiality concepts underpinning different standards and regulations.

The approach to materiality proposed in this paper is aimed at enabling organisations to pursue United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to make the planet and societies more sustainable.

This paper proposes a new conceptualisation of and approach to materiality determination for sustainability reporting.

Despite the increasing demand for socially responsible investments (SRIs) and the importance of information intermediaries in providing corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance information through SRI screens, relatively little is known about the relationship between nonprofessional investors’ views regarding SRI, their use of SRI screens and their actual SRI behavior. This study aims to distinguish between investor views about the importance of corporate environmental responsibility (environmental performance importance views) and whether they view environmentally responsible firms as yielding higher returns (environmental performance return views). It examines the association between these views, SRI screen use and reported SRI holdings.

Nonprofessional investor participants completed an online survey about their SRI investment views, screen use and investment behavior. The survey yielded 201 usable responses.

The strength of participants’ environmental performance importance and environmental performance return views is positively associated with their use of SRI screens and the proportion of their portfolios held in SRIs. SRI screen use only partially mediates the association between investors’ environmental performance importance and return views and their SRI holdings.

The study does not precisely address what types of SRI screens nonprofessional investors may be using. It does not control for investors’ specific experience with SRIs, nor does it examine how or why investors come to believe that environmental responsibility may improve a company’s return potential.

The fact that SRI screen use only partially mediates the association between investors’ views and their SRI holdings suggests that either reliable, unfiltered CSR information is important for nonprofessional investors or some investors are choosing SRIs without obtaining adequate relevant information.

The study’s findings confirm earlier research findings which show an association between investors’ pro-environmental views and their decision to invest in SRIs (Williams, 2007; Nilsson, 2008) and suggest that nonprofessional investors are becoming aware of the positive relation between environmental performance and firm value (Dhaliwal et al., 2011; Clarkson et al., 2013; Hawn et al., 2014; Matsumura et al., 2014).

This study simultaneously examines the influence of environmental performance importance (an “alternative” investment perspective) and environmental performance return (a “traditional” investment perspective) on investors’ SRI behavior.

Integrated reporting (IR) aims to improve the quality of information available to capital providers. While IR is associated with decreases in investor uncertainty and increases in firm value, it is unclear how IR information directly influences investment decisions. This paper aims to investigate the investment considerations of Taiwanese investors and their initial impressions of the International Integrated Reporting Framework (IIRC Framework). In doing so, this study examines the relationships between investment considerations and the IIRC Framework’s concepts.

Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 16 investors in Taiwan. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data collected.

In addition to economic and financial outlook, competitive advantages and ownership structure, Taiwanese investors emphasise management credibility as an important factor that influences investment decisions. Investors are reliant on private information sources and quantitative data. Sustainability disclosures and sustainability performance beyond legal requirements are often not considered. Taiwanese investors lack awareness of the IIRC Framework and are sceptical about the premise that integrated reports can provide information material to investment appraisal. The assertion that integrated reports reduce information asymmetry and influence investment decisions has to be treated with caution.

Self-selection bias and a potential lack of transferability in the findings are issues inherent in the research method and sample used.

IR information needs to be frequently updated rather than disclosed in a periodic report. Furthermore, integrated reports need to demonstrate a direct link between non-financial performance and financial value creation.

Mandating the supply of integrated reports is unlikely to influence investors’ capital allocation decisions unless investor demand is a driver of the regulation.

This study is one of the few to investigate IR from the investor’s perspective. Observations from this preliminary study warrant further investigations into the relevance of IR to investment communities globally.

This study aims to examine the value orientations of New Zealand agribusiness investors and how these orientations influence their reactions to the environmental and social implications of agribusinesses.

In the context of the New Zealand agricultural sector, the views of investors as published in print and broadcast media between 2018 and 2022 are gathered. The study uses qualitative content analysis to analyse the data. The study is based on the value-belief-norm theory.

The study reveals that New Zealand agribusiness investors express concern about the environmental (biospheric) and social (altruistic) impacts of the agribusiness sector, prompting calls for greater transparency, climate adaptation and ethical investment options. Additionally, they actively support local businesses to benefit their communities and preserve cultural heritage. Despite these biospheric and altruistic tendencies, investors also prioritise financial and non-financial interests (egoistic). This highlights a nuanced perspective guiding their investment choices – a balance between self-interest and contributing to the greater good. This signals a shift towards socially and environmentally responsible investment practices driven by multifaceted values.

The findings of this study highlight the role of non-pecuniary motives, like values, in determining the relevance of environmental and social information.

The study’s findings offer insight to agribusinesses on how investors’ value orientations shape their investment decisions. This understanding can guide businesses in framing a reporting strategy that enhances the likelihood of investors perceiving reporting as relevant and persuasive, thereby attracting more investments. In turn, this tailored reporting approach assists investors in making well-informed decisions in assessing the environmental and societal risks of agribusinesses.

The study offers a framework explaining how agribusinesses can increase the likelihood of investors finding firms reporting relevant and persuasive, leading to increased investments in environmentally and socially sustainable practices.

This study aims to investigate the nonfinancial information related to capitals (intellectual, human, social and relationship, and natural) demanded by professional investors in their decision-making process, which can improve the usefulness of integrated reporting for this target audience.

A Systematic Literature Review in the Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases enabled the identification of information demanded by professional investors. This information was presented to experienced Brazilian investors participating in a focus group to align the theory on this topic with professional practice.

The results allow us to conclude that the focus group participants' perception is aligned with the international literature, both in the importance given to most of the nonfinancial information items identified and in the lack of interest in using integrated reporting in investment decisions. Nonetheless, the general perception of the focus group is not aligned with the literature procedures in terms of social and environmental information.

A study with a larger scope and the adoption of other approaches can contribute to broaden the understanding of the perspectives of professional investors in Brazil, as well as in other regions.

The authors provide evidence that contributes to discussions about the information to be disclosed in integrated reports. Their results are useful to legislators, regulators, report preparers and investors.

The authors investigate the information demanded by professional investors in their decision-making process aiming to fill the literature gap relating the determinants of the integrated reporting disclosure and what is demanded by this target audience as a minimum content to be reported. As an additional result they offer interesting contributions to the literature providing reflections on nonfinancial information which have become important for Brazilian investors as from the COVID-19 pandemic.