Search results

The purpose of this research is to explore the impact of women in the C-suite on strategic marketing choices in general and CSR in particular is scant. To that end, this study explores whether and how firms led by female CEOs differ from those led by male CEOs with regard to the types of CSR they pursue. The study classifies CSR into two types: relational (i.e. related to employees, human rights, community and diversity) and rational (i.e. related to product, environment and corporate governance).

To create the sample, the authors combined four databases: Compustat, Execucomp, Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) and Kinder, Lydenberg, Domini and Co., Inc. (KLD). Data for the time period between 1992 and 2013 (both inclusive) were used for the investigation. The final sample comprised of 2,739 firms, for a total of 19,969 firm-year observations (an unbalanced panel).

Building on self-construal theory and theory of female ethics, the authors theorize and find evidence that while firms led by male and female CEOs are not significantly different with regard to rational CSR performance, firms led by female CEOs outperform those led by male CEOs with regard to their relational CSR performance. Furthermore, the authors also find that different types of CEO power (i.e. managerial power, legitimate power and formal power) moderate the link between CEO gender and types of CSR differently.

This research contributes to research on CSR by introducing two new types of CSR: relational CSR and rational CSR. Further, the research contributes to the broader discussion of how senior managers inject their gender roles into their CSR choices. The authors provide important insights in this area by highlighting that at least some types of myopic management are also driven by CEO gender: female CEOs – to the extent that they are more likely to invest in CSR strengths which pay off in the long run – engage in less myopic management than male CEOs with regard to CSR choices.

To prospective managers, this research suggests that the gender of the CEO is an effective signal that can help them predict firms’ likely CSR behavior. More specifically, firms led by female CEOs are likely to outperform those led by male CEOs with regard to certain dimensions of CSR (higher relational and rational strengths and fewer relational concerns) and this effect of CEO gender on firms’ CSR behavior is likely to be more pronounced when the CEO exhibits certain kinds of power. Female CEOs may benefit by understanding their innate tendencies to focus on relational versus rational CSR, thereby taking advantage of the positive aspects of their tendencies.

This paper classifies CSR into two types: relational and rational. The findings indicate the benefits of this nuanced classification: female CEOs have a stronger impact on relational CSR compared to male CEOs, while the two types of CEOs do not show a significant difference with regard to their impact on rational CSR. The paper also shows that dividing the variable of CEO power into its sub-types, i.e. managerial power (CEO duality), legitimate power (CEO tenure) and formal power (CEO-TMT pay gap) has value as each of these power dimensions is found to impact the CEO gender-CSR relationship differently.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained tremendous importance after several corporate scandals, financial crises and the rise of the hyper-competitive world. Firms must address multiple stakeholders’ interests to increase firm value. This study aims to investigate the effect of CSR on firm value. This study also examines the mediating role of enterprise risk management (ERM) and the moderating influence of corporate governance (CG) in this CSR-firm value relationship.

The sample of the study comprises 119 Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) listed firms and the study covers the period from 2010 to 2021. The corporate social responsibility performance has been quantified across five dimensions. These aspects are product, environment, employee relations, diversity and community. Four proxies i.e. strategy, operation, reporting and compliance, have been used to measure ERM. The governance quality of the sample companies was evaluated using the governance index, which included 29 governance provisions. The authors used the dynamic panel data technique (system-GMM) is used to achieve the objectives of the study. Furthermore, a firm’s engagement in CSR activities can also be measured through a multinational financial approach to check the robustness of the result.

Based on the regression analysis, the authors discovered that CSR was positively connected with firm value, validating the stakeholder view of CSR. Furthermore, following Baron and Kenny’s (1986) mediation technique, the findings confirm that ERM mediates this association. These results are robust by using the bootstrapping tests by Preacher and Hayes (2004). Furthermore, the result shows that corporate governance (CG) is positively connected with firm performance, and this relationship is strengthened in the presence of an effective governance system in the organization.

This study provides useful insights to regulators, investors and policymakers to consider CSR as a value-enhancing factor and encourage the development of enterprise risk management and compliance with CG mechanisms to improve firm value.

The presented analysis strengthens the existing CSR–firm value relationship by analyzing the mediating and moderating roles of ERM and CG, which have not yet been tested, particularly in the context of Pakistan.

This study aims to examine the association between women on board and business performance. It also aims to investigate the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and female directors on stock prices, including the function of female directors in moderating the CSR–market performance link that ultimately provides valuable insights into the impact of gender diversity on corporate boards.

Data from US publicly listed firms between 2000 and 2018 were collected and analysed using OLS regression, median regression, M-estimator regression and MM-estimator regression at 70% and 95% efficiency. In this study, firm market value was measured through Tobin’s Q, board diversity with ISS database and CSR strength and concern with the KLD database.

The results indicated that CSR positively impacts market performance by 3.1%, female board representation positively influences market performance by 4.8% and female board members strengthen the CSR–market performance relationship by 1.0% while playing a moderating role. Overall, these studies demonstrated the significance of female boards of directors for enhancing market performance.

This study used the data of US-listed firms from 2000 to 2018. The results have contributed to the ongoing discussion about the importance of gender diversity in boards and its influence on firm success. Further research works are suggested to expand the analysis by including other countries or considering additional factors that may influence the association between CSR, board representation of women and market share.

This study is essential for investors, legislators and CSR institutions in developed countries. The favourable impact of female board presence on market performance and the enhancement of the CSR–market performance relationship highlight the necessity of encouraging gender diversity on boards of directors and CSR activities.

This study emphasises the significance of gender balance on corporate boards in solving important social challenges including climate change, resource scarcity and gender equality. Companies can actively assist in addressing global issues and improving the well-being of stakeholders by promoting gender-diverse boards and encouraging CSR efforts.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first study demonstrating that gender diversity on corporate boards moderates the significant association between CSR performance and profitability in the USA. It has contributed to the expanding body of information regarding the moderating influence of female directors on firm value and stronger evidence for female directors in the governance of businesses.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of risk-taking attitude as an important antecedent to corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

The authors use regression models on a sample of 2,136 publicly traded US companies over a 10-year period.

Corporate risk-taking encourages the pursuit of CSR initiatives and internal (i.e. board strength) and external (i.e. financial analysts) corporate governance mechanisms strengthen that relationship.

While pursuing CSR initiatives involves financial and reputational risks that are evident by the variability in the outcomes (e.g. firm value) of firms that have historically undertaken CSR initiatives, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to theoretically explain why risk-taking is an important antecedent to CSR and empirically test that relationship.

Employees play a vital role in the success of a corporation. While boards of directors are created to protect shareholders’ interests, it is unclear if these directors also ensure employee welfare. In this vein, our paper examines the relationship between board leadership structure and employee well-being.

The authors employ several analysis techniques, including univariate analysis, ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions, two-stage least squares (2SLS) regressions, propensity score matching methodology, the Heckman Selection model and difference-in-differences analysis. The sample comprises USA public firms for the period 1998–2018.

Our findings indicate that having an independent chairperson can significantly benefit the welfare of employees, especially for firms with overly powerful chief executive officers (CEOs) and during times of financial distress.

Independent leadership structure is one of the crucial board characteristics that have not been examined to explain employee welfare at firms. We find that an independent chairperson can mitigate the negative effect of overly powerful CEOs on employee benefits. Importantly, independent chairpersons are beneficial for employees in difficult times and when CEOs are busy with daily activities.

In this study, the authors investigate a pressing concern: how auditors react to their clients facing repercussions due to environmental violations. More specifically, this study aims to examine how environmental engagements, which carry potential risks and liabilities, influence auditors’ decision-making and fee structure.

This study uses unique, reliable and actual violation data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) from 2000 to 2015, focusing on clients involved in environmental violations that led to legal prosecution and penalties and those who subsequently engaged in voluntary supplemental environmental projects (SEPs). The authors use the ordinary least squares method to test the authors’ main research question and later use propensity score matching and alternate data source (ASSET4) to check the robustness of the authors’ results.

The authors find that firms with environmental violations are more susceptible to auditor resignation. Moreover, the environmental violator firms that maintain their engagement with auditors pay significantly higher audit fees compared to non-environmental violator firms. Furthermore, these environmental violator firms also face extended audit report delays and take longer to appoint a new auditor.

This study provides an additional consequence of environmental violations, namely, increased chances of auditor resignation and higher audit fees, alongside the penalties imposed by the US-EPA. Moreover, the authors’ findings position environmental violations and participation in SEPs as important factors in auditors’ business risk assessment.

This study uses a meta-analysis approach to analyse the impact of applying corporate green accounting practices as vital sustainable development tools on firm performance. This study aims to examine the moderating effects of country-specific variables and characteristics on the association between corporate green accounting and firm performance.

Three databases were used for a meta-analysis of 68 independent studies involving 19,625 subjects conducted over 25 years from 1996 to 2020.

The results show that corporate green accounting positively affects firm performance, but country-specific variables do not moderate this association. The positive association between corporate green accounting and firm performance was enhanced when it was measured in terms of environmental costs. Subgroup analyses revealed that study characteristics are significant source of heterogeneity in the corporate green accounting indicators-firm performance association.

The findings suggest that firms should strategise to integrate environmental costs into their respective financial accounting frameworks, which would help managers justify the contribution of their firms towards environmental protection.

Accessing accurate and timely information on corporate environmental functioning can assist national policymakers in framing appropriate legislation on environmental protection and sustainable development.

Although meta-analysis has been used previously in accounting research (Guthrie and Murthy, 2009; Alcouffe et al., 2019), to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to use a meta-analytical technique to examine the impact of corporate green accounting on firm performance.

This study aims to examine whether social initiatives adopted by firms lead to improved financial performance. The authors analyse the impact of different elements of social initiatives on wealth creation for firms in terms of operating and market performance.

The study is based on the social initiative scores of over 4,500 firms collected from Thomson Reuters' ESG database. The study uses two-stage least squares (2SLS) to analyse the relationship between social initiatives and firm performance.

Profitable, mature, capital intensive and firms with high sales growth rate tend to invest more in social initiatives. Firms with high agency costs invest in social initiatives for workforce efficiency, maintaining human rights and product responsibility. The study documents evidence that social investments are value creating mechanism for firms which leads to improved financial performance in terms of operating and stock market performance. Firms with high dividend intensity invest in social initiatives for workforce welfare and human rights initiatives. Investment in employee well-being and community initiatives results in intangible benefits such as improved stock market valuation.

The research model has not considered the impact of intervening variables to understand the relationship between corporate social performance and corporate financial performance.

Firms ought to recognize that social investment is beneficial in terms of value creation of firms as stock market perceive such investments favourably. Firms must focus more on community development initiatives and workforce initiatives for the value creation of firms compared to investments directed towards human rights initiatives and product responsibility initiatives.

This study focusses exclusively on the social dimension of the CSR activities. The authors examine the impact of social welfare scores on firm performance by analysing the valuation effects on scores representing workforce, human rights, community and product responsibility. Moreover, the paper also examines the impact of a new dimension of product responsibility on firm performance. They also focus on both aspects of financial performance in terms of operating performance (proxied by ROE) and the joint impact of both operating and market performance (proxied by Tobin’s Q). This paper contributes to the research on the linkage of social performance to financial performance by observing that firms with high agency cost characteristics tend to invest in social initiatives for work force efficiency, maintaining human rights and product responsibility.

This study aims to examine the relationship between economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure and the moderating role of board network centrality and political connections on the nexus between EPU and ESG.

Using a sample of the UK Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 350 firms during 2007 to 2018, this study examines the relationship between EPU and the ESG disclosure and the moderating effects of board centrality and board political connections using multivariate regression analysis.

The results show that firms tend to increase their ESG disclosure when EPU rises. The results also reveal that EPU is negatively associated with firms’ financial performance and ESG performance is less evident for firms with higher ESG disclosure scores and is observed only when board centrality is relatively low and the political connections are absent. The study finds further evidence to support the hypotheses during periods of heightened conflicts (i.e. global financial crisis and the Brexit referendum).

This study offers practical insights for corporate managers who attempt to preserve and enhance their firms’ competitive advantages via maintaining its stakeholders support through greater ESG disclosure during heightened EPU periods.

By integrating the resource-based view (RBV) and the signaling theory, this study extends the signaling theory and RBV by examining the relationship between EPU and ESG disclosure as a signal to its stakeholders and information advantages that board centrality and political connections bring to the company to reduce information asymmetry between the firms and its stakeholders during EPU.

Financial and nonfinancial disclosures (sustainable accounting) are crucial in the annual financial reports of many firms. This study aims to explore the dynamic relationship between sustainability disclosure quality (SDQ) and financial performance (FP) within mandatory disclosure frameworks. SDQ is evaluated across six dimensions, encompassing both the quality and quantity of disclosures, aiming to understand their reciprocal influence.

Using the generalized method of moments (GMM), this research analyzes data from 2013 to 2019, focusing on 99 listed Indian firms within the S&P Bombay stock exchange (BSE) 500 index. The study uses rigorous measurement criteria to assess SDQ and uses statistical methods to unveil the causal link between SDQ and FP.

The results show a positive causal connection between SDQ and FP, where organizations with good FP make relatively higher disclosures across FP proxies than their counterparts. Additionally, the study investigates the impact of research and development (R&D) expenditure and dividend payments (DIVD) on SDQ. Notably, lower R&D spending is associated with higher quality SDs, and companies with superior SDQ exhibit increased DIVD.

The findings advocate for strengthened regulatory compliance, incentivized sustainable practices and heightened reporting standards for a transparent business environment and achieving the relevant United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

This research contributes original insights by uncovering the intricate relationship between SDQ and FP, shedding light on the impact of R&D expenditure and DIVD on SDQ. These findings contribute to a nuanced understanding of the interplay between FP and sustainability reporting within the context of mandatory disclosure frameworks.