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This study investigates the relationships between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) controversies and insolvency risk in the insurance sector. Drawing from legitimacy and stakeholder theories, the authors explore the impact of ESG controversies on insurers’ insolvency risk and the moderating effect of ESG practices on this relationship.

This study utilises a dataset comprising 120 stock insurance firms spanning from 2011 to 2022. The authors employed system-GMM estimations to control for potential endogeneity and conducted several robustness checks.

ESG controversy positively influences insurers’ insolvency risk, with ESG practices mitigating these positive effects. The Governance (G) component of ESG practices plays a key role in counteracting the effects of ESG controversies on insurance companies’ insolvency risk.

This is the first study to investigate the direct relationship between ESG controversies and insolvency risk in the insurance industry. It underscores the critical influence of stakeholders’ perceptions of the company’s legitimacy, which is determined by the number of ESG controversies undertaken by the insurer company, on its insolvency risk. Additionally, by examining the three components of ESG practices individually, the authors offer insights into how managers can gain a competitive edge, particularly by utilising governance practices as safeguards against the adverse effects of ESG controversies on their financial risk.

The purpose of this paper is to examine in greater depth the concept of “board capital”, which the authors consider to be a bundle of three types of capital, and believe to be a clear antecedent of the board’s ability to perform its roles, which have positive consequences for the firm’s performance.

Through 83 firms listed on The Madrid Stock Exchange during the period 2005-2010, the authors test empirically the relationships between different dimensions of board capital and firm performance, and specially how internal social capital moderates the relationships between board human capital and external social capital with firm performance.

The results show that certain characteristics of human capital (average board tenure) and external social capital (directors’ interlocks) are positively related to the firm performance. The empirical findings also indicate that the internal social capital, measured by board density, is positively related to the firm performance and moderates these above relationships, increasing the potential of the resources contributed by the board members and influencing to a large extent on a firm’s performance.

The results of the investigation will help both executives and scholar in two ways. First, they will assist firms when they have to select board members, as they can now understand how the resources that board members bring with them can affect the firm performance. To be more effective, boards need to have members that have experience as firm’s directors, external connections to other boards and many internal ties among them. Second, in this context, internal social capital is especially relevant, so the firms should look for possible ways of encouraging internal ties between directors. In this paper, the authors have opted for study the participation of directors in committees.

The authors propose that these three types of capital (human, external and internal social capital) need to be synergistically combined to create a group of directors with access to a complete set of skills, knowledge and connections, but which can still work as a compact social group when making decisions.

Using a contingency approach, the purpose of this paper is to study how organizational factors (such as the organizational life cycle, firm size, firm ownership concentration and firm technology) determine the relative importance of the monitoring and provision of resources roles provided by board members.

This paper highlights the importance of contingency factors in carrying out board’s roles using a sample of 579 European firms registered in the STOXX Europe 600 index. The authors used a longitudinal analysis for the period from 2002 through to 2011.

The results show that the monitoring role is more relevant for companies that are large, are operating at the mature and stagnant stages, have a dispersed ownership and are low-technology. However, the provision of resources role is more relevant for companies that are in the growth and stagnant stages, and have a concentrated ownership.

The traditional analysis that relates the board’s structure and composition to the board’s roles focuses on determining what board should be the best. It plays little attention to analyzing which organizational factors affect the importance and presence of monitoring or resource dependence roles. In this regard, this work adds significant insights to agency theory and resource dependence theory as, with a contingency framework, the research aims to find what functions the board needs to develop in order to get better firm performance.

From the resource-based view (RBV), the purpose of this paper is to argue that the board has the capability to participate in international strategic decisions and deal with the environmental complexities that internationalisation brings; and moreover, to achieve better performance than its competitors.

This paper highlights the active participation of the board in firm internationalisation using a sample of 78 Spanish firms quoted on Madrid Stock Exchange. The authors used a longitudinal analysis from 2005 through 2010.

The results show that while the resources provided by the directors through their level of education and international experience, help them learn and process information, and they are a source of expertise representing “board potential”. A board that functions well through the directors’ relationships allow the proper integration and use of these resources, and helps create sustainable competitive advantages in an international context.

From a RBV, this paper refines and extends the concept of “board capability” as the combination of potential and internal relations that allow boards to undertake their roles competently over time. Additionally, the paper empirically examines the effect of board capability on firm internationalisation.

A través de la RBV, explicamos cómo el consejo de administración posee la “capacidad” necesaria para participar en las decisiones estratégicas internacionales de la empresa y hacer frente a los altos niveles de complejidad que se derivan actualmente del contexto internacional; y además, conseguir un rendimiento superior al de sus competidores.

Este artículo resalta la participación activa del consejo en la internacionalización de la empresa usando una muestra de 78 empresas españolas que cotizan en la Bolsa de Madrid. Utilizamos un análisis longitudinal para el periodo 2005-2010.

Nuestros resultados muestran que mientras que los recursos que aportan los consejeros a través de su nivel de formación y background internacional ayudan a aprender y procesar información y son fuente de conocimiento especializado conformando el “potencial” del consejo; un buen funcionamiento del consejo, a través de las relaciones entre consejeros, permiten la adecuada integración y uso de dichos recursos, conformando la capacidad necesaria para obtener ventajas competitivas sostenibles en el contexto internacional.

Este artículo perfecciona y amplia desde la RBV, el concepto de “capacidad del consejo” como combinación de potencial y relaciones internas que permitan llevar a cabo sus funciones de manera competente a lo largo del tiempo. Además, el artículo examina empíricamente el efecto de la capacidad del consejo sobre el grado de internacionalización de la empresa.

This study aims to investigate whether higher earnings quality is related to the existence of multiple directorships among corporate boards and whether this relationship varies with the quality of investor protection.

This paper used a dynamic panel data modelling on the sample of 2,090 firm-year observations over the period from 2007 to 2016 in Malaysia. The generalized method of moments estimators were used to deal with endogeneity and other econometric problems.

This study finds that the accumulation of several outside directorships is negatively associated with the firm's earnings quality, as measured by the magnitude of discretionary accruals. More importantly, the findings provide evidence that multiple directors are more efficient in improving earnings quality in healthy investor protection environment.

The appointment of directors should be based on market-based and not on a relationship (i.e. financial and industry professionals).

The results highlight the importance of interaction between internal and external governance mechanisms to improve the firm's financial performance, investment and market efficiency. High-quality investor protection and law enforcement are significant for enhancing the monitoring role of multiple directorships in improving earnings quality.