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The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between sustainability reporting (SR) and firm value considering the moderating effect of audit committee (AC) quality and auditor tenure on this association.

The data for the study comprise 41,500 firm-year observations worldwide between 2007 and 2018 drawing on ten main sectors. The authors run a country-industry-year fixed effect regression and address endogeneity concerns with further methodologies.

First, the authors find that SR is significantly and positively associated with both firm value and industry-adjusted firm value. Further tests revealed that the baseline findings hold for SR assurance and the Global Reporting Initiative framework as well. Second, the moderation analysis outlined the significant moderating role that the AC assumes. More specifically, AC independence and expertise were found to strengthen the value relevance of SR. Third, the market also appreciates the moderation of auditor tenure in SR.

Investors appreciate greater corporate transparency which means that sustainability reports are likely to reduce information asymmetry and thereby agency conflicts. In addition, the moderation analyses imply that shareholders consider AC quality while they attach value to corporate sustainability reports. Hence, the structure of the auditing function appears to perform an implicit assurance role in the value relevance of sustainability reports. In line with these implications, corporations can review and re-design their auditing function and decide whether or not they will attest to sustainability reports given that AC independence and expertise and auditor tenure predict this decision.

The study highlights the audit function’s growing role beyond financial reporting and suggests implications for ACs and auditors in ensuring shareholders about the credibility of SR.

This study aims to examine the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) adoption on differentiation and cost leadership strategies and how governance structure moderates this CSR–strategy relationship.

The study data were retrieved from Thomson Reuters for non-financial firms between 2013 and 2019, and a fixed-effects panel regression analysis was executed.

The results indicate that CSR fosters cost leadership strategy but weakens differentiation strategy. This result supports the value generation school for cost leaders but also confirms the agency theory perspective for differentiators. Moreover, the governance structure does not moderate the relationship between a firm's CSR engagement and its business strategy, which implies a lack of corporate policies that concurrently consider both its CSR investment and strategies.

The findings of this study imply that cost leaders can integrate CSR practices into their business strategy and use their CSR engagement to increase their competitive position by stimulating cost efficiency and creating greater turnover. On the contrary, for differentiators, there is a trade-off between environmental and social engagement and business strategies. Thus, they are advised to enrich their unique product development abilities through the integration of environmental and social practices and reinforce their competitive position by addressing stakeholders' interests. The practical implication of the moderation analysis is that there is no rooted corporate policy behind the connection between CSR and firm strategy for both cost leaders and differentiators, which constitutes a missing link.

The findings of this study are of critical importance for firms, offering justification for the integration of two vital perspectives: social and environmental sustainability and financial sustainability. The moderating effect of governance performance tests the upper echelon's role in maintaining both sustainability perspectives concurrently and strengthening the legitimacy of the firms in society. Although maintaining a business strategy is important for shareholders' interests, pursuing a social and environmental sustainability strategy is crucial for meeting the expectations of all stakeholders.

This study aims to guide firms in emerging markets on whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement facilitates their access to debt with the moderation of asset structure and firm performance. Considering the moderating effect analysis, this study explores the substitutive or complementary effect of these two contingencies on CSR-oriented firms in accessing debt financing.

Drawing on data collected for 16 emerging markets between 2008 and 2019, this study runs country–industry–year fixed-effects regression.

This study finds that CSR performance and reporting facilitate access to debt in emerging markets. However, CSR performance does not have an inverted U-shaped influence on firms’ access to debt financing. The moderation analysis of this study shows that asset tangibility has a negative moderating effect on the link between CSR engagements (i.e. both CSR performance and reporting) and access to debt, confirming a substitutive relationship between asset tangibility and CSR engagements in accessing debt. In contrast, firm performance is positively moderating the nexus between CSR engagement proxies and access to debt, which confirms a complementary type of relationship between firm performance and CSR engagements in accessing debt.

The empirical evidence of this study implies that creditors critically consider CSR engagements of firms in the loan-granting decision process. Similarly, the inverted U-shaped relationship between CSR and access to debt implies that there is an optimal level of CSR engagement creditors might consider in their decision. Likewise, the moderating effects analysis highlights that asset tangibility and firm performance are two conditions under which CSR performance and reporting are linked to access to debt.

Emerging countries are a different set of countries than developed ones; they have high growth rates and hence need financing, have a weaker institutional environment and have weaker stakeholder power. These particularities motivated the authors to conduct a separate study focusing on CSR and debt financing links drawing on a wide range of emerging countries. Thus, this study adds to the ongoing debate by examining the conditions under which CSR-oriented firms can access debt financing in emerging economies.

This paper aims to study the influence of leisure-time physical activity on depression crises and the difficulty in performing light household tasks.

A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the 2020 European Health Survey in Spain. A total of 1,076 individuals diagnosed with depression were selected. ANOVA, chi-square, Fisher’s exact test and Mann–Whitney U test were applied, and a simple moderation analysis was conducted using the SPSS PROCESS 4.0 macro.

Women had higher percentages of some or much difficulty in performing domestic activities (p = 0.007). Differences were found between experiencing a crisis in the past 12 months versus not having one (p < 0.001): less physical activity was performed, perceived health was worse and difficulty in performing domestic activities increased. The moderation analysis confirmed the moderating effect of physical activity on the relationship between experiencing a crisis and having difficulty with domestic activities (p = 0.017).

The usual limitation of descriptive cross-sectional studies, which cannot establish causal relationships, must be added to low sample sizes in some categories.

The analysis with gender differentiation, promoting gender-specific adapted practices, considering age and personal circumstances of the patient, appropriate exercise prescription, as well as its evaluation and follow-up, are areas where specialist nurses need to delve deeper to enhance the quality of care.

Leisure-time physical activity moderates the relationship between experiencing a crisis and having difficulty with light household tasks: those who engage in occasional physical activity have less difficulty compared to those who do not engage in it.

How do dark personality traits impact workplace bullying (WB)? How can organizations mitigate it? This study aims to explore the relationship between the Dark Tetrad (DT) (narcissism, psychopathy [PY], Machiavellianism and sadism [SM]) and WB, proposing the mediation role of moral disengagement (MD) and the moderation role of emotional stability (ES).

The proposed mediated-moderation model was tested on 404 employees working in the hospitality sector in Pakistan. Data have been analyzed through regression analysis and PROCESS macros to test the study’s hypotheses.

PY, Machiavellianism and SM positively relate to WB and MD mediates this relationship. A high level of ES reduces the intensity of the mediated influence of PY, Machiavellianism and SM on WB.

Developing targeted policies and practices (e.g. personality tests to build a good psychological architecture of the firm) and reviewing processes that support the moral justification of antisocial conduct can be beneficial for limiting WB. In addition, meditation, mindfulness training and supporting trust and cooperation within organizations can increase the mitigating effect of ES and, in turn, reduce WB.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that explicitly verifies a mediated-moderation model on DT-WB while proposing a further explanation (i.e. mediation of MD) and a novel solution (i.e., moderation by ES).

Based on positive organizational scholarship, this study aims to examine the role of faculty engagement in mediating the relationship between quality of work-life (QWL) and organizational commitment. The paper also analyses how spiritual leadership moderates the relationship between QWL and faculty engagement.

The data was collected through structured questionnaires from undergraduate and postgraduate teachers working in various business schools across major cities in India. The sample was selected through the snowball sampling technique. The sample size was 486, and analysis was done through the structural equation modelling approach using the bootstrapping method.

Findings indicate that faculty engagement mediates the relationship between QWL and organizational commitment among teachers. Furthermore, results show that educational institutions that practice spiritual leadership support higher positive psychological and emotional states of engagement.

The paper provides an integrated model of engagement, commitment and QWL through a study of mediation and moderation effects and adds value to the psychology and workplace spirituality literature. There is the future scope for further generalizations of the model in different geographical contexts to analyse the influence of other leadership styles.

Furthermore, it would help educational institutions to design QWL strategies for engaging teachers psychologically, emotionally and cognitively by accelerating employees’ positive emotions and behaviours. Finally, the paper shows implications for developing the QWL strategies to create a committed and engaged workforce through spiritual leadership.

The paper contributes to the academic literature by investigating interrelationships among variables from a positive organizational scholarship perspective. The paper would help practitioners to comprehend the importance of spiritual leadership in educational institutions.

This study aims to integrate the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the value-belief-norm (VBN) theory into a meta-analytic framework to synthesize green consumption literature.

By integrating the findings from 173 studies, a meta-analysis was performed adopting several analytical methods: bivariate analysis, moderation analysis and path analysis.

VBN- and TPB-based psychological factors (adverse consequences, ascribed responsibility, personal norms, subjective norms, attitude and perceived behavioral control) mediate the effects of altruistic, biospheric and egoistic values on green purchase intention. Further, inconsistencies in the proposed relationships are due to cultural factors (i.e. individualism-collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity–femininity, short- vs long-term orientation and indulgence-restraint) and countries’ human development status.

The authors selected papers published in English; hence, other relevant papers in this domain published in other languages might have been missed.

The findings are useful to marketers of green offerings in designing strategies, i.e. specific messages, targeting different customers based on countries’ cultural score and human development index, to harvest positive customer responses.

This study is the pioneering attempt to synthesize the TPB- and VBN-based quantitative literature on green consumer behavior to resolve the reported inconsistent findings.

As of 2022, the scope of the engagement and interest of debt capital providers in ESG reporting is mainly untapped. However, a vast amount of literature has produced conflicting findings about the importance of debt capital (leverage) as a factor in sustainability reporting (SR). This is the first meta-analysis reconciling the mixed results of 85 single country studies containing 131 effect sizes across 24,482 firms conducted over past three decades (1999–2022) investigating the influence of leverage on SR. The study emphasizes the significance of contextualizing research by identifying the macro-environmental elements modifying debt's impact on SR, through the use of the institutional theory. Eleven country variables were tested on the collected dataset, spread across 36 countries.

Meta-analysis technique for aggregation of existing extant empirical work. Continuous and categorical variable-based moderator analysis to demystify the influence of country characteristics affecting the leverage–SR relationship.

Results show positive significant impact of debt capital providers on SR. Country's level of development, GDP, extent of capital constraints in a country, financial sector development within a nation, country governance factors and corruption levels, country's culture, number of sustainability reporting instruments operational in a country and geographical location proved to be significant moderators.

The study details relevant meaningful research gaps, worthy of uptake by researchers to produce targeted research.

Governments must increasingly go beyond their mandated disclosure role and acknowledge the important institutional factors that have contributed to the expansion of ESG reporting through the creation of nation-specific tools, incentive structures and disclosure-encouraging regulations. To secure a steady flow of funding and prevent negative effects on company value and cost of capital in the midst of prolonged global economic upheaval, businesses must address the information requirements of lenders. The limited total effect size emphasizes the necessity for debt providers to step up their ESG activism and exercise their maximum power and potential in stimulating extensive SR firm-level practices.

The present study is the first meta-analysis reconciling the mixed results of 85 single-country studies containing 131 effect sizes across 24,482 firms conducted over the past three decades (1999–2022) investigating the influence of leverage on SR and demystifying the macro-environmental factors affecting the leverage–SR association.

In the information and technology age, where the “physical” world is merged with the “digital” world, the nature of social conditions, relations, citizenship and the flow of information has shifted from a moral and legal approach to a digital approach. Nowadays, the functioning, dissemination, conduct and governance of organisations and their members are regulated by techno-ethical and digital principles. Drawing on social cognitive theory, the study hypothesises that techno-ethical orientation predicts corporate ethical values (CEV) through the moderation of digital citizenship behaviour (DC). The study further proposes that each dimension of DC: online respect (OR) and online civic engagement (OCE), moderates the hypothesised relationship.

546 respondents from India participated in the study. The responses were captured using structured and well-established questionnaires. The analysis was performed using robust measures of correlation, regression, reliability (Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability) and validity (convergent and discriminant validity). The moderation influence of DC was tested and analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM) Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS).

The regression findings of the study revealed that the techno-ethical orientation positively predicts the CEV. R-square values showed a 24.1% variation in corporate ethical value was explained by techno-ethical orientation. It indicates that a positive techno-ethical orientation establishes the ethical context and corporate values. Besides, the moderation analysis using SEM AMOS indicates that at both low and high levels of OR and OCE, the relationship between techno-ethical orientation and CEV is positive and significant.

This study demonstrates a new facet of technology ethics that promotes the institutionalisation of CEV through DC. This study is the first to explore the interaction between techno-ethical orientation and CEV. Even though various former factors concerning ethical conduct have been examined, the results of the techno-ethical conduct of employees within the scope of an organisation have not been explored so far.

This instant study explores the relationship between weight-based teasing and depressive symptoms in Indian college students. It further investigates the moderating effect of gratitude on depressive symptoms occurring due to weight-based teasing.

The study is theoretically based on Fredrickson's broaden-and-built theory (2001). PROCESS macro in IBM SPSS v21 was used to analyze the effect of gratitude in moderation of weight-based teasing and depressive symptoms. The study used correlation and regression analysis to assess the relationship between weight-based teasing and depressive symptoms.

The study has confirmed that weight-based teasing results in the development of depressive symptoms in Indian college students. The study has also revealed that gratitude casts a significant moderating effect on depression due to weight-based teasing, i.e. a reduction in regression weight of weight-based teasing.

This study is the first of its kind in India and will significantly add to the national literature on teasing and depression. Further, the study will help stakeholders like educators and policymakers to formulate psychological programs based on positive psychology 2.0 and gratitude to combat the rising issue of body shaming in India.