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Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a strategic tool that firms use to gain competitive advantage and enhance profitability in the long run, yet its effect on dividend payout in extraordinary times is limited. Grounded in stakeholder and dual responsibility theories, this study examines the effect of CSR on the relationship between COVID‐19 and dividend payout. Data from the period 2015–2021 were obtained from 114 non‐financial listed firms on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, South Africa, and analyzed by multivariate and logit regression techniques. COVID‐19 has a negative effect on the amount and likelihood of dividend payment, while CSR performance has a positive effect on the likelihood and amount of dividend payment. However, the result of the negative effect of COVID‐19 on dividend payment does not differ between high and low CSR performing firms. Conversely, the impact of COVID‐19 and CSR on dividend payment differ between high and low financial constraint firms. Shareholders should learn to manage their expectations of dividends payment during times of crisis like COVID‐19, as firms tend to focus more on addressing the needs of stakeholders through CSR initiatives, which will enhance profit in the long term, rather than paying out dividend to shareholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrated reporting is a fairly recent phenomenon in the corporate reporting realm. Its dawn marks a new age of corporate reporting where financial and non‐financial information and their interrelation create an integrated and holistic approach for telling a value creation story. In tandem with this transformation, business sustainability in general and environmental performance, in particular, are also gaining prominence in the corporate landscape. This scholarly article investigates the relationship between integrated reporting and corporate environmental performance. A panel‐data is used to carry out the study using a sample of 110 firms listed on the Johannesburg Stock exchange for the years 2014–2018, where Integrated Reporting was first mandated. The empirical results are robust and consistent with our predictions in that integrated reporting is found positively associated with corporate environmental performance. Our findings pave the way for a new stream of literature on the transformation and the connectivity functions of integrated reporting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]