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The present work is aimed to address the subject of CSR practice impact on corporate financial performance (measured via ROE), along with each of the CSR dimensions (social and environmental) respective effect, examined through the moderating effect of CSR committee, regarding a sample involving 473 European companies, observed over the time period ranging from 2015 to 2021. To test the moderating effect of the CSR committee and its respective characteristics on the relationship between CSR performance and financial performance of companies involving a CSR committee, we considered applying a panel-data based linear regression, administered through implementation of the Thomson Reuters ASSET4 database. Our findings show that CSR practices have a sustained positive and significant impact on the financial performance of companies. However, when examining the moderating effect, certain characteristics appear to be considered key factors for the proper functioning of the CSR committee, thereby improving the firm's financial performance. The findings of this study provide multiple contributions for policymakers to improve the valuation of companies and strengthen the mechanisms for ensuring the financial performance of companies and their sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, we investigate, from a consumer perspective, the importance of different types of marketing actions frequently used by online apparel retailers to serve different beneficiaries during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of a Maximum Difference Scaling experiment among German consumers recruited from an online panel (n = 503) reveal that marketing actions with other-benefit components, such as corporate social responsibility initiatives, have the potential to outperform traditional sales promotion methods, such as price discounts. By deploying latent class analysis, two consumer segments can be distinguished according to their preferences: those valuing marketing actions with other-benefits and those preferring marketing campaigns with mere self-benefits. Finally, combinations of marketing actions with maximum reach are identified, from which recommendations for action by retailers are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using an international setting consisting of 5410 corporations domiciled in 24 countries, we test the insurance-like effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance in the era of the pandemic and confirm that CSR performance increases socially responsible companies' resilience against the adverse effects of the crisis. Comparing stakeholders' responses to CSR activities during the pandemic and normal periods, we observe that the link between CSR performance and firm value is stronger during the crisis period. We also realize that the social aspect of CSR performance is the main driver for the mentioned effects. Finally, comparing the resilience of highly committed socially responsible companies with those with moderate and very low CSR ratings, we observe that best-in-class companies enjoy the greatest buffering effects, implying that the insurance-like effect of CSR performance is non-linear against systematic crises. Findings are robust to ceremonial CSR activities, extreme values of market-based instruments, endogeneity concern, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms responded to the COVID‐19 pandemic by participating in an unprecedented level of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The authors build on the existing CSR and crisis response and disaster relief literatures by examining nine CSR types employed during the pandemic (donating in‐kind, donating money, creating content, free products, free services, communication of operational changes, employee support, financial support, and shifting production). Then, they test the impact of starting versus stopping each CSR type on consumer perceptions of authenticity, attitude, and purchase intentions in two experiments, replicated in 2020, 2021, and 2022. Consumers distinguish between CSR types and rate employee and financial support most favorably and creating content and communication of operational changes least favorably. Starting (vs. stopping or no) CSR increases authenticity and subsequent attitude and purchase intentions. Interestingly, stopping CSR is worse than no CSR in 2020, but no CSR is worse than stopping CSR in 2022. This indicates that consumers discredit firms for stopping CSR during the acute phase of the pandemic but discredit firms for not engaging in any CSR after the acute phase ends. Finally, consumers rate small (vs. large) firms more favorably for engaging in some CSR types. Taken together, these results help inform how firms should engage in CSR activities in response to crises and disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Purpose: The article aims to review and systematize knowledge about CSR in Poland in an attempt to find an answer to the question about the place of this concept in enterprise management, in particular in the context of the crisis caused by the CoViD-19 pandemic. Design, methodology and approach: The article is based mainly on the method of analysis of the literature on the subject, legal acts and reports on “CSR in practice” from 2016-2022 (results of surveys carried out among enterprises by the French-Polish Chamber of Commerce). Other methods include synthesis, description, graphic presentation of data, comparison and deductive inference. Findings: The analysis of the literature on the subject clearly indicates that the CoViD-19 pandemic has changed the life of business around the world. It highlighted the need for cooperation between all actors of the socio-economic system, and increased the need and pressure on organizations to be more responsible towards the environment and society. There are also claims that the pandemic has become a catalyst for the development of CSR. On the other hand, based on the data presented in the article (from questionnaires completed by selected entrepreneurs), one can only to some extent agree with the statements presented in the literature. The pandemic has changed the visage of Polish CSR, but not enough to make a definite claim about a development leap or professionalization of CSR and, above all, about solidification of positive trends. The brand image is still the most important motive for engaging in socially responsible activities, which are often taken ad hoc. Also the financing of such activities is often interim. What should be particularly appreciated is a larger percentage of companies with long-term CSR strategies, more managerial commitment and more entities with CSR departments (while about 20% had no such units). It also seems important that there are less and less organizations that are unable to estimate their CSR costs and, at the same time, the number and percentage of those with CSR budgets exceeding PLN 1M have increased. Today, it is difficult to claim (based on the data presented in the article) that the CSR concept is an important element of enterprise management in Poland, or that the CoViD-19 pandemic has made it flourish. However, the research results presented in the article (for the years 2016- 2022) are characterized by a fairly high degree of generalization, so further analysis was definitely needed. Another reason was that, according to numerous publications, society is becoming increasingly aware of both responsible and irresponsible behaviors of business and wishes for the former ones, especially in the face of emerging crises. Originality and value: The article is part of the reflection on the importance of CSR in the management of enterprises in Poland, in particular in the face of the challenges posed to economies, societies and enterprises by the CoViD-19 pandemic. Admittedly, the subject of CSR is often raised in the literature, but the effect of the disease is a more recent aspect which requires a more in-depth analysis. Therefore, the article attempts to fill this cognitive gap. The value of the article lies primarily in the analysis and synthesis of the content presented in the latest literature on the subject and the attempt to answer the question: “Has the pandemic changed the visage of CSR and, if so, how?”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study is to identify the efficacy of board independence on corporate social responsibility (C.S.R.) practices in the companies of mainland China. It was noted by the earlier studies that the relationship between the implications of C.S.R. strategies, and the board of governors is disturbing in China because of the ownership and other related issues. In this study, to identify the results of variables related to C.S.R., the adopted method was content analysis. Furthermore, to determine the results for the efficacy of board independence on C.S.R., the ordinary least square method was adopted in this study. The study concludes that with effective strategies and implications by board independence a high level of C.S.R. can be achieved. Significantly, this study provides a detailed insight into the efficacy of board independence and C.S.R. to ensure that all the strategies would be effective with an independent board. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we address the impact of the introduction of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting scheme on corporate carbon reporting, and subsequently identify factors that influence the level of voluntary carbon reporting. A review of the literature demonstrates a large number of potential factors have been previously deployed to explain voluntary reporting practices; however, the analytical and empirical methods widely used in the literature have limiting statistical assumptions and confine analysis to a small number of explanatory factors. To address this limitation in prior research we apply advanced machine learning methods, such as gradient boosting machines and random forests, to identify predictive variables through analytical means. We compare the performance of machine learning methods with traditional methods such as logistic regression. We find that machine learning methods significantly outperform logistic regression and provide fundamentally different interpretations of the role and influence of different predictive variables on voluntary carbon reporting. While most variables were not statistically significant in the logit results, a number of key proxies for financial performance, corporate governance, and corporate social responsibility have out‐of‐sample predictive power of the level of voluntary carbon reporting in the machine learning analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I developed the CSR‐19 scale to assess the perceptions company executives have of CSR actions during the COVID‐19 pandemic and to conceptualize the economic, legal, social, and environmental aspects of CSR actions as a high‐order construct. This paper's findings suggest that the legal, environmental, and social aspects of CSR actions are being perceived to positively contribute to companies' CSR actions, but the economic aspect of CSR actions is deemed to contribute negatively to companies' CSR actions. The 16‐item CSR‐19 scale shows strong evidence of reliability as well as content, convergent, and discriminant validity in a sample of 211 Jordanian companies. Managerial implications and suggestions for applying the CSR‐19 scale in future research are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how corporations responded to the COVID-19 crisis through their fulfillment of corporate social responsibility (CSR). We quantitatively analyzed a total of 60 CSR news stories published during the year of 2020. We then provided context through the close readings of all 60 news stories. CSR news coverage was selected as the focal content because it is considered to be a more objective communication of CSR compared to corporations' selfdisclosed CSR reports. Results show that CSR was provided throughout the year as corporations' timely responses to the unprecedented pandemic. Specifically, corporations emphasized philanthropic CSR activities to support health issues. Their conventional commitments to promotional activities were still present but often criticized with a negative tone. Corporations' evergreen interest in environmental/sustainability issues and human/civic rights also remained but were relatively weakened during the pandemic. Further, CSR was primarily presented in a positive tone. The findings highlight that a public health crisis may render corporations to transform CSR into emergency and disaster relief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure is becoming increasingly important in practice, yet knowledge about the antecedents of such CSR initiatives is limited. Drawing on faultline theories, we expect that the compositional attributes of top management teams, such as the level of heterogeneity, influence their decisions about CSR disclosure and reporting. Data and a sample from Chinese publicly traded companies are used to examine our hypotheses. Our results demonstrate that a top management team's faultline strength is negatively related to CSR disclosure decisions and CSR report quality. We contribute to the literature about CSR disclosure by offering specific insights, through a micro‐level analysis, about how to compose and structure top management teams to advance CSR in emerging economies such as China. Practical implications for managers and policymakers are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition from primary sustainable goals to crisis management exemplifies a new era of corporate social responsibility, sustainable business models, corporate sustainability, and stakeholder theory. This study examines the varied dynamics of corporate social responsibilities (CSR) during COVID‐19, as well as its potential and limitations, in order to gain a better understanding of CSR. The results expand upon the instrumental version of CSR and the application of stakeholder theory during COVID‐19. It reflects on the necessity for a wider integration of societal issues in CSR's driving philosophy as well as the underlying need to study diverse sectors of governance across the globe due to the increased potential for exploitation of the weak, particularly during times of crisis. This study examines the theoretical foundations of the themes and the lines of divergence between CSR's past and present by reviewing the social, intellectual, and conceptual structure of the literature. It emphasizes the importance of post‐COVID‐19 policies that prioritize job creation by implementing stronger labor market standards. Governments should eliminate barriers and implement pro‐SME laws and programs. A sustainable fiscal policy takes future generations into account. Sustainable corporate finance incorporates long‐term financial goals and social values into stakeholder theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the current state of play on Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) integration and check the validity of the current metrics system by assessing if it will survive the COVID-19 crisis. By adopting a qualitative research approach through semi-structured anonymous interviews with 14 senior managers of six European listed companies we use a framework by assessing the mechanisms of reactivity on the effectiveness of ESG measures in times of COVID-19. By interpreting the practitioners' points of view through the lens of the sociological framework by Espeland and Sauder (Am J Sociol 113:1–40, 2007) our findings show different mechanisms of reactivity by companies on the effectiveness of ESG measures in times of COVID-19, i.e., active and passive conformity and active resistance. We also identified the main Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) institutional factors that affect managers' reactivity. An extensive re-formulation of the ESG metrics is required in the light of times of crisis, given that accountability and transparency are strongly linked to quantitative measures which can play a critical role in the financial system and investors' engagement. Particularly, the strict distinction between "E", "S" and "G" issues should be abandoned claiming a different holistic re-design of sustainability measures by considering the increasing relevance of the Social dimension in time of COVID-19. This study provides a valuable contribution to the existing literature on the measurement of sustainability within the link of accountability and crisis by highlighting new corporate needs to re-design the ESG metrics system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been in place since 2015 to address global challenges at the social, economic, and environmental levels. Nowadays, the fashion industry plays a significant role in contributing to these issues. The study examines the SDGs' importance and presence in the case of Hungarian fashion SMEs. This research used semi-structured in-depth interviews and investigated seven Hungarian fashion SMEs' operation and business activities to reveal and understand the environment they function in, their CSR, and their interpretation of their responsibility. Although the analysed SMEs' mission and vision involve specific elements of corporate social responsibility and ethical values, their day-to-day activities do not include impact assessment: they focus on value for money, maintaining and promoting quality products rather than running their internal audit systems or developing their reporting habits. The research focuses on the corporate sector's interpretation of sustainability and corporate social responsibility concepts, specifically on SMEs, to help to understand the environment and circumstances and identify barriers and possible future ways to develop their sustainable and responsible operation. Based on the findings, the author suggests some practical recommendations to help businesses improve their CSR and SDGs engagement. Although SMEs are not expected to engage in CSR activities in Hungary, the European Union is constantly working on the future mandatory introduction of CSR. Preliminary research may make it easier to link CSR and the SME sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic attention on corporate water disclosure and the role of board gender diversity (BGD) in corporate environmental responsibility has increased dramatically. However, the study of the relationship between BGD and corporate water disclosure is lagging, particularly in the influence of national culture on the relation. Therefore, this study investigates the water disclosure of 150 MNCs from China, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. using content analysis, theoretically discusses and empirically tests the relationship between BGD and MNCs' water disclosure, and the moderating effects of national culture. The results indicate that (1) BGD positively impacts MNCs' water disclosure, and (2) the cultural constructs of masculinity and uncertainty avoidance negatively moderate this relationship. These results reveal that female board members' moral characteristics caused by gender differences are the key to promoting the board's abilities of stakeholders' water issue detection. This advantage of female board members could be enhanced or weakened in different national cultures. Our study closes a research gap, strengthens our understanding of the role of BGD in promoting the board's water-related strategic decision-making, and extends the application of the national cultural dimension in interdisciplinary research in management and social science fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debate about whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) and analyst coverage facilitate financial transparency is still open among academics and practitioners to date. Drawing from the information asymmetry view, this paper aims to investigate the impact of CSR on stock price crash risk, and to examine the moderating effect of analyst coverage on the 'CSR – crash risk' nexus. Using a sample of 8037 firm-year observations from Chinese-listed firms between 2010 and 2018, we find that CSR is negatively associated with crash risk. Analyst coverage cannot catalyse the positive role of CSR in reducing financial opacity, and thereby weakens the negative association between CSR and stock price crash risk. This implies that analysts fail to sufficiently disseminate firm-specific information, which in turn aggravates the information gap between insiders and outside investors. Our results remain robust after considering potential endogeneity and alternative CSR measures. The current study advances the understanding of 'CSR – crash risk' relationship with the moderating effect of analyst coverage. We also provide important references for investors and policymakers to better understand abnormal stock price fluctuations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an examination of the joint impact of board structural elements at firm level and financial analysts as market‐level corporate governance (CG) on corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance. Our study contributes to the CG–CSR literature by adopting the bundling approach, a perspective that has recently attracted researchers' attention as an answer to any heterogeneity and fragmentation in existing findings. It is based on an extensive sample consisting of 7,739 firm‐year observations of US firms for the 2006–2015 period. The findings suggest that financial analysts complement the corporate board with more independence, gender diversity and a specialized CSR committee to realize a certain level of CSR performance of a firm. The findings also indicate that analysts substitute for those internal governance factors that are associated with weaker boards – larger sizes and dual‐role CEOs. We also draw implications for research and practice from our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between Earnings Management (EM) and Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) has raised a considerable number of attentions, especially, in financial and accounting field since they determine firms' performance as well as market positioning. On the contrary, in an emerging country as Vietnam, the number of relevant studies are rare together with several limitations. Thus, this paper is the pioneer investigating the cause and effect among Accruals Earnings Management (AEM), Real Earnings Management (REM) as two proxies for EM, and CSR. Next, Granger's causality replacing for traditional method is employed in order to interpret this nexus. The analysis relies on the sample size of 225 companies during the period 2014–2018 from Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) and Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE). We figured out executives prefer REM to AEM when implementing earnings manipulations. Consistent with the expectations and prior scholars, we found there is a negative correlation in the association of AEM and CSR while it is positive in the case of REM and CSR. Besides the consistent results with multivariate regression analysis (MRA) in terms of CSR-EM association, the fsQCA findings also explore more combinations regarding the relationship between CSR-EM. Additionally, all empirical results also provide evidence that there is cause-and-effect relationship in terms of AEM, REM and CSR which has never been researched and discussed over the past several years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate social responsibility and its relationship with firm performance have been the focus of studies concerning the area of social responsibility of companies over the last four decades. The area has undergone significant progressions and shifts over time. There is a tremendous interest among the researchers in analyzing the relationship between corporate social responsibility and firm performance, as evident by the increasing surge in the research publications in this domain, especially since 2010. This study intends to highlight the knowledge expansion and research dispersion in the broad area concerning corporate social responsibility and its effect on firm performance. For this purpose, the research articles published in the Scopus database from 1987 to 2021, covering 34 years, have been taken to perform a bibliometric analysis. The study explains the descriptive trend of research publications focusing on performance indicators and uses a thematic evolution tool to highlight the major themes. The results of the bibliometric studies reveal that the focus of research encompasses the dimensions of sustainability, strategic management, institutional pressures, disclosure, and corporate social responsibility reporting. Based on these dimensions, the paper presents insights into the existing studies and offers the scope for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences between developed countries in terms of corporate governance outcomes at aggregate and granular levels. The population of companies was collected from the database curated by Refinitiv. The sample was selected according to two criteria: the existence of governance scores for the financial year 2021 and the registration of a company in any of the G20 countries or the European Union. The results are presented by ranking the G20 countries based on four aggregate indicators and four granular indicators of corporate governance quality. While the differences regarding the aggregate indicators are not statistically strong, the intercountry differences on board independence, board gender diversity, board skills, and auditor tenure are especially relevant. The present article opens an avenue of research on international corporate governance linked to cultural dimensions, comparative legal systems, national approach to corporate social responsibility, and corporate governance principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In particular, the results show that corporate social responsibility strengthens the relationship between corporations and employees due to employees' positive perception toward their organizations for the implementation of CSR initiatives. When corporate social responsibility (CSR) increases performance: Exploring the role of intrinsic and extrinsic CSR attribution. The results indicate that cross-cultural legitimacy is significantly associated with responsible innovation practices and firm performance within the Asia-Pacific CBM, while the cross-cultural legitimacy-firm performance association is partially mediated by the responsible innovation practice. This editorial of corporate social responsibility and environmental management summarizes the papers included in the Special Issue "The managerial implications of assessing corporate social performance.". [Extracted from the article]

We develop a dynamic model to investigate the effects of environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) on a monopolist's investments in green product and process innovation. We find that ECSR increases the steady‐state investments of green product and process innovation only when the weight a firm gives to pollution is large, while ECSR does not affect the complementarity (substitutability) relationship between green product and process innovation in the long run. To achieve a socially optimal investment in green product innovation, the government should urge the firm to pay more attention to the environment than to the consumer surplus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates whether and how non‐pecuniary employee rewards based on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in association with human resource management (HRM) affect firm value. In the context of Japanese manufacturing firms for the 2006–2019 period, the regression results provide several important findings. Non‐pecuniary rewards work individually and synergistically with pecuniary rewards to enhance employee motivations for innovation, through which the CSR‐HRM nexus increases firm value. However, non‐employee perception of employee‐oriented CSR negatively moderates the relationship between innovation and firm market value. In the Japanese market, investors are fully aware about the CSR‐HRM effect on employee motivations and highly concerned with risk due to conflicts of interest between employees and non‐employee stakeholders. This suggests the importance of stakeholder engagement to link organizational innovation capability with firm value. These findings provide useful implications for the alignment of CSR strategies with HRM policies for optimizing innovation performance for corporate sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concerns Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the hotel industry. The main goal was to find out how the CSR activities of hotels changed during the coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19). The research on this topic was executed in the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic, due to the local tourism diversity, provides a representative picture of the topic in a European context. A unique questionnaire survey of 154 respondents selected by quotes was performed in May 2022. Managers of hotels answered questions about CSR efforts before the coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19) and now. CSR activities were examined in several areas of economic, social, and environmental responsibility. The picture of CSR evolution over time influenced by the COVID-19 crisis can be seen. The paper presents several surprising facts. It shows that smaller facilities can also perform CSR and that lower annual turnover is not a barrier for hotels. The gathered data and implications are analysed in detailed contingency tables and visualized in a graph. Due to the specificity of the data, the uncertainty coefficient and Cramer's V coefficient were chosen to explore possible associations in the dataset. The largest benefit of this study is that the data represents not only external reports of CSR but also strategic thinking of hotel facilities. The next benefit of the study is a unique model of specific CSR activities that hotels perform now. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite there was significant increase in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature, in the last decade, little attention has been devoted to shed light on strategic CSR practices in the hospitality industry, especially in the context of developing countries. This paper uses a case‐study methodology to investigate the CSR practices of eight hotels in Santa Marta, Colombia. The results show that the hotel companies were implementing different CSR behaviors that can be classified as philanthropic‐reactive, legal‐reactive, and active groups. The findings revealed that their CSR activities were focused on adding value to their economic performance. This contribution implies that Individual improvement plans for each establishment and a CSR management model for the entire industry are proposed. The results have important theoretical and practical implications for academia and the hospitality industry. Future research should take into account more stakeholders and companies from other industries in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the effects of various internal (board independence, gender diversity, and specialized sustainability committee) and external (analysts' coverage and institutional ownership) corporate governance mechanisms on firms' decision to purchase external assurance for their corporate social responsibility (CSR) report. Using an international sample, we show that board diversity, the existence of a CSR committee, analysts' coverage, and institutional investors increase the probability of assuring a CSR report, while board independence decreases it. The findings further suggest that several configurations of these mechanisms complement each other in improving the credibility of nonfinancial disclosure through assurance. However, other configurations do not work in tandem, supporting the existence of substitution effects. Overall, bundling various governance mechanisms effectively could be more useful in formulating and implementing a corporate strategy than individual mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between CSR practices and the firm performance across automotive SMEs in Bulgaria the paper suggests that development and implementation of CSR measures is critical for the success of the SMEs across the emerging automotive sector in this EU country. The study aims at broadening knowledge at Corporate Social Responsibility literature in the context of SMEs business domain. The study represents quantitative analysis on CSR measures based on the ESG goals set by the United Nations. The collected data in the paper are secondary and it has been collected from the Bulgarian Statistical Institute, the Union of the Automobile Industry in Bulgaria and individual companies' websites. Additional data have been gathered from the Automotive SMEs' annual reports of the companies as well. The paper empirical data findings for the period 2018-2020 show that Automotive SMEs have been adopting westernized best practices on CSR, which positively affect their performance and prosperity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manuscript type: Research paper Research aims: This paper aims to examine how the political effectiveness and board independence moderate the effect of managerial entrenchment on corporate social responsibility (CSR). Design/Methodology/Approach: Data of non-financial firms from the BRICS countries for the period of 2010-2018 were obtained from Thomson Reuters (asset 4) and financial reports. Panel regression model was employed to analyse the data. Research findings: The results show that there is a positive relationship between managerial entrenchment and CSR. Political embeddedness was found to strengthen the positive relationship between managerial entrenchment and CSR. Independent directors was reported to weaken the relationship between managerial entrenchment and CSR. Theoretical contribution/Originality: Theoretically, this study contributes to the literature on agency theory. The finding provides novel insights into how managerial entrenchment affects CSR activities. It also expands the body of knowledge on corporate governance and CSR by focusing on manager's self-interest to shareholder's interest. Practitioner/Policy implication: Practically, this study provides valuable information to stakeholders, regulatory authorities and investors who wish to assess various antecedents of CSR. Research limitation/Implications: Future study should consider comparing the developed and developing countries. Other aspects of CSR should also be considered for better understanding. This study sheds light on the relevance of promoting the social and environmental awareness mechanisms surrounding companies in addition to developing CSR policies focused on corporations of BRICS countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) emerges from the Chinese city Wuhan and its spread to the rest of the world, primarily affected economies and their businesses, leading to a global depression. The explanatory and cross-sectional regression approach assesses the impact of COVID-19 cases on healthcare expenditures, logistics performance index, carbon damages, and corporate social responsibility in a panel of 77 countries. The results show that COVID-19 cases substantially increase healthcare expenditures and decrease corporate social responsibility. On the other hand, an increase in the coronavirus testing capacity brings positive change in reducing healthcare expenditures, increased logistics activities, and corporate social responsibility. The cost of carbon emissions increases when corporate activities begin to resume. The economic affluence supports logistics activities and improves healthcare infrastructure. It linked to international cooperation and their assistance to supply healthcare logistics traded equipment through mutual trade agreements. The greater need to enhance global trade and healthcare logistics supply helps minimize the sensitive coronavirus cases that are likely to provide a safe and healthy environment for living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon token theory and critical mass theory, this study examines whether all female directors are equally considered as tokens. We argue that inside female directors are less likely than outside female directors to be considered as tokens because they are more powerful and influential. Using a 10-year sample of Chinese publicly listed firms on the Shanghai or Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2008 to 2017, we find that even one inside female director can make a significant contribution to corporate social responsibility (CSR), while outside female directors do not have a positive effect on CSR until their number reaches the critical mass (i.e., three). The results suggest that the predictions of token theory and critical mass theory vary across female director types. These findings contribute to the current literature by integrating female director typology with their numerical representation to explain their token status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior literature has largely dealt with the effect of either corporate social responsibility (CSR) or innovation on firm financial risk. No earlier research has examined the combined effect of a firm's simultaneous pursuit of CSR and innovation on firm financial risk. This study investigates the combined effects with a view to fostering our understanding of relationships of CSR and innovation with financial risk. Using the patent application and CSR data of 2,174 Chinese listed firms over the period 2010–2016, this study finds that firms with higher levels of imitative innovation and good CSR performance exhibit higher financial risk. The results remain after a series of robustness tests including the use of an alternative measure of firm financial risk and CSR. The results indicate that firms with a higher level of imitative innovation exhibit greater financial risk; however, the risk cannot be mitigated by firms' good CSR performance. CSR performance helps firms boost the positive image of a "good citizen" and reduce firm financial risk; however, the combined effects of CSR and imitative innovation trigger higher financial risk. The results of this study support the umbrella theory of CSR that exacerbates the moral hazard for those firms that rely on imitative innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study discovers the relationship between board diversity and corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure of multinational corporations (MNCs). The existing studies have shown the positive roles of board gender diversity (BGD), education background diversity (EBD), and tenure diversity (TD) in decision-making. Thus, we believe that the positive effect also exists in the strategic CSR decision-making process of the board of directors; it enhances corporate environmental disclosure (ED) and social disclosure (SD). After investigating 140 MNCs from China, Japan, the UK, and the US, the result shows that (1) BGD positively affects ED and SD of MNCs and (2) TD positively affects SD of MNCs. This study further explains the relationship between board diversity and CSR disclosure from the perspective of stakeholder and resource-based view, emphasizing the role of board diversity in stakeholder management and the effectiveness of CSR decision-making. The study helps provide policy makers with inspirations to improve CSR of MNCs by formulating policies related to board diversity. Our evidence also helps MNCs to develop the criteria for improving CSR strategy through board diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to study the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) over small and medium‐sized enterprise (SME) innovation and the effect of two mediating variables, debt terms and human capital. Based on a sample of 2825 Spanish SMEs and applying a structural equations modeling, the results demonstrate that the effect of CSR on innovation is mediated by debt terms and by good human resource practices. Part of the positive effect of CSR on innovation occurs through these two variables, which, alone, positively and significantly affect innovation in SMEs. Consequently, the positive effect of CSR practices on debt terms through a decrease in asymmetric information goes further, also having repercussions on innovation. Additionally, the suitable development of human resource practices based on strategies oriented toward CSR allow companies to carry out greater and more efficient innovative activities. This paper contributes to the CSR literature considering the human resource management and the debt access in the relationship between CSR and innovation. The findings reveal important implications for policy makers and managers. For the former, the results show that it would be interesting to carry out actions aimed at assisting SMEs, especially those with fewer resources available, to implement a suitable CSR strategy, supporting sustainable development in SMEs. And, for the latter, CSR‐oriented innovation has proven to be a valuable strategy for more efficient SMEs management because of the multiple competitive advantages it generates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our research examined the attitudes of owners and managers of small and medium-sized enterprises in the V4 countries, who behave responsibly - they use corporate social responsibility in their managerial practice on issues focused on the market and operational area of business. The paper is based on a questionnaire survey with data collection from September 2019 to January 2020. Statistical methods of Pearson's chi-square and z-score were used to assess the hypotheses. The results proved that there are significant differences in companies in services and tourism in the context of implementing the CSR concept. Entrepreneurs who implement social responsibility with a significant positive difference agree that a company places great emphasis on the innovation of its products and services. Researchers found that the sector has an impact on the perception of decreasing customers' requests on specific products/services. We found that corporate social responsibility and its implementation in corporate practice positively affects the relationship of V4's small and medium enterprises in the services and tourism sector to service production innovation issues, which helps increase business performance and decline customer complaints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates whether corporate governance (CG) leads to improved corporate social responsibility (CSR) in relation to carbon performance. We draw on multiple theoretical lenses for CSR and use a sample of the top 350 listed UK companies. Our results show that overall CG quality has a discernible influence on carbon performance, based on outcome‐based carbon emissions. Our empirical findings and inferences still hold with an action‐based performance measure as well. In addition, we find that the relationship between CG and carbon performance is significantly moderated by carbon strategy and managerial awareness of carbon risk. Our evidence supports the claim that reforms of CG in the UK have promoted CSR behaviour in carbon performance, and this insight is not documented elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although previous studies revealed the positive effect of CSR perceptions on customer behaviour, the relationship between CSR and perceived firm innovativeness (PFI) has been underexplored. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it attempts to propose and validate a model to comprehend the relationship between CSR and PFI. Second, it aims to investigate the mediating role of corporate image stemming from CSR and PFI in order to foster customer advocacy intentions. Data were collected from 360 customers of the retail banking industry in Pakistan, and the results indicate that customers' CSR perceptions directly and positively influence PFI. Interestingly, corporate image fully mediates the relationship between PFI and advocacy intentions, whereas it plays a partial mediation role in the CSR-advocacy intentions relationship. The findings of this research expand the corpus regarding the roles of CSR and PFI in creating advocacy intentions among customers through the corporate image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between corporate social responsibility, corporate innovation, and corporate performance in developing countries. Firm level governance and corporate social responsibility data for 150 companies from 12 developing countries were collected from Datastream and Bloomberg for 2014–2019. The results show that in the context of developing countries there is no significant relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate innovation. Our findings raise concerns about the level of R&D investments and commitment to corporate social responsibilities in developing economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate governance has long been the subject of interest for researchers in business administration. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices decided by boards of directors are now a key issue in the decision‐making process of companies. The relationship between the governance structure and CSR policies is crucial to defining the companies' strategic view. In this paper, we identify how the characteristics of corporate governance impact CSR disclosure. Our findings show that a large board of directors reduces the probability of adhering to practices that involve stakeholders more closely in company activity, while companies with more independent directors have a higher level of stakeholder protection almost by definition. Thus, there is a need for additional ways of involving stakeholders in company activity. Our results also reveal that an overlap between the roles of the CEO and the board chairman is an undesirable influence on a CSR report. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) presents a valuable tool of a better management of enterprises for the benefit of the whole society. Small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) have been facing this challenge for a shorter time than large enterprises. The aim of the article is to evaluate the impact of the CSR indicators on the sustainability of SMEs in Central European (CE) countries. Factors of the sustainability of SMEs are innovative ways to win new markets and retain existing customers, the innovation of our products and services, and lower probability of SMEs' bankruptcy. Linear regression analysis was applied to verify causal relationships. The sample size was constructed of 1,585 SMEs on basis of the questionnaire's answers. The results show that the knowledge of the CSR concept and its assertion in business is the most important CSR indicator with a positive impact on each factor of SMEs' sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the need to change and quickly adjust the company's business strategies to the needs of its stakeholders in order to strengthen mutual trust and develop resilience to the new situation. In such circumstances, the application of corporate social responsibility (CSR) becomes inevitable, but also socially expected. The aim of this paper is to identify CSR activities carried out by the 10 best companies in the Republic of Croatia in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The content analysis method analyzes the websites of these companies in relation to CSR during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the socially responsible activities are categorized according to the three most important stakeholders for the company: employees, customers and the community. The results of the research determine the equal representation of CSR activities towards all observed stakeholders and the importance of coordination between external (customers and communities) and internal (employees) CSR activities during Covid-19 in order for companies to maintain their competitiveness and relationship with stakeholders. The paper provides practical implications for the effective management and implementation of CSR activities in the period of pandemics and other crisis situations, but it is also possible to maintain certain additional activities after the cessation of these circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Corporate social responsibility implies business with concern for ethics, human rights, community needs, and investment in environmental protection. It is especially evident in crisis situations when the expectations of the environment about the application of these principles of the company are higher. The Covid-19 pandemic, as a crisis situation in which companies found themselves, led to changes in business models that had an impact on their stakeholders as well. In this segment, corporate social responsibility can be a useful and effective way to mitigate the potential effects of a pandemic and make it easier to deal with the consequences of a crisis. The aim of this paper is to provide a theoretical framework for the study of corporate social responsibility in crisis situations with special reference to the situation related to Covid-19. For this purpose, the research methodology includes a review of the literature on corporate social responsibility in this situation by classification into external (community, customer, and environment) and internal (employees) dimensions of the application of corporate social responsibility. The paper highlights the problems and challenges associated with corporate social responsibility in the Covid-19 pandemic and suggests further research opportunities in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to examine the exact pattern and structure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) within multinational enterprises (MNEs) working in Pakistan. Global reporting initiative (GRI-G4) guidelines were taken as key indicators to measure the boundaries of CSR activities and sketch the pattern of CSR disclosure (CSRD) based on economic, social and environmental dynamics. This research has observed that social disclosure comprised of almost 2/3 of the total CSRD; followed by environmental and economics. Market presence and economic performance are the most disclosed indicators in economic dimension. Environmental disclosure is leaded by products & services, overall and effluents & Waste. Water, biodiversity, compliance and transport are the least disclosed dynamics under the environmental dimension. Similarly, Social dimension records almost identical values for labor practices & decent work and product responsibility; followed by society and human rights indicators. Findings of this study reflect overall satisfactory report about CSRD for a period of 4 years (2016-2019). In general, this research study has extended basic but overall perception about the CSR structure within MNEs working in Pakistan. This study has first time developed an overall CSR's catalog for MNEs based on content analysis which includes all dimensions and indicators expressed in GRI-G4. The results of this study are beneficial for government and other institutions/organizations that are responsible for handling, formulating and implementing sustainability related issues/strategies. The combined effects of the local institutional forces and the interpretation of universally acceptable guidelines play an important role to ensure the rights of stakeholders and compel the enterprises to be more ethical. This study offers the first CSR structure of overall G4 guidelines indicators based on wide range of corporations and included every published document over a period of 2016-2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, the debate on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the strategies implemented by organizations to disseminate their business actions, fuels the discussion on aspects that point to sustainable development. To show their CSR strategies, one of the mechanisms used by companies is the presentation of sustainability reports. In this work, we have modified the analysis approach traditionally used to demonstrate the characteristic factors of transparency in the field of CSR. Specifically, we focus on analyzing which indicators are the least disclosed by companies. Within this framework, the objective of this work is to analyse the practices of dissemination of environmental information based on the sustainability reports of the global reporting initiative produced by large companies, in order to establish differences and similarities in corporate social responsibility. The results obtained for a sample of 80 large companies and 67 multinational enterprises (MNEs) indicate a slight difference in the disclosure of environmental indicators. Concretely, the results reveal that 56.12% of environmental indicators are not disclosed by large companies; while, in MNEs, 51.23% of these indicators are not reported. In large companies, the greatest deficiencies in the disclosure of environmental information correspond to the categories of biodiversity, environmental grievance mechanisms, and effluents and waste. In the case of MNEs, the least disclosed categories are biodiversity, environmental grievance mechanisms, and environmental protection expenditures and investments (overall). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to clarify the implications of COVID-19 on corporate social responsibility (CSR). The research outlines an important role of CSR during the crisis and examines the pandemic impact on CSR practice of a company. The paper attempts to address the gap in the literature by considering CSR as a response strategy to uncertainties, pandemics, and crises. The study proposes how to adapt to the new normal applying CSR and examines the role of CSR in navigating through ambiguities. The paper analyzes the response to the pandemic crisis in terms of CSR and investigates the CSR approach of companies in Georgia. A semi-structured interview method was applied to collect primary data from companies implementing CSR activities. The novelty of the research results highlights the significance of strategic CSR practice during the pandemic to overcome challenges countries and societies are facing around the world. It contributes to the field of CSR management in times of pandemic and suggests future studies in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combining the postulates of the upper echelons theory and the economic theories of information disclosure, one might expect that the effect of chief executive officers' (CEOs') managerial ability on their firms' disclosure policies has both a direct and indirect nature. The latter would be associated with the mediating role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance on the relationship between CEOs' ability and corporate transparency. Using a sample of 956 international firms over the period 2006–2014 (6,442 firm‐year observations), we examine the role that the CEO ability plays in determining the relevance of CSR disclosures and whether this role is mediated by CSR performance. By proposing several regression models, we document that more able CEOs are more willing to disclose comparable and useful CSR information that favours stakeholder engagement. This relationship is mediated by the impact that CEO's ability has over the implementation of sustainability strategies that improve CSR performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The information contained in corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports is a controversial issue, and it has generated an important debate among academics regarding company disclosure strategies. Environmental matters are especially relevant given their impact on sustainable development. The present study has two objectives. The first is to determine which Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) environmental indicators are reported less frequently. The second is to predict the evolution of these indicators in light of the institutional pressures that companies try to resist. Specifically, the study of the environmental dimension of the GRI focusses on an analysis of the following: materials, energy, water, biodiversity, emissions, effluents and waste, products and services, compliance, transport, environmental assessment, and environmental grievance mechanisms. A content analysis of CSR reports from some of the world's largest companies reveals that the indicators least disclosed by companies relate to the environmental aspects of biodiversity. The dissemination of environmental indicators is influenced by normative, mimetic, and (to a lesser extent) coercive pressures. In addition, we observe that mimetic institutional pressures under a national and industrial vision influence the dissemination of environmental information. In terms of cultural dimensions, companies located in long‐term, feminine, and collectivist countries tend to disseminate environmental information accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to reveal the corporate social responsibility (CSR) programming and communication strategies of companies from controversial versus noncontroversial industry sectors and stakeholders' responses to these online CSR communications. A content analysis of CSR videos from 58 companies among the Fortune 500 and user comments on YouTube found that controversial and noncontroversial industries tended to use different strategies in their online CSR communications. Videos that (a) used information strategies, (b) took a company‐dominant perspective, and (c) described high fit CSR programs received more negative and skeptical comments; CSR videos that (a) emphasized the companies' commitment to the programs, (b) demonstrated the impact of CSR programs with anecdotal evidences, and (c) balanced their stated CSR motives between social benefits and business interests received less negative and skeptical comments. Most importantly, stakeholders' responses towards these communication strategies differed by industry sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines if the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and innovation is homogeneous or depends on the type of CSR practice and/or the type of innovation. The paper focuses on the three dimensions of the "three bottom line" of CSR (economic, social, and environmental) and on the so‐called "fateful triangle" of innovation, which together with studied product and process innovation types also considers organizational innovation. The theoretical framework is based on the resource‐based view and the knowledge‐based view approaches. In analysing sustainable innovation in the Spanish context, we look at a set of firms taking data for the 2009–2014 Spanish Community Innovation Survey. The empirical study uses random effect probit panel data methodology. The results show that, although the positive effect of CSR on innovation is confirmed for the majority of the cases, there are differences depending on the innovation type and the CSR dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aim to explore whether board gender diversity—specifically, women directors representing institutional ownership—improves the sustainability development of listed firms by affecting corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies. Moreover, among female directors representing institutional shareholders, we can differentiate between those working for banks and insurance companies (pressure‐sensitive female institutional directors) and those working for mutual funds, investment funds, pension funds, and venture capital firms (pressure‐resistant female institutional directors). The effect of these categories of directors on CSR policies is also analysed. Our evidence suggests that women directors representing institutional ownership positively affect CSR policies, which is the same as for pressure‐resistant female institutional directors, and pressure‐sensitive institutional directors do not impact CSR policies. This research provides a new framework for the role played by certain types of female directors (female institutional directors, female pressure‐sensitive directors, and female pressure‐resistant directors) in relation to CSR policies, and thus, it may help policymakers to promote CSR policies and to take action to promote responsible behaviour among listed firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]