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This study employs the Porter hypothesis framework to test the moderating role of production cost in the relationship between resource‐efficiency actions and financial performance for German small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). For this purpose, we employ the 2012, 2018, and 2021 Flash Eurobarometer surveys to analyze how consistently SMEs adopt resource‐efficiency actions, and the impact of these actions on their performance and costs. We also conduct a generalized method of moments regression analysis (GMM). Among the seven resource‐efficiency actions proposed, saving water had a significant positive (negative) influence on financial performance in 2012, 2021, and (2018). Saving energy and using renewable energy had a positive and significant (insignificant) effect on financial performance in 2018, 2021, and (2012). Finally, selling scrap material to other companies had a positive and significant impact in all years. Furthermore, increased production costs negatively moderate the relationship between eco‐efficiency action scores and financial performance. The results indicate that the "strong" version of the Porter hypothesis is not supported: It only holds when the implementation of eco‐efficiency actions reduces production costs and increases financial performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzed whether the audit committee moderates the relationship between gender diversity and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures among Chinese listed firms. Data on energy sector companies from 2012 to 2022 were taken from the Chinese Stock Market and Accounting Research database to test the moderation model. Gender diversity was measured as the percentage of females on boards using the Blau and Shannon indices. Board gender diversity directly and positively affected both the overall and individual dimensions of ESG disclosures. Furthermore, the audit committee moderated the relationship between gender diversity and ESG disclosure. This study provides valuable insights for managers and investors to evaluate the role of gender diversity and audit committees in ESG disclosures and facilitates them in making better decisions. Furthermore, regulators can revise corporate governance codes to promote more female inclusion not only on corporate boards but also on subcommittees to protect the rights of stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines depressive symptoms faced by non-native international medical students studying in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. The targeted population for this cross-sectional study included nonnative medical students studying in Chinese universities. This study used convenience sampling. An online, self-administered questionnaire was distributed to international medical students studying in Chinese universities from February 2020 to June 2021. The questionnaire collected demographic data, information regarding struggles faced, and used the CES-D-10 Likert scale to assess both the challenges and depression symptoms, respectively. By analyzing the 1,207 students' responses, the study found that students with poor Chinese language were two times more likely to suffer from depressive symptoms (OR = 2.67; value of p 0.00). Moreover, female students were found more prone (76.35%) than their male counterparts (44.96%). The study found that food adaptability, health issues, accommodation issues, and financial issues were related factors contributing to depressive symptoms among non-native international medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study tried to highlight the factors that resulted in depressive symptoms among non-native international medical students, and the findings may help diplomatic representatives take necessary actions to help their citizens during this difficult time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to determine the direction of causality between economic growth and environmentally oriented taxes between two countries, China and India. Further, it investigates which country is leading in environmental protection race by imposing and collecting more environmental taxes. The novel element of this study is that this is the first study comparing two economic rivals by environment taxes. The dataset consists of environmental taxes and its proportion to GDP and total taxes, transportation taxes, GDP and adjusted net savings for China and India. The data are taken from the organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) data bank from 2009 to 2018. The study utilizes the Granger causality to test the causal relationship between environment taxes and economic growth. The findings of the study posit that the imposition of environmental taxes will not only make the big economies environmental friendly but with sustainable economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed to empirically investigate the impact of board diversity variables (age, gender, nationality, education, tenure, and expertise) on the investment preferences of foreign institutional investors in an emerging market, China. For this, sample data consisted of 1374 nonfinancial Chinese firms from 2009 to 2018. The study used OLS regression as a baseline regression, a fixed effect model to control omitted variable bias, and the two-step systems GMM model to control the endogeneity problem. The study revealed that board diversity variables (gender, nationality, education, and financial expertise) are positively associated with foreign institutional ownership in Chinese nonfinancial firms, implying that foreign institutional investors own a high percentage of Chinese nonfinancial firms with diversity of gender, nationality, education, and financial expertise. Age and tenure of board diversity, on the other hand, have little correlation with foreign institutional ownership. Further, the robustness regressions also confirmed the relationship between board diversity and foreign institutional ownership. This study made a unique attempt to provide empirical evidence that firms having diverse boards attract foreign institutional ownership by reducing asymmetric information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]