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There is a consensus between academics and practitioners that acquiring and maintaining a competitive workforce is key for corporate success. The claim that corporate social performance (CSP) can give companies a competitive edge in the competition for talent and affect the existing workforce positively has been a mantra repeated in many business textbooks. However, whether this claim, after 25 years after of burgeoning empirical research, still holds, ultimately remains an empirical question with far reaching consequences for businesses. This systematic literature review gives an overview of the development of the field and synthesizes the findings of experimental studies in order to understand how, when, and why CSP affects the behavior of job seekers and employees. Although finding that most of the empirical evidence suggests a positive causal effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on behaviors and attitudes of (prospective) employees, some studies demarcate boundary conditions that can compromise the stated effects. In addition to that, I identify three underdeveloped areas of inquiry potentially posing limitations to the current state of knowledge: There is (1) a lack of studies on corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) and adverse effects of CSR, (2) a geographic bias due to studies relying mostly on Europe and North American samples, and (3) a negligence of opportunity costs for CSP measures. Taken together this paper grants a more nuanced view for academics and practitioners alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study analyzes the impact of competition on environmental and social performance. Based on data collected from 82 banks in the banking industry across nine emerging Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries from 2015 to 2021, the results indicate that heightened competitive pressure compels banks to enhance their efforts in environmental and social initiatives. Additionally, a positive correlation is observed between greater Board gender diversity (BGD) and improved environmental and social performance. Finally, the results indicate that the negative impact of market power on environmental and social performance is less pronounced in banks with higher BGD, those operating in countries with a better institutional environment, and in state‐owned banks. In contrast, the negative impact is more pronounced in Islamic banks. Our research findings provide insights into the current discourse on strategic decision‐making in the context of sustainability, shedding light on the benefits associated with competition and gender diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sustainable Development Goals have set a new global standard for sustainability, requiring significant corporate involvement through the adoption of sustainable practices. Corporate Governance (CG) is acknowledged as a crucial factor influencing Corporate Sustainability Performance (CSP). This paper aims to identify research gaps in the CG-CSP area through a systematic review of literature based on articles indexed in Scopus from 1993 to 2022. A total of ninety-four articles that examine CG as a predictor of CSP were selected and analysed using content analysis. The findings indicate that research on CG-CSP has increased in recent years, leading to the development of a conceptual framework highlighting existing research and revealing gaps in research methodologies and CG elements that influence CSP. Future studies should focus on utilising qualitative or mixed-method approaches and investigating the behavioural aspects of various corporate governance stakeholders.

Purpose: This conceptual paper aims to contribute to prior corporate social responsibility (CSR) studies by examining CSR issues through the lens of the behavioral theory of the firm, which emphasizes the bounded rationality and limited cognition of firms' decision-makers. The authors suggest that social aspiration may be a more important benchmark since stakeholders tend to evaluate a firm's corporate social performance (CSP) against other comparable firms. Design/methodology/approach: After reviewing various theoretical perspectives that have been applied to CSR studies spanning from 1985 to 2023, the authors summarize their limitations on examining executives' decisions toward CSR initiatives. By drawing on the behavioral theory of the firm, a conceptual model was developed to explain how firm executives increase subsequent CSR initiatives when their firms' CSP is below social aspiration. Findings: This study suggests that firms increase their subsequent CSR initiatives when their CSP is below the performance of their peers. Furthermore, the authors propose three important characteristics of chief executive officers, including tenure, hubris and international experience, as boundary conditions that can impact the extent of firms' subsequent CSR initiatives when CSP is below social aspiration. Originality/value: The paper contributes to the CSR literature by emphasizing the influence of decision-makers' bounded rationality on firms' CSR initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines the relationship between firms' corporate social performance (CSP) and the implied cost of equity capital using a sample of 25,938 firm‐year observation from 49 countries during the period from 2002 to 2021. Using estimates of the firms' ex ante cost of equity capital, we examine its relationship with industry‐relative measures of the firms' CSP, its environmental and social pillars and sub‐pillars. We find that increased overall CSP reduces a firm's cost of equity capital up until a point, beyond which the marginal benefits of further CSP investment decrease. We find that the social pillar is the main driver of the reductions in cost of capital, in particular, a firm's performance in relation to its workforce, and that higher performance is increasingly rewarded with a lower cost of capital. Finally, we find that this relationship differs depending on the institutional context, with greater reductions in the cost of capital evident in countries with stronger institutional environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the relationship between ESG disclosures and firm risk has been researched substantially, the results remain inconclusive, and contradictory, as of 2023. Through meta‐analysis, we investigate the effect of ESG disclosures measured by studies using E, S, G, or ESG disclosure on firm risk measured as total, systematic, or idiosyncratic risk with a sample of 76 papers published between 1991 and 2023. To the best of our knowledge, this is the pioneering attempt to investigate the impact of ESG disclosure on firm risk by adopting a meta‐analytical procedure to assess the significance of estimated mean effect size followed by meta‐regression analysis to test the effect of potential moderators. E, S, and G disclosures were found to be inversely related to firm risk as proposed by stakeholder and legitimacy theories. Further, the relationship between ESG disclosures and firm risk was found to be more pronounced for idiosyncratic risk rather than systematic risk. Results confirmed that firm size and female participation significantly moderated the relation between ESG disclosures and the level of firm risk. However, R&D, financial flexibility, disclosure index, and ROA had an insignificant but negative impact on the relationship. Our findings provide solace to managers and policymakers who may increasingly invest in ESG activities without worrying as ESG investing results in reducing firm risk. In addition, to manage risk, portfolio managers may include more stocks of environmentally as well as socially responsible firms in their portfolios. Future studies may suggest new moderators in the field of ESG disclosures and firm risk, thereby broadening the theoretical realm. Subsequent studies should examine the influence of specific environmental concerns such as carbon emissions, as well as social concerns such as gender equality and employee compensation, on stock returns. It contributes to the prevailing debate on ESG disclosures and firm risk nexus as well as attempts to shed light on pertinence of moderators affecting the relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although previous research has separately investigated the impact of board gender diversity (BGD) and ownership structure on corporate social performance (CSP), there is a lack of research examining their joint effect on CSP. We discuss this joint effect in the French context featuring the dominance of family-controlled firms. Our sample comprises 2,674 firm-year observations of French listed firms from 2006 to 2019, and we use the 2011 gender quota regulatory change as an exogenous shock. Unlike most studies, we control for potential sources of endogeneity using the generalized method of moments estimator. Our results show that BGD significantly influences CSP and that family firms strengthen the relationship between female directors and CSP. In addition, we reveal that a critical mass of women significantly increases CSP, supporting the effective role of BGD in promoting CSP. Finally, the findings reveal that boardroom gender diversity regulations can be considered an exogenous shock to female representation and, consequently, to CSP. Our results contribute to the research on CSP and corporate governance and provide important practical implications for regulators, management, and scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to identify the factors for implementing Green Human Resource Management practices that will enhance the corporate social performance in the banking sector of Pakistan. The data are collected from experts from different banks on different designations. The applied methods are two integrated MCDM techniques of ISM and DEMATEL. This research contributes to the identified factors as a framework is developed using the integration of the triple theory approach, which will be helpful for the effective implementation of Green HRM to improve Corporate Social Performance. This research offers insight into how firms can enhance their social reputation by conducting different GHRM initiatives; they can promote their employees by teaching them about Green HRM practices and supporting green culture in the organization and society. The study is valuable for organizations, governments, and industries to improve their social performance by implementing GHRM practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the impact of corporate social performance (CSP), proxied by the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Index and its pillars and dimensions, on the environmentally adjusted efficiency (EAE) of 239 listed companies, over the period 2016–2021, in the global energy sector. The EAE index, estimated via data envelopment analysis (DEA), assesses the efficiency of companies by considering economic aspects alongside CO2 and energy consumption reduction targets. Our results support the hypothesis that only above a certain level of performance, do CSP practices positively influence EAE, so there is a non‐linear U‐shaped association between the overall ESG score and EAE. The same holds for the social and governance pillars, and the human rights and management subspecific dimensions, on EAE. Other ESG attributes show a positive linear relationship with EAE, namely the environmental pillar, the environmental innovation dimension and the shareholder dimension. Our paper has significant implications for companies, policy makers and researchers insofar as it estimates EAE and indicates which CSP practices should be invested in over the long term to have a positive effect on it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investors and stakeholders have intensified the demand for responsible and sustainable business practices. However, traditional ESG ratings suffer from transparency, comparability, and consistency challenges, limiting stakeholders' ability to make meaningful comparisons and interpretations. Despite efforts by organizations like GRI, CDP, and SASB to standardize ESG reporting frameworks, a universal definition remains elusive. This study proposes an advanced ESG rating technique based on key categories and consolidated indicators. This technique establishes a standardized and reliable approach to measuring ESG performance. Moreover, the study is grounded in sustainability theories which emphasize standardizing ESG metrics. This study proposes the adoption of natural language processing to identify, and auto-populate the consolidated ESG matrix. ML (Machine Learning) algorithms are used to identify and analyze sustainability-related documents and reports, such as annual reports, and sustainability statements. The research findings may interest managers interested in integrating social responsibility into their decision-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we aim to investigate the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR)‐oriented boards on triple bottom‐line (TBL) performance and whether internal corporate governance exhibits a facilitating role in achieving the sustainable development goals by enhancing the performance indicators of the TBL. Specifically, this article aims to shed light on this issue by meta‐analyzing the relationship between good governance and both social and financial performance, using a global sample to facilitate this analysis taking into account the incidence of the institutional characteristics of different countries and their impact on the relationship studied, by means of eight meta‐analyses. For this purpose, we conducted a meta‐analytic study on a sample of 289 articles published between 1997 and 2021. The results show that CSR‐oriented boards have a direct effect on corporate social performance (CSP) indicators and that their impact on financial outcomes is mediated by CSP strategies. Board size, gender diversity, and board independence present a facilitator profile of CSP, while only gender diversity enhances financial outcomes. The influence of CSR‐oriented boards is more acute in countries with greater protection for stakeholders and stronger environmental awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is disappointing that despite having access to human resources at very little cost, rising countries' administrations are so ineffective. It is often believed that an organization's unheralded employees hold the keys to its success or failure. A person's mood and demeanor may be influenced by a variety of factors. Human resource management (HRM) methods have been created and used by scientists all over the globe in an effort to maximize the potential of their most important asset. Eco-friendly inventions are crucial to the survival of humanity and the prosperity of enterprises throughout the world. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to look at how green innovation affects both the environment and businesses. Green process metrics and green product metrics, for example, may have an impact on green innovation, which is why these metrics are important to track. The second primary goal of this research is to learn how the commitment and HR practices of top management shape the link between green innovation and economic and environmental success. A self-reported poll was taken by 370 employees in China's manufacturing industry. A partial least square structural equation modelling was used to examine the data collected between April 2021 and February 2022. This research employed confirmatory component analysis, a standard technique of structural equation modelling (SEM) for examining both overt and covert variables and indicators, to assess the reflecting indicators measurement model. The findings suggest that HRM has an effect on green innovation that is both positive and statistically significant. The environment and the economy benefit greatly from green innovations. Relationships between HRM and green innovation have no unfavorable implications on business results or the environment. However, human resource management has the potential to boost organizations' prosocial impact. In a three-way interaction (moderated moderation) model, organizational success is found to have a significant role, whereas environmental and organizational success play just a little one. To improve economic and environmental outcomes across all sectors, this study adds to the existing body of knowledge and argues for the wider implementation of green innovation practices. Human resource managers play a crucial role in developing a company's culture and values. The findings suggest that with leadership's blessing, green technologies may spread across a company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper delves into the relationship between accounting conservatism, valued by financial stakeholders, and corporate social performance (CSP), esteemed by non-financial stakeholders. This study assesses the potential impact of financial reporting practices, specifically accounting conservatism, on a firm’s CSP activities, which has significant implications for diverse stakeholders. Employing an accrual-based proxy for accounting conservatism and the social contribution value per share from the Shanghai Stock Exchange as a proxy for CSP, the study utilizes a sample of 25,490 year-company observations of A-share listed companies on China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges spanning from 2008 to 2019. Empirical findings indicate a negative correlation between accounting conservatism and CSP. The study suggests that higher levels of social performance are associated with reduced conservatism in financial reporting, indicating that firms prioritize CSP over the interests of financial stakeholders by adopting less conservative financial reporting policies. Aligned with agency theory, these results underscore that socially responsible firms are less inclined to employ accounting conservatism in reporting earnings. This study establishes a connection between firms’ unconventional and less traditional activities, such as CSP, and conservative financial reporting, offering valuable insights for investors, analysts, and regulators. AcknowledgmentThis paper is co-funded by the European Union through the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) within the project “Embracing EU corporate social responsibility: challenges and opportunities of business-society bonds transformation in Ukraine” – 101094100 – EECORE – ERASMUS-JMO-2022-HEI-TCH-RSCH-UA-IBA / ERASMUS-JMO-2022-HEI-TCHRSCH https://eecore.snau.edu.ua/

The main objective of this article is to conduct a literature review on the concept of CSR and to evaluate its implementation in large business operators by analyzing and comparing descriptive statistics. The analysis is conducted using secondary data shared by the chosen business operators. The businesses chosen as cases are two large courier companies: DHL in Germany and SF-Express in China. Statistical tools are utilized in data analysis. The study has significant value for presenting the effectiveness of the practice of CSR in similar firms. The article also provides a comprehensive literature overview of the concept of CSR.

This article examined how Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility (ECSR) activities directed through green innovation influence corporate image and corporate social performance. The stakeholder theory was used to examine how stakeholders' expectations affected environmental CSR, green innovation activities and how corporate innovation initiatives affected corporate image and corporate social performance. Corporate environmental practices refer to the entire process of adopting technologies and product designs for protecting and sustaining natural resources. Selected companies in Ghana were used for this study. The study employed a cross-sectional quantitative approach where data from employees were collected across six months. This study used structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the effects of environmental CSR on social performance through mediators: green innovation and corporate image. The empirical findings demonstrate that corporate environmental CSR practices have an impact on the development of green innovations that promote companies' social performance. Additionally, evidence from the findings supports that corporate image influences companies’ social performance in Ghana. Furthermore, the findings from the study demonstrate that corporate environmental CSR enhances corporate social performance through green innovation and corporate image. The study recommends green innovation adoption to improve CSR practices, corporate image and corporate social performance.

Although some previous studies have demonstrated the positive influence of CSR on corporate performance, astonishingly few studies on CSR practices and their impacts on corporate social performance have been conducted. With growing concerns about companies' social and environmental impacts, our study emphasizes the effect of CSR on corporate social performance to strengthen the existing knowledge of concepts. This study also examines contingent factors that affect the relationship between CSR and corporate social performance. We investigate the mediation role of corporate image and green innovation that may affect the social performance of CSR practices. This differs from previous research that studied the direct relationship between CSR and corporate performance. We selected 650 participants from companies in Ghana and a structural equation model (SEM) by a bootstrap technique in Amos 23.0 was performed. We demonstrate that CSR activities relate to corporate social performance through corporate image and green innovation. Additionally, our results establish that corporate identity moderates the relationships between corporate image and social performance, green innovation and corporate social performance. The study makes conceptual and practical contributions to the existing understanding of CSR developments and their generalizability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the relationship between corporate social performance (CSP) and financial performance in Indian companies listed on the BSE and NSE. The study finds that there is a minimal impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on business profitability, consistent with previous research. However, in the hotel and restaurant industries, CSR activities have been associated with increased sales and profitability. The study also explores the influence of macroeconomic and firm-specific variables on corporate performance, finding that GDP and inflation rate have an impact. The study concludes that there is a significant impact of CSR on the operating profit and net profit of listed Indian companies, suggesting that corporations could benefit from government support in the form of robust policies and tax incentives for socially responsible firms. [Extracted from the article]

This study re-examines the relationship between women on corporate boards (WOCB) and corporate social performance (CSP) for a sample of companies from the Fortune 1000 ranking over the period 2004 to 2018 (ranked from 501 to 1000). To take into account the complex and non-linear relationship as well as endogeneity issues, we use a two-stage generalised additive model. This contribution is significant, as many authors have demonstrated the non-linearity of factors influencing performance, whether of a financial or social nature. Consistent with token and critical mass theories, our results shows that the effects of WOCB on CSP vary significantly depending on their numerical representation and that there are departures from linearity. Our findings provide explanations for the existing mixed empirical results, which all rely on parametric methods. As such, we suggest the use of semiparametric methods takin into account endogeneity issues to assess WOCB–CSP relationship. This study sheds some new light on that relationship, which remains a controversial issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on stakeholder and institutional theoretical frameworks, this study aims to examine how corporate social performance (CSP) impacts corporate financial performance (CFP) and the moderating role of country sustainability and its environmental (ENV), social (SOC) and governance (GOV) dimensions. Using a broad international sample with firms from 47 countries―and through multilevel and panel data analysis―results show a positive and significant influence of CSP on CFP, while country sustainability negatively moderates the CSP–CFP relationship. This is consistent with the idea that in countries with a high level of sustainability, firms have greater difficulty obtaining competitive advantages through actions related to corporate social responsibility. Results also indicate that country sustainability has a direct and positive impact on CFP (Tobin's‐Q), regardless of CSP. Additionally, applying country sustainability in a disaggregated manner, we find that social and governance dimensions influence the CSP–CFP relationship, while the environmental dimension does not. Evidence thus confirms that the effect of CSP on CFP varies depending on the institutional context in which the firm is located. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have shown that corporate social performance (CSP) is an antecedent of corporate reputation, acting as a signal that affects stakeholders' perceptions and expectations about a firm's future behavior. However, the perceptions, expectations, and interests of stakeholders may be affected by external factors, such as national culture, which shapes their beliefs about what role companies play in society. Drawing on institutional theory and Hofstede's cultural dimensions, we analyze how stakeholders' national culture moderates the relationship between CSP and corporate reputation. The results of the analysis of an international sample for the period 2010 to 2016 show that low individualism (i.e., collectivism), low masculinity (i.e., femininity), low power distance, and low uncertainty avoidance intensify the positive relationship between CSP and corporate reputation. JEL CLASSIFICATION: M14, L14 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is much research that examines the connection between different elements of corporate governance to specific firm outcomes (Brahmana et al., 2021; Fakhfakh & Jarboui, 2022), including ethical outcomes (Veldman et al., 2023). However, little is written about how to prevent ethical lapses from ever happening. Using the framework of agency theory, this study examined the effect of the board of directors’ power and the chief executive officer’s (CEO’s) power on the firm’s ethical behaviors. We sought to find out if strong governance, whether CEO or Board, could play a role in stopping ethical lapses before they happen. To evaluate this relationship, two indices were used. The board power index included board size, non-duality, lead director, board composition, and ownership. The CEO power index included tenure, ownership, and board member nominations. The sample consisted of 102 large, public United States (U.S.) firms. Logistic regression was utilized to determine if board power or CEO power could influence ethical firm behaviors. The findings indicated that strong boards were associated with more ethical firms. CEO power did not seem to have the same relationship. These findings are important to help firms structure boards to increase vigilance and reduce the likelihood of ethical lapses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the effect of structural and demographic board diversity on family firms' corporate social performance (CSP), taking into account certain institutional and business environment aspects. The sample consists of French, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese nonfinancial listed firms over the period 2014–2021. We compare family and nonfamily firms before focusing on family businesses. Findings show that CSP benefits from having female directors in family firms whilst independent directors increase CSP in nonfamily businesses. Family directors exert a negative effect on CSP in family firms. The enforcement of law makes the positive influence of board independence significant for family firms and of nondual CEOs for nonfamily companies. Within family firms, the negative effect of family directors is strengthened by the enforcement of law but lowered by the efficiency of the judicial system. Hostile business environment always lowers CSP and reduces female directors' positive influence for family firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study investigates the empirical link between the social and financial performance of the Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) by utilizing the PVAR-Granger causality model and a fixed-effects panel data model with a rich dataset comprising 234 ESG-rated REITs across five developed economies from 2003 to 2019. The results suggest that investors pay attention to individual E/S/G metrics and price each component of ESG investing differently, with E-investing and S-investing practices being the significant financial performance factors of REITs. This study is the first attempt to test the social impact and risk mitigation hypotheses of the stakeholder theory of the corporation and the neoclassic trade-off argument to explore the association between corporate social responsibility and the market valuation of REITs. The full sample results strongly support the trade-off hypothesis, indicating that REITs' environmental policies involve high financial costs that may drain off capital and lead to decreasing market returns. On the contrary, investors have attached a higher value to S-investing performance, especially in the post-GFC period from 2011 to 2019. A positive premium for S-investing supports the stakeholder theory as the social impact could be monetarized into a higher return and a lower systematic risk and give rise to a competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global healthcare organizations are fundamental in addressing the healthcare needs of local and global communities. This highly regulated sector means it is under constant scrutiny for health, safety, and ethical compliance risks by federal regulatory bodies. Despite higher monitoring, an increasing number of healthcare companies receive fines for their irresponsible practices, manifesting significant questions about their corporate governance and sustainability practices. Against this backdrop, this study examines the relationship between boardroom diversity on the sustainability performance of companies operating in healthcare. Utilizing a global sample of publicly listed healthcare companies, using panel regression data and the system-GMM estimator accounting for endogeneity, we find evidence of a positive association between board diversity (gender and culture) and sustainability performance. These findings support critical mass theoretical expectations for board diversity and sustainability performance, suggesting that a meaningful representation (three or more) of women and ethnic directors on the board of healthcare organizations significantly improves sustainability performance. The findings remain robust in a series of robustness tests and continue to hold after accounting for potential endogeneity concerns. This paper has important implications for global healthcare organizational policy concerning diversity management practices and their implications for sustainability performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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