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info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MINECO/Programa Estatal de Fomento de la Investigación Científica y Técnica de Excelencia/ECO2013-43838-P/ES/DISCRECCIONALIDAD DIRECTIVA Y RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL CORPORATIVA: EFECTO EN LA REPUTACION Y EL COSTE DE CAPITAL This study analyses the impact of investment in climate change mitigation innovations and technologies on companies, both from a financial and reputational viewpoint, as well as in terms of their environmental performance. We also investigate the moderating effect of institutional investors on the relationship between climate change mitigation investments and firm performance, considering their presence in shareholdings and their typology. We argue that the time horizon and objectives of their investments determine the approach to the integration of environmental criteria in the companies in which they invest. The results obtained for an international sample of 38,666 observations for the period 2010–2020, indicate that investment in climate-change mitigation technologies shows an increasing evolution, focusing especially on clean technologies and, to a lesser extent, on green building. The presence of shareholding by institutional investors with a long-term time horizon and strategic objectives enhances the impact of these projects on the company's image, market value, and profitability. At the environmental level, their effects are particularly associated with the responsible management of resources, and has a limited effect on emissions. The results are robust to different methodological specifications, validating the theoretical and practical implications of this research This work was supported by Consejería de Educación, Junta de Castilla y León [Grant/Award Number: SA069G18]; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación [Grant/Award Number: ECO2013-43838P]; Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades [Grant/Award Number: RTI2018-093423-B-I00]; Universidad de Salamanca [Grant/Award Number: USAL2017-DISAQ]; and Xunta de Galicia [Grant/Award Number: 2020 GPC GI-2016] SI

There is a significant gender gap in accounting academia that places women at a disadvantage in terms of recruitment, hiring, promotion, tenure, status, high-level areas or positions (both research and administrative), burden distribution of work, and remuneration. Women are disproportionately represented in part-time or non-tenure tracks, such as lecturers, instructors, and assistant professors. They experience a slower rate of advancement and have lower pay and prestige. Given that various authors attribute this situation to the level of research and production of papers in top-tier scientific journals, this article aims to describe women's participation as authors in cost and management accounting to contribute to clarifying possible causes of gender disparity in the accounting case.

Recent research shows the existence of a selective corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure strategy that creates a gap between CSR disclosure and actual performance. These CSR decoupling practices compromise the credibility of CSR reports and have triggered a demand for the adoption of credibility enhancement mechanisms, such as adherence to the global reporting initiative (GRI) reporting guidelines, and the external assurance of CSR reports. The effectiveness of such mechanisms is not clear, however. This paper draws on legitimacy theory and addresses the issue of symbolic versus substantive use of assurance, and compliance with GRI reporting standards, by analysing their effect on CSR decoupling using an international sample of 1,939 companies (15,219 observations from 2002 to 2017). Analysis of a sub-sample of 708 firms (3,730 observations from 2011 to 2017) also shows that the application of GRI guidelines and the specific characteristics of the assurance provider—accountant, experience and specialisation—reduce CSR decoupling practices. The results provide researchers, managers, assurance providers, investors, stakeholders and regulators with additional insight into the value of the external assurance of sustainability reports and have important managerial and policy implications.

Companies integrate Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their sustainability reports for various reasons. This paper examines whether and how imitation and competitive pressures drive the SDG reporting in an international context. Drawing on institutional theory and employing data collected from 36 countries over 6 years (from 2015 to 2020), we found that, at the industry level, the extent of SDG reporting is associated with (a) the average extent of SDG reporting, (b) the extent of SDG reporting of the largest company, and (c) the average extent of SDG reporting of the companies awarded for their sustainability commitments. Additionally, we provide evidence of a positive effect exerted by competitive pressures, as well as evidence that the interaction between various forms of imitation and competition negatively affects SDG reporting. Our results are robust to different subsamples and have key implications for practitioners, regulators, and policymakers.

The purpose of this article is threefold. Firstly, it is aimed at ascertaining whether, in seeking social legitimization, companies disclose CSR information as a response to mimetic pressures. Secondly, it ascertains whether, by seeking economic legitimization, companies with superior CSR performance disclose CSR information to differentiate themselves from low-performing counterparts. Thirdly, it examines the moderating effects of CSR performance in the relationship between mimetic pressures and CSR disclosure, exploring how the social and economic legitimacy influence in tandem the CSR disclosure. The study is based on a sample of 10,395 firm-year observations coming from 1,993 international companies that released their CSR report in the 2011-2017 timespan. The results, in addition to demonstrating that both mimetic pressures and CSR performance have a positive bearing on the disclosure of CSR information, suggest that the interaction between mimetic pressures and CSR performance has an additive positive effect on CSR disclosure.

This paper analyses the current state and the dynamic evolution of corporate transparency practices in relation to the 2030 Agenda in the context of stakeholder engagement. Considering six key stakeholder groups and 53 information items related to business actions aligned with the 2030 Agenda, data from 5908 companies worldwide corresponding to the period 2015–2019 are analysed by using X-STATIS to identify which stakeholder groups have a meaningful role in fostering business contribution to the 2030 Agenda. The results show a low level of corporate transparency in relation to business contribution to the 2030 Agenda. Companies are mainly focused on transparency practices aimed at investors and shareholders. Conversely, customers and the environment are the less considered stakeholder groups. European countries are the leaders in this regard, whereas countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Qatar present the worst records in corporate transparency regarding the 2030 Agenda. The findings have a practical value by providing a picture of how companies use Sustainable Development Goal reporting to optimise relationships with key stakeholders Junta de Castilla y Leon y Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional, Grant/Award Number: CLU-2019-03 Unidad de Excelencia GECOS; Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades, Grant/Award Number: RTI2018-093423-B-I00; Xunta de Galicia, Grant/Award Number: 2020 GPC GI-2016 SI

info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MINECO/Programa Estatal de Fomento de la Investigación Científica y Técnica de Excelencia/ECO2013-43838-P/ES/DISCRECCIONALIDAD DIRECTIVA Y RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL CORPORATIVA: EFECTO EN LA REPUTACION Y EL COSTE DE CAPITAL The European Union has made the fight against climate change and the achievement of a sustainable economy political priorities. To promote the ecological transition of companies and corporate transparency, a broad regulatory framework has been developed. This paper analyses the effect of institutional pressures derived from this regulatory framework on the environmental information disclosed by 832 multinationals in the period 2011–2020. The results reveal a positive global effect, although, at an individual level, this effect is only maintained for the regulations and recommendations related to non-financial information and the European Green Deal. Furthermore, the impact differs depending on the category of environmental information disclosed Consejería de Educacion, Junta de Castilla y Leon, Grant/Award Number: SA069G18; Consellería de Cultura, Educacion e Ordenacion Universitaria, Xunta de Galicia, Grant/Award Number: 2020 GPC GI-2016; Junta de Castilla Leon y Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional, Grant/Award Number: CLU-2019-03 Unidad de Excelencia GECOS; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, Grant/Award Number: ECO2013-43838P; Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades, Grant/Award Number: RTI2018-093423-B-I00; Universidad de Salamanca, Grant/Award Number: USAL2017-DISAQ SI

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.

Gender equality is the future towards which society and companies have to move, and it is thus essential to know what efforts organisations are making. In this paper, we analyse the transparency of multinationals in matters of gender, in accordance with the requirements determined by the global reporting initiative (GRI) and United Nations (UN). The results suggest that higher levels of gender equality support the decision to report all GRI+UN indicators, a decision that has been maintained over time and is not moderated by peer disclosure. This behaviour facilitates the inclusion of companies in different reputation lists as a consequence of a greater commitment to gender equality, although these rankings also assess the completeness of the information when considering the disclosure of the GRI+UN indicators. The effect differs according to the practices of peer firms.

Received 3 January 2023 Accepted 25 April 2023 Available online xxx Keywords: Climate change Environmental innovation Board gender diversity Human capital Corporate governance Critical mass JEL codes: M14 O44 Q01 Q54 Introduction The need to !ght against climate change and its devastating effects on the planet represents one of the greatest challenges for humanity (IPCC, 2007). As a major emitter of greenhouse gases and waste generation, companies are urged by the various economic, political and social players to take measures to reduce their carbon footprint (Ben-Amar et al., 2017; Caby et al., 2022; Gull et al., 2022). One way to respond to these growing demands is to implement inno- vative solutions aimed at reducing pollutant emissions and waste generation, as well as resource consumption (García-Sa nchez et al., 2020; Haque, 2017). However, such initiatives are costly and can take time to have an effect, so their development requires strong commit- ment and support from the board (Atif et al., 2021; Gull et al., 2022; He & Jiang, 2019), as the main body responsible for corporate strate- gies and risk management (Issa & Bensalem, 2022; Nadeem et al., 2020). * Corresponding author. E-mail address: lajefa@usal.es (I.-M. García-S anchez). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jik.2023.100372 ABSTRACT This paper responds to recent calls to study the role that board gender diversity plays in shaping corporate responses to climate change. It examines whether female board representation is associated with greater cli- mate change innovation and whether its effect is determined by the presence of a greater number of inde- pendent female directors or the existence of a critical mass of female directors. The results obtained for a panel data of 3,928 companies over the period 2010!2020 (35,199 observations) con!rm that companies with a greater female board representation (both in number and in percentage) are more proactive in terms of investments in climate change innovation. This positive effect does not require a critical mass of female directors and diminishes when the percentage of female directors is higher than 46.78%, a proportion associ- ated with the presence of !ve or more female directors. Furthermore, female directors in"uence climate change innovation mainly through their involvement in management as executive directors, rather than through the monitoring and advisory roles that characterize independent directors. The theoretical and prac- tical implications derived from this research are robust to different considerations and methodological approaches.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyse the role played by institutional investors in a firm’s decision to hire sustainability assurance services and to determine the benefits of sustainability assurance for the functioning of the capital market. This analysis is complemented by examining the quality of the sustainability assurance service that institutional investors demand. Design/methodology/approach The authors selected a sample of 1,564 multinational firms from 2002 to 2017. Panel data logit and generalised method of moments (GMM) regressions were estimated to consider decisions about hiring sustainability assurance services or not, and the assurance quality indexes constructed by a checklist based on the academic literature, respectively. Findings Institutional pressures associated with the environmental and social impacts of a firm’s activities lead to the convergence of institutional investor attitudes towards corporate sustainability, so that, regardless of their investment horizon, they promote the hiring of sustainability assurance services by corporate boards, which favours analyst precision and a reduction in the cost of capital. Long-term (LT) institutional investors exert influence through a selection mechanism, whereas short-term (ST) institutional investors exert influence through their presence on the board. Once the company has decided to provide assurance about its sustainability report, both types of institutional investors promote a higher quality of such service, although this is not well valued by the stock market. Research limitations/implications This paper extends research on the monitoring role of institutional investors into the sustainability assurance context. Researchers may benefit from this paper’s findings when they examine the factors that drive the hiring of sustainability assurance services and their characteristics. This paper also shows that sustainability assurance services are a significant weakness due to the lack of standardisation in comparison with financial auditing, which complicates the assessment of their quality by stock market participants, thereby penalising those companies that provide more complete sustainability assurance reports. Practical implications Considering this paper’s findings, it seems advisable that regulators establish a normative framework to standardise sustainability assurance processes. The results can also be used as an orientation for both companies, to design their sustainability disclosure policies and regulators, to improve the running of the capital market. Social implications Sustainability assurance services have a positive effect on the running of the capital market and improve external stakeholder decision-making by providing more reliable information, which, in turn, will favour the implementation of more sustainable actions that contribute to the attainment of sustainable development goals. Originality/value This is one of the first papers to analyse the effect of institutional ownership on a firm’s decision to hire sustainability assurance services and consider the effect of the institutional investors’ investment horizon – LT versus ST – and the channel – selection methods and/or active engagement – used by them to exert their influence. The authors also propose several measures of sustainability assurance quality to demonstrate the relevance of the contents of the assurance statement for the capital market in general and the institutional investors in particular.

Based on a sample of 4,089 multinational companies over the period 2015–2018, this study analyses the role that women leaders play in relation to the implementation of sustainability strategies to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and whether this role depends on the proportion of female presence in management teams. The results show that the commitment to the 2030 Agenda is higher in companies with a woman as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and/or chairperson of the board of directors, as well as greater gender diversity in both, management teams and the monitoring body. However, the incongruity in the phenomenon of female leadership stereotypes hinders the existence of a complementary relationship that reinforces it. We showed that, consistent with the social role theory, prejudices act as barriers to achieve synergic effects among women in different management positions SI

Do family firms care more for different stakeholders than nonfamily firms when operating in a hostile business environment? This study addresses this question and fills the existing void in family business research. It shows that family-controlled firms adopt corporate social responsibility strategies and balance the demands of internal and external interest groups to preserve their socio-emotional wealth while facing fierce competition, resource scarcity, and penurious economic conditions. More specifically, our analysis of an international sample of 956 listed firms from 2006 to 2014 reveals that family firms show a higher level of corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and better stakeholder orientation than nonfamily firms. Our findings are useful for managers, policymakers, and responsible investors.

A bibliometric and bibliographic review was carried out to determine the effect that gender diversity in a board of directors has on the level of business commitment to sustainable development and stakeholder engagement through the dissemination of social and environmental information. The review included 89 articles published in the 66 most prestigious journals on business, management, ethics and environmental sciences according to the journal citation reports on the ISI Web of Knowledge. There has been spectacular growth in this line of research since 2016, led by Spanish and American researchers. There is currently a paradigm shift in the theoretical frameworks that support these investigations in examining the organisational and institutional environments that favour the advantages associated with the presence of women in bodies responsible for business strategy. However, the latest papers are based on the use of the Critical mass theory and moderating factors in order to explaining the divergence of results.

Eco‐innovation and eco‐design strategies are associated with firms' innovation capabilities. Moreover, they may impact on access to public subsidies and on financial performance. In this respect, the agri‐food industry is especially vulnerable, because in general, this sector has less experience of technological innovation, and managers are more likely to be averse to such projects. On the other hand, the board may promote a proactive environmental approach to defend the interests of investors and other stakeholders, taking the view that these strategies reduce the environmental impact of the firm's products and its production processes and are therefore beneficial. Our study aim is to identify the profile of directors who may be favourable to eco‐design and eco‐innovation strategies, focusing on the traits of independence, gender diversity and environmental specialisation. The results obtained, from a dependence model based on panel data supplied by 321 agri‐food companies for the period 2002–2017 (unbalanced panel data with 4878 observations), show that independent directors play a crucial role in implementing eco‐innovation and eco‐design projects. However, neither the diversity nor the specialisation of directors is a significant factor in this regard.

PurposeThis study aims to analyse the role that the chief executive officer (CEO) has on integrated reporting (IR) adoption and whether this role is moderated by incentives to promote corporate transparency, including information asymmetry problems and financial constraints. IR represents the last frontier of corporate disclosure and aims to represent, through the annual integrated report, the ability of an organization to create value over time.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on 10,819 observations (an unbalanced data panel of 1,588 firms for the period 2009–2017). A logistic regression model is used to examine the association between CEO power and disclosure of an integrated report.FindingsThe results show that CEOs with greater power oppose the disclosure of integrated information, and this behaviour is not modified by firms’ incentives. Furthermore, greater growth opportunities increase CEO opposition to disclosing integrated information on the creation of value, perhaps as a consequence of the possible use of it by competitors.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the existing literature. First, it expands the scientific debate on the topic of IR. Second, it extends the application field of agency theory, which is seldom used to explain the phenomena related to IR.

PurposeThis study investigates the relationship between national culture and the country level of firms' digitalisation, by applying Hofstede's cultural framework to the European Union member states. Although many studies have observed the impact of national culture on firms' innovation and information and communication technology (ICT) adoption, there have been no analyses of how cultural dimensions impact firms' digitalisation at the country level. This study intends to fill that gap.Design/methodology/approachUsing a pooled ordinary least square (OLS) model, this study analyses data from 27 European countries over the period from 2014 to 2018.FindingsThe results suggest the existence of a negative, significant, relationship between both masculinity and uncertainty avoidance, and the country level of firms' digitalisation. Indulgence is found to positively and significantly influence a country's level of digitalisation. Contrary to expectations, this study indicates a negative, significant, relationship between individualism and the degree of digitalisation. Power distance is found to have no significant impact.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature by showing how a country's various cultural dimensions help or hinder the level of firms' digitalisation in that country. Theoretical and managerial implications are presented, including suggestions for future research.

The main objective of this research is to propose the best aggregate index of corporate social responsibility practice at the organisational level. To achieve this, we analyse the consistency of the different aggregated measures that researchers use in their analyses through a robust statistical technique, the CUR matrix, framed in the big data environment for selecting individuals. Accordingly, we use an international sample of 2,675 large listed companies. The results show that the CUR leverage identifies greater consistency of the different aggregate measures of CSR, confirming its coherence with a correlation analysis. In this sense, it is possible to affirm that the composite indexes used in academia do not introduce any bias into the analysis of CSR practices. In addition, we demonstrate the utility of this technique to identify the most powerful companies, analysing their CSR commitment at the country and industry levels, namely, Norsk Hydro in the metal and mining industry in Norway, Stora Enso in forestry and paper in Finland, Akzo Nobel in chemical products in the Netherlands, BMW in automobiles and parts in Germany, Generali in finance in Italy, Novartis in pharmaceuticals in Switzerland, the BT Group in telecommunications in the United Kingdom and Inditex in textiles in Spain. Moreover, the results of the CUR study confirm that companies adapt to the demands or pressures from the stakeholders in different areas of interest, which are specific to each country and industry. The availability of these data allows the identification of the structural drivers of their growth and the establishment of priorities that allow the design of more effective sustainable development momentum policies.

Many studies have examined the direct relationship between the two corporate practices: corporate social responsibility (CSR) and earnings management (EM); however, the results remain heterogeneous. To achieve the consensus, this study builds upon the classical agency theory and examines the role of managerial entrenchment in creating organizational facades related to CSR and EM. More specifically, it examines the relationship between CSR performance and EM in the presence of managerial entrenchment and the direct effect of managerial entrenchment on CSR decoupling. In doing so, this article provides evidence of a previously underappreciated yet fundamentally important aspect, that is, managerial entrenchment, that may significantly affect the quality of earnings as well as the level of alignment between CSR disclosure and performance. Our analyses of longitudinal data of an international sample for the period of 2007-2016 supports that managerial entrenchment significantly moderates the relationship between CSR performance and EM. Furthermore, our study reveals that entrenched managers decouple CSR disclosure and performance.

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.

Institutional investors show increasing interest in how companies align their corporate social responsibility strategies with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) proposed by the United Nations (UN). The information disclosed in this regard is essential to know and monitor business contribution to the 2030 Agenda. In this paper, we analyze the influence that institutional investors have on the adoption of the disclosure strategy established by UN and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)—GRI-SDG Compass. The results obtained for a sample of 989 international companies, which prepare their sustainability reports following the GRI guidelines, show that ownership by foreign investors, pension funds, and “other” investors boosts the relevance of the information disclosed in relation to the 2030 Agenda. On the contrary, government, financial institutions, and cross holdings have no impact on the information systems developed.

This article analyzes the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) decoupling and financial market outcomes. CSR decoupling refers to the gap between CSR disclosure and CSR performance. More specifically, we analyze the effect of CSR decoupling on analysts’ forecast errors, cost of capital, and access to finance. We also examine the moderating effect of forecast errors on relationships between CSR decoupling and cost of capital and access to finance. For a sample of U.S. firms consisting of 7,681 firm-year observations for the period 2006–2015, our empirical evidence supports the idea that a wider gap results in higher analysts’ forecast errors, a greater cost of capital, and reduced access to finance. In addition, our results show that forecast errors enhance the effect of the CSR decoupling on cost of capital and access to financial resources. We also note that external monitoring, in the form of greater analysts’ coverage, reduces CSR decoupling.

Stakeholder dialogue is considered a key component of companies’ corporate social responsibility strategy with the aim to discover stakeholders’ demands, expectations, and their view of the firms. Based on the stakeholder theory, this paper aims to deepen the knowledge about stakeholder dialogue by analyzing how firms conduct the dialogue with five key stakeholder groups (i.e., employees, customers, suppliers, investors and shareholders, and the community). Using a sample of 35 leading Spanish companies and, after the collection and processing of the information available in their corporate websites and reports, we have determined the channels that are used, the pursued objectives, and the main commitments achieved. The results indicate that firms are engaged in several forms of dialogue with stakeholders and use various channels which differ depending on the targeted stakeholder group. We gain insight into the initiatives with which companies engage with stakeholders, the underlying interactions, and how each stakeholder group views and assesses the firm. Practical implications for policy makers and managers, as well as future lines of research are proposed.

Sustainable product innovation is a key issue facing agri-food companies to maintain and increase their competitiveness. Based on a sample of 320 international agri-food companies for the period 2002–2017, this paper analyzes the role that ownership structure and capital structure play with regard to sustainable product innovation as well as whether these financing decisions differ depending on the firm's ownership structure. The results indicate that family-owned firms show an aversion to this type of eco-innovation projects, regardless of their source of financing. On the contrary, ownership by cross-holdings favors investment in sustainable product innovation projects, showing a greater preference for the use of debt financing versus auto-financing to fund them.

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.

This paper analyses the strategies implemented by listed Spanish companies that are leaders in their industrial environments to inform shareholders and the public about their circular economy projects. It uses content and textual approaches through the factorial correspondence analysis of all the information about the circular economy presented on corporate websites. The analysis of the 17,510 resulting terms suggests that companies prioritise discourses about a sustainable future, their commitment to the proper use of resources and the reduction or elimination of greenhouse gases. The sectors most sensitive to institutional pressures, such as oil and energy companies, are more active in disclosing the problems and desired solutions of their projects.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had serious health, social and economic consequences. In this difficult context, companies are called upon to implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to support society and the weakest individuals. This study examines how Spanish companies have supported society and vulnerable individuals through partnerships with non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In this regard, a multiple case study analysis based on 14 companies listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange that have created collaborations with different NGOs was conducted. The results show that these partnerships are mainly aimed at providing food, health, social and technological support to society and vulnerable individuals. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that examines the support provided by companies to society during the COVID-19 pandemic in the European context.

This paper analyses the level of managerial discretion in the practice of disclosing social and environmental information using impression management techniques based on visual rhetoric and associated with the structural dimension of the size of graphics and photographs and the colour of these images and of the animations in the report. From a sample of 105 non‐financial information statements from the 35 Spanish companies that were part of the IBEX 35 in 2018, 2017, and 2013, the results suggest two different impression management strategies used by companies to manage stakeholder's perception, with specific features at the industry level and with different levels of divergence/convergence in the structural dimensions of size or colour according to the level of standardisation in the revealed information.

Within innovation strategies, ecodesign and ecoinnovation are becoming very relevant in recent years as they seek to reduce the environmental impact of both products and production processes by using new technologies and ways of working that contribute to sustainable development and at the same time help to promote the competitiveness of companies. In this framework, the objective of this paper is to analyze the impact that the strategies of environmental innovation in products and processes have on the profitability and the market value of the companies, considering the moderating role that the munificence of the industry has in this relationship. Using the generalized method of moments, the results obtained from a sample of 6,454 international companies during the period 2002–2017 show that although environmental innovation strategies do not entail higher returns, they are well valued by the capital market. This was especially true in environments with greater economic growth and availability of resources, that is, in munificent environments.

Purpose In view of the significant deficiencies that have been observed in corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting practices, some companies have undertaken a new communication strategy based on a combination of the GRI guidelines and the IFC Performance Standards (termed the GRI-IFC strategy). This paper aims to analyse the role of the CSR committee and of assurance services in promoting this novel practice. Design/methodology/approach The authors use an unbalanced sample of 750 international companies that operate in emerging markets for the years 2011-2016, in which logistic and ordinal regressions are applied to the panel data to test the research hypotheses. Findings The results show that the existence of a CSR committee facilitates adoption of the GRI-IFC strategy, thus promoting sustainable management policies and systems and enhancing communication with stakeholders. In addition, these specialised committees often commission assurance for sustainability reports, to reinforce strategies aimed at improving corporate transparency. Research limitations/implications The analysis of mediation shows that diverse characteristics of corporate governance mechanisms interact in improving sustainability and business transparency. Practical implications There is an evident need for greater commitment by institutions to sustainability, for example by requiring greater specialisation of the members of the CSR committee in social and environmental issues. In addition, consideration should be given to including the creation of a CSR committee as a good practice, within the code of corporate governance and to establishing a specific framework for the committee’s actions. Social implications The previously cited impacts of this paper all contribute indirectly to a greater social welfare by generating higher levels of transparency, ethics and corporate performance. Specifically, higher quality verification services will have an impact on the improved functioning of the financial and capital markets, as well as in decision-making by internal and external stakeholders with more reliable information that will favour the implementation of more sustainable processes that in the short and long term will mean more companies who are responsible towards the environment and society. Originality/value This novel study explains why companies adopt voluntary strategies in compliance with GRI guidelines, seeking to provide better CSR disclosure.

Is the relationship between environmental munificence, dynamism, and corporate social responsibility contingent on board monitoring power? This is the research question examined in this study of an international sample of 956 listed firms from 2006 to 2014. After applying several regression models for panel data based on Tobit and generalized method of moments' (GMM) estimation, this paper supports the assertion that in munificent and dynamic environments, managers show a lower commitment to social and environmental issues. Proactive promotion of social and environmental concerns only occurs in firms with efficient internal corporate governance mechanisms, resulting in a moderating effect of board monitoring power—board independence and non‐duality of CEO—on the association between environmental conditions and corporate social responsibility. Theoretically, this moderating effect triggers managers to increase their socially responsible performance in munificent and dynamic environments because: (a) these boards reinforce the orientation of a firm towards the meeting of stakeholders' expectations; and (b) managers aim to protect themselves from the greater supervision and control exerted by the board in order to maintain their decision‐making freedom in environments of superior growth, resources, market uncertainty, and instability.

This paper investigates the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure quantity, quality, and external validation concerning assurance on capital constraints. We examine if these disclosure characteristics matter to the investors in the financial market, then they should be positively evaluated by financial market participants. More specifically, we study the effects of disclosure quantity, quality, and assurance on the access to financial resources for reporting firms. Analysis of data of an interna- tional sample for the period of 2007–2016 significantly supports the value relevance idea of CSR disclosure quality. We document that availability of more information about the firm's CSR initiatives eases the financial access. Furthermore, the quality and external assurance of CSR disclosure further strengthen the relationship between disclosure and access to finance. Our paper not only provides support for buying assurance but also argue for better assurance quality.

Recent studies have investigated how women on boards impact corporate social responsibility reporting, a voluntary strategy clearly influenced by board composition in general and gender diversity in particular. However, this research goes further and proposes to provide evidence about how female directors influence gender issues reporting. Moreover, this research also examines the moderating effect between gender diversity on boards and country‐level factors related to stakeholder orientation. For an international sample of 8,609 firm‐year observations from 2007 to 2016 and by regressing several logit models for panel data, it was found that female directors increase the probability of voluntary reporting on gender issues. Moreover, the findings also suggest that institutional forces related to stakeholder pressures reinforce this effect; the greater reporting on gender issues that female directors achieve is even higher when firms are located in stakeholder‐oriented countries.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the role played by independent directors and their decisions regarding the disclosure of information on corporate social responsibility (CSR). We posit that these directors (i) drive the creation of a CSR committee to advise them on social and environmental issues, and (ii) promote the use of the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines and the International Finance Corporation Performance Standards (jointly, the GRI-IFC strategy) in their CSR disclosure. The GRI-IFC strategy requires the disclosure of key indicators, and is expected to strengthen stakeholder engagement and to enhance the firm’s internal monitoring. Our analysis of an unbalanced sample of 750 international companies, spanning the period 2011–2016, in which logistic and ordinal regressions are applied to the panel data, reveals a generalised absence of direct involvement by independent directors in the adoption of the GRI-IFC strategy. However, in many cases these directors promote the creation of a CSR committee to advice the board on the voluntary implementation of the GRI-IFC strategy. Our evidence shows that the CSR committee plays a mediating role in the cause-effect relationship between independent directors and their adoption of the GRI-IFC strategy.