CSRHub for Research Purposes
CSRHub ESG Consensus data has been used in major best-of-lists, industry-leading sustainability research,
and all levels of academic research.
.jpg?width=350&name=The%20Link%20Between%20Brand%20Value%20and%20Sustainability%20cr%20(1).jpg)
Use CSRHub for your next research project
Periodically, we are asked if anyone has used CSRHub for research purposes. Many students have written their thesis or dissertations with our data, listed below. If we have missed yours, or one you know of, please let us know.
These Universities are known to be doing active research in Sustainability:
Bard College, Boston University, Columbia University, Duke University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Kansas State University, Midwestern State University, New York University (NYU), Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, Universidad de Burgos, Universitas Indonesia, University of California Santa Barbara, University of Genova, University of Minnesota, University of New Mexico, University of South Florida, University of Surrey, Western Connecticut State University, Yale University, Zhaw School of Management and Law
Research Papers
2023 Papers
Corporate Social Responsibility and Economic Growth in the Mining Industry
Mohammad Yousefian, Marc Bascompta, Lluís Sanmiquel, Carla Vintró
This research provides insight into the effects of implementing Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives in the mining industry in the European context. In many cases, the strategy is not coincident for shareholders and stakeholders, and as a result, the mining activity could be jeopardized. Achieving socially responsible goals can be a challenging task to conduct. This study aims to examine the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) performance and the economic growth of European mining companies using fixed effects regression models in addition to content analysis. Data from 45 medium- and large-sized mining companies is analyzed from 2018 to 2021. The models were created to assess the relationship between the companies' economic and social responsibility performances. The findings of this paper confirm that Corporate Social Responsibility positively affects the economic growth of companies, including their profitability and firm value. Furthermore, the affecting CSR indicators are identified with respect to each economic indicator, with training, health & safety, and community development being the most common impacting indicators.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214790X23000175
Corporate Governance Attributes and Firm-specific Features as Determinants of Sustainability Initiatives of Listed Financial and Non-Financial Companies in Nigeria
Usman Ahmed Kumo
The study's population covers all listed corporations on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), both financial and non-financial. As of December 2021, there are 168 financial and non-financial entities on the NSE (NSE Daily official listing, March 1, 2022). However, this study considers the quoted companies rated and ranked by the CSRHUB consensus economic, social, and governance (ESG) rating amongst all sectors in Nigeria because of their enormous contribution to the field of CSR globally. The time frame for the research is six (6) years, from 2016 to 2021. An assessment of companies' roles in promoting environmentally friendly practices has been conducted, as we deem it necessary to study the effect of sustainability initiatives between the financial and non-financial sectors. This study adopted a purposive sampling technique in drawing its samples. The purposive sampling procedure necessitates focusing on entities with precise structures that could offer information on a study issue (Etikan et al., 2016). Thus, twenty-six (26) corporations in Nigeria have taken a stance on corporate social responsibility, which forms the sample of this study. The unweighted disclosure index is used to measure SI, which is the dependent variable for this study. as in Bashiru et al. (2022); Waheed et al. (2021); Jamil et al. (2021); and Saleh et al. (2010), utilized to measure the degree of the SI dichotomous variable. If a company disclosed SI items in its annual report, it would be counted as "1," while companies that did not reveal an item would be recorded as “0” (Gujarati, 2009). Total score values for SI disclosure are aggregated from all sub-scores of SI, including 14 economic dimensions, 12 social dimensions, 15 environmental dimensions, and 15 governance dimensions. The disclosure model scoring is additive, and unweighted indexes are calculated. The disclosure indexes comprising 56 sustainability performance indicators were utilized. The total amount of scores is computed by dividing the firm's scores by the total number of potential points. Six independent variables are used, composed of governance attributes and firm-specific operating features. The operating features consist of company size (CSZE), company age (AGE), and leverage (LEV), while the governing features comprise board size (BSZE), board independence (BOIND), and board gender diversity (BGD). Issa et al. (2022), Abu Qa'dan and Suwaidan (2019), and Hussain et al. (2018) all agree that BSZE can be quantified by counting the number of board members. The Board of Directors' Independence (BOIND) is defined as the number of independent, non-executive directors as a percentage of all board members (Al Amosh & Khatib, 2021; Jizi & Nehme, 2018; Rashid, 2018). BGD, or board gender diversity, is the percentage of women on a board of directors relative to the total number of board members (Chams & Garca-Blandón, 2019; Orazalin & Baydauletov, 2020). When calculating CSZE, natural logarithms of the firm's total assets are used (Hussain et al., 2018; Crisóstomo et al., 2020). The number of years that a company has been in operation is used to calculate AGE (Issa et al., 2022). Total debt is divided by total assets to get the LEV (Crisóstomo et al., 2020; Li et al., 2018).
Environmental, Social, and Governance Ratings and Financial Performance: Evidence from the European food Industry
Sandberg, H., Alnoor, A., Tiberius, V.
Long-term value creation is expected not only to be concerned with maximizing shareholder value but also includes the impact on other stakeholders and the environment. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues are therefore gaining increasing importance, in line with the growing demand for corporate sustainability. ESG ratings foster the comparison of companies with respect to their sustainable practices. This study aims to investigate how ESG ratings impact financial performance in the European food industry. Ordinary least squares regression is applied to analyze the relation between ESG ratings and financial performance over a 4-year period from 2017 to 2020. The profitability measures Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE) are employed as financial performance measures, while ESG ratings are obtained from the database CSRHub. Results show that higher ESG ratings are associated with better financial performance. Although the effect is modest in the present study, the findings support previous results that ESG ratings are positively related to financial performance. Nonetheless, they also highlight that ESG ratings strongly converge to the mean, which depicts the need to reassess whether ESG ratings are able to measure actual ESG behavior.
The Impact of Corporate Governance and Internal Audit on ESG rates: A Research in European Companies
Andreas G. Koutoupis, Apostolos Pourgias, University of Thessaly
The current study examines certain factors of ESG reports in European companies. In particular, it focuses on the impact of audit committee, board of director’s characteristics, and the external audit by large auditing companies known as the Big 4. Employing data from CSRhub database, Thomson Reuters Eikon database as well as from firms published annual reports, we conclude that audit committee financial expertise has positive impact on the rate of ESG reports, gender diversity of board members as well as the external audit by a big 4 firm, also have a positive impact on their rates. Moreover, the study showed that both high leverage and firm’s liquidity were associated with increased rates of ESG reporting. The study also sheds some light on the effect of gender diversity by examining each of ESG parameters separately. Finally, the research contributes to ESG literature providing valuable insights in major parameters influencing the score of non-financial reports and sustainability for European companies. Keywords: ESG reports, Audit Committee, Board of Directors, Internal Audit, External Audit.
Examining Firms’ Sustainability Frontier: Efficiency in Reaching the Triple Bottom Line
Yiming Zhuang, Meltem Denizel, Frank Montabon
Sustainability has become a significant concern worldwide in recent decades. There seems to be implicit competition among firms for better sustainability performance. Like any other firm activity, sustainability undertakings require resources and their efficient use to achieve the desired performance. Firms may hesitate to undertake sustainability initiatives due to the underlying costs, leading to the question of how efficient they are in their sustainability practices. Relying on data from CSRHub and COMPUSTAT, we employed data envelopment analysis to evaluate the sustainability efficiency of 1141 large U.S. manufacturing firms from 2009 to 2018. We measured the sustainability efficiency of each firm relative to those on the efficient frontier for all the firms in our sample and also separately for each industry. The analysis results indicate that firms’ sustainability efficiency varies across years and industries. Furthermore, we show a quadratic relationship between sustainability performance and sustainability efficiency. This finding implies a process that begins with firms struggling to streamline their sustainability efforts and decreasing their efficiency as sustainability performance increases. Sustainability efficiency starts increasing only after a certain threshold is reached in sustainability performance. Our findings offer valuable insights for firms and stakeholders in their efforts to achieve desired levels of sustainability efficiency.
Preventing Modern Slavery Through Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure: An Analysis of the U.S. Hospitality and Tourism Industry
Yue Vaughan
Despite growing international awareness and legislation, the hospitality and tourism industries are still hot spots for modern slavery due to the nature of their businesses. The purpose of this study is to explore corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures of firms in the U.S. hospitality and tourism industry and to examine what actions they have incorporated regarding protecting human rights and preventing modern slavery. Using content analysis, this study provided a benchmarking assessment from a sample of hospitality and tourism companies that were top ranked for their human rights and supply chain performance by CSRHub. A total of 30 code instruments have been classified into three main themes on combating modern slavery including formal guidelines and resources, company-wide compliances and policies, and actions.
2022 Papers
The Impact of Ownership Structure on Corporate Social Responsibility Performance in Vietnam
Ching-Chung Lin, Tran Phuoc Nguyen, Department of International Business, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology
In today’s business environment, a debatable concern is increasing on the importance of ownership structure on corporate social responsibility (CSR). With the purpose of clarifying more about this nexus, the study utilizes ownership concentration, managerial ownership, government ownership, and foreign ownership for ownership structure representation and explores their relationship with CSR performance under the Vietnamese companies’ context. Agency theory is employed to explain how the concept is formulated and website information, annual reports and the CSRHub database are where this research is based for data collection. With 65 firms in the analysis at the beginning of October 2019, the empirical findings unveil that managerial and foreign ownership are positively related, while ownership concentration and government ownership are not significantly linked to CSR performance.
Do Corporate Social Responsibility Ratings Have Any Effect on Traffic Congestion?
Bakare, B., Motuba, D., Szmerekovsky, J.
Traffic congestion (TC) is a complex issue that has an adverse impact on the environment, business operations, livability, and health of a community. Supply-side TC mitigation measures increase transportation capacities while demand-side measures attempt to modify travel behavior so that the travel demand is reduced. As part of the demand-side, some corporations are investing in TC reduction through actions that contribute to improved walkability, reduced peak travel demand, and active commuting. While beneficial for their local communities, TC reduction efforts are not specifically tagged as a part of corporate social responsibility (CSR) endeavors. CSR involves reporting of a company's stewardship towards its community and environmental impact. Research reflecting on the impact of CSR on TC has not been conducted. This study aims to fill this gap. Using corporations headquartered in the top traffic-congested cities in the United States, this study examines the relationship between TC and CSR. This research employed a hierarchical linear model with two datasets, Travel Time Index (TTI) and CSRHub ratings. Of the four CSR categories studied, community, employees, and environment ratings are significantly related to TTI, with employees and environment ratings having an inverse relationship to TTI. This shows that congestion has a strong impact on the environment and that companies, through their employee policies, can impact TC. The results also highlight the opportunities that companies have in potentially reducing their environmental impact by incorporating congestion reduction strategies as part of their CSR, either as a separate measure or as part of their environmental or employee CSR ratings. Our results are also a starting point for new tools/strategies that transportation policymakers and analysts can use to engage companies to help mitigate TC. A further study on other cities with major traffic problems may shed more light on CSR and TC.
The Moderating Role of National Philanthropic Environment in the Relationship Between Advertising Intensity and Corporate Social Responsibility
Alexey V. Semenov, Arilova Randrianasolo
Research concerning the relationship between advertising intensity and corporate social responsibility has yielded mixed results. Some scholars have found a positive link, supporting a complementary perspective, while others have found a negative link, supporting a substitute perspective. The authors of this current study employ a contingency perspective to propose that the focal relationship is moderated by national philanthropic environments, which reflects the propensity of a nation to be philanthropic. With a sample of 271 firms from 13 countries, a hierarchical linear model analysis was conducted, and the findings support the contingency perspective. Specifically, the results showed that in countries with high levels of national philanthropic environments there is a positive link between advertising intensity and corporate social responsibility, while in countries with lower national philanthropic environments, there is a negative link.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02650487.2022.2128567
Gender Diversity Impact on ESG Performance: Evidence from Indonesian and Malaysian Manufacturing Sector
Endah Tri Wahyuningtyas, Dina Anggraeni Susesti, Department of Accounting, Faculty of Economic Business and Technology Digital, Universitas Nahdlatul Ulama Surabaya
This study analyzes the impact of women’s boards on ESG disclosure (community, employee, environment and government) performance in emerging markets, namely Indonesia and Malaysia. We suggest that the participation of women’s boards is very beneficial for increasing social awareness of the community, employees, governance and the environment of the company and can improve overall performance and the achievement of company goals or targets, because it has an impact on increasing shareholder welfare. Concern for the sense of social, environmental and how the role of good corporate governance really supports the company’s performance. Our research complements the existing literature by proposing that the positive benefits of published ESG reporting occur when companies have an effective and gender-diverse board structure, resulting in better governance. The results of this study are expected to provide long-term value for the company and increase awareness of the importance of the role of gender diversity in the managerial structure in managing good performance in the areas of governance, environment and social (community and employee) through the role of gender diversity in the company’s managerial structure.
https://www.atlantis-press.com/proceedings/icobis-22/125978777
CSR and Tax Avoidance: Are They Related? A Perspective of Neo-Institutional Theory in Emerging Economy Malaysia
Noorsakinah Abdul Wahab, Mohd Zulkhairi Mustapha, Nurliana Md Rahin
Grounded on the Neo-institutional theory, this paper investigates the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) decoupling and tax avoidance in three CSR dimensions, particularly community, employee, and environment. A sample of 52 Malaysian listed companies for the financial years of 2009 to 2019 provides evidence that overall, CSR and tax are unrelated except for community CSR. The finding implies that companies do not view avoiding tax as immoral, lending credence to the belief that the relationship between CSR and tax is complex subject than mere ethical issue.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10599231.2022.2145628
Exploring the Black Box: Board Gender Diversity and Corporate Social Performance
Michail Nerantzidis, Panayiotis Tzeremes, Andreas Koutoupis, Apostolos Pourgias
This study explores the association between board gender diversity (BGD) and Corporate Social Performance (CSP). Using a unique sample of the top 81 non-financial European companies, we applied generalized method of moments (GMM) estimators for panel vector autoregressive regression (PVAR) models, to analyze the dynamic causal relationships between the BGD–CSP debate and eliminate potential bias and heterogeneity. Our results illustrate that BGD has a positive effect on the overall CSP and its four dimensions. Moreover, firms with a critical mass of female directors have a positive effect on overall CSP, especially on the dimensions of the community and employees.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1544612322002355
Board Attributes and Corporate Social Responsibility Performance: Evidence from Vietnam
Ching-Chung Lin, Tran Phuoc Nguyen
Nowadays, there is increasing attention on corporate social responsibility (CSR) matters after some serious CSR-related scandals happening around the world. However, most of the research is carried out in developed countries, but not developing countries where environmental issues and firms’ unethical behaviors are always serious problems. Therefore, the aim of this study is to understand and contribute more about the CSR issues in Vietnam, focusing on the effect of board attributes, particularly, board size, board independence, CEO duality, and board gender diversity, on CSR performance under the support of agency and stakeholder theories. The data is taken from CSRHub and companies’ reports. Based on the sample of 68 companies at the beginning of October 2019, board size and board independence are found to positively affect CSR performance while CEO duality and board gender diversity exhibit a non-significant relationship with CSR performance.
The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on the Corporate Financial Performance: Evidence from Russian and Dutch Companies
Ольга Волкова, Анастасия Кузнецова
This research paper aims to investigate the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting on Russian and Dutch companies’ financial performance (CFP). The theoretical framework we use is the stakeholder theory. The study applies regression analysis to obtain quantitative evidence of CSR-CFP relations. Companies’ CSR involvement is measured by reputation index - CSRhub. Return on equity ratio has been chosen as a measure of corporate financial performance. Our findings demonstrate a weak positive correlation between CSR and companies’ ROE. Moreover, the research shows the existence of a higher CSR impact on Russian companies’ financial performance comparing to the Dutch one. The results may become useful for corporate management while assessing a financial return from CSR strategies. This work also provides an alternative way for a quantitative operationalization of companies’ social performance, which is especially important for further statistical researches.
Environmental, Social, and Governance Ratings and Financial Performance: Evidence from the European Food Industry
Helene Sandberg, Alhamzah Alnoor, Victor Tiberius
Long-term value creation is expected not only to be concerned with maximizing shareholder value but also includes the impact on other stakeholders and the environment. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues are therefore gaining increasing importance, in line with the growing demand for corporate sustainability. ESG ratings foster the comparison of companies with respect to their sustainable practices. This study aims to investigate how ESG ratings impact financial performance in the European food industry. Ordinary least squares regression is applied to analyze the relation between ESG ratings and financial performance over a 4-year period from 2017 to 2020. The profitability measures Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE) are employed as financial performance measures, while ESG ratings are obtained from the database CSRHub. Results show that higher ESG ratings are associated with better financial performance. Although the effect is modest in the present study, the findings support previous results that ESG ratings are positively related to financial performance. Nonetheless, they also highlight that ESG ratings strongly converge to the mean, which depicts the need to reassess whether ESG ratings are able to measure actual ESG behavior. K E Y W O R D S ESG ratings, firm performance, food industry
Exploring the Role of Ownership Structure in Decisions on Employee-Oriented Corporate Social Responsibility Practices
Pinheiro, B.G., Soares, R.A., de Abreu, M.C.S.
Purpose – To analyze the effect of different ownership structures on employee-oriented corporate social responsibility (CSR). Theoretical framework – Agency theory is adopted to explain how the ownership structure is capable of changing the intensity of implementation of CSR practices aimed at employees. Design/methodology/approach – The sample comprises companies listed on the Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão (B3) between 2010 and 2018. The data collection used the reference form from the B3, Economática®, and CSRHub as sources, and the multiple linear regression method of generalized least squares. Findings – The study identifies different strategic orientations according to ownership concentration and the identity of the controlling shareholder. Family and state-owned companies do not seem motivated to develop CSR practices aimed at employees, while multinational companies assume that these practices should be implemented. Practical & social implications of research – The research contributes to understanding the behavior of different ownership identities, which can lead to different patterns of adoption of CSR practices aimed at employees. Originality/value – The study identified different strategic CSR orientations, according to ownership concentration and the identity of the controlling shareholder. Family and state-owned companies do not seem motivated to develop CSR practices aimed at employees, while multinational companies assume the importance of these practices. Companies with institutional ownership do not have clearly defined behavior in terms of CSR. These different results seem to show that the path towards a proactive approach to CSR in Brazil is “long and tortuous,” especially due to the incipient mechanisms of corporate governance.
The Influence of Corporate Social Responsibility on the Quality of Accounting Statements of Brazilian Companies
Maria Maciléya Azevedo Freire, Antonio Rodrigues Albuquerque Filho, Universidade Federal do Ceará
The interest in revealing and controlling disclosed information grows due to an increasingly demanding market that is aware of the need and effect of organizational actions. Thus, a descriptive survey was conducted with 300 companies listed on B3 in order to investigate the influence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on the quality of financial statements of Brazilian companies, treating data by applying descriptive statistics, test of difference between means, correlation, and logistic regression. We analyzed the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) measured by the general metric CSRHub, and the quality of information represented by the republishing of their financial statements, considering that this parameter signals low quality of the information initially disclosed. The results showed that there are statistically significant differences in the CSR concerning the companies that republish their financial statements compared to those that do not, denoting that their tends to be a higher investment in CSR in companies that do not republish their information. It was also found that the greater the CSR and the organizational size, the lower the republishing of the financial statements by the companies. Finally, it was found that the CSR negatively affects the republishing of the financial statements, presenting that the higher the CSR, the lower the probability of that the companies will republish the financial statements. Thus, companies with higher CSR levels are more likely to increase the care with the information disclosed, therefore denoting higher quality of accounting information. Thus, the hypothesis of this study that companies with higher CSR practices disclose higher quality financial statements was accepted.
2021 Papers
Does Corporate Social Responsibility Vary by Real Estate Asset Types? Evidence from Real Estate Investment Trusts
Jian Liang, Ameeta Jain, Hao Wu, Deakin University
This paper investigates how real estate investment trusts’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) (REITs) varies by two intrinsic firm factors: real estate asset types and REITs’ financial aspirations. We develop a conceptual model to demonstrate the theoretical role of these intrinsic firm factors in moderating CSR. Using a database containing the Morgan Stanley Capital International CSR rating index, we test REITs from 19 countries for variations of their CSR performance across each of the three pillars of CSR: environment, social, and governance (ES&G) by real estate asset types from 2009 to 2016. The results show that REITs focusing on less market-transparent real assets relying heavily on intensive human-based services and physical capital in property management like hotels and hospitals exhibit a poorer performance in environmental responsibility, social responsibility, and overall CSR score. We found no significant difference between the REITs in their governance responsibility with respect to the real estate asset types. We found that moderation by financial aspiration in establishing their CSR strategies varies by the types of real estate asset that REITs focus on, with the maximum positive impact on REITS with hotel holdings and negative impact on REITs with office and retail assets.
European Motor Vehicle Manufacturers' CSR Trends ‒ The Effect of the Emission Scandal
Majláth, M., Ricordel, P.
The Automotive industry plays an important role in the European economy, however, it is also responsible for environmental pollution – by manufacturing and during the lifetime of the vehicles. To decrease air pollution, industrialized countries determine stricter regulations for carmakers. In addition, those consumers who want to be environmentally conscious, are seeking “greener” cars. Unfortunately, the “Volkswagen scandal” in 2015, drew attention to the unfair behavior of car manufacturers and to greenwashing. The rising trend toward corporate social responsibility and stricter regulation policies have put pressure on the automotive industry. This article concentrates on the corporate social responsibility practices of car manufacturers, following the VW cheating software scandal, in order to identify which elements of their CSR policy have been strengthened. The research investigates how the emphasis on the different elements of CSR activities has changed following the VW scandal. To answer the question, a quantitative analysis is made on the CSR data of 15 companies (7 from Germany, 2 from Italy, 2 from Sweden, 3 from France and 1 from the UK), whose primary industry is motor vehicle manufacturing in Europe and CSRHub provides detailed information on them. The analysis examines how the ratings of these companies has changed in the four main categories of CSR (namely: Community, Employees, Environment and Governance) during the period of 2011-2019, which can be sub-divided into two periods: 4 years before and 4 years after the scandal. The analysis shows that VW’s overall CSR rating has decreased for the period of 2015-2019. Results also indicate-contrary to expectations, that Volkswagen could not improve its CSR-ratings for Product and for Environment subcategories, after the scandal.
The Effect of Blockchain Technology on Supply Chain Sustainability Performances
Arim Park, Huan Li, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
Improving supply chain sustainability is an essential part of achieving the UN’s sustainable goals. Digitalization, such as blockchain technology, shows the potential to reshape supply chain management. Using distributed ledger technology, the blockchain platform provides a digital system and database to record the transactions along the supply chain. This decentralized database of transactions brings transparency, reliability, traceability, and efficiency to the supply chain management. This paper focuses on such novel blockchain-based supply chain management and its sustainability performances in the areas of environmental protection, social equity, and governance efficiency. Using a systematic literature review and two case studies, we evaluate whether the three sustainability indicators can be improved indirectly along supply chains based on blockchain technology. Our study shows that blockchain technology has the potential to improve supply chain sustainability performance, and we expect blockchain technology to rise in popularity in supply chain management.
The Barriers to Corporate Social Responsibility in the Nordic Energy Sector
Mauricio Latapí, Lára Jóhannsdóttir, Brynhildur Davíðsdóttir, Mette Morsing
Nordic companies have been at the top of sustainable business rankings since the early 2010s. Some of them are energy companies that have adopted Corporate Social Responsibility to have a positive social impact and become carbon neutral. However, limited literature has analyzed the barriers that Nordic energy companies face while implementing Corporate Social Responsibility. This article aims to identify and categorize the barriers faced by Nordic energy companies. The research is based on empirical data obtained from interviews involving high-level managers from the largest suppliers of energy in the Nordic region. A model is developed, which identifies and categorizes seven barriers at the individual level, seven at the organizational level, and three at the institutional level of analysis. The findings suggest that barriers can be of a direct and indirect nature and can be found across the three levels of analysis. The main contributions of this article are: (1) it identifies and categorizes the barriers that Nordic energy companies face; (2) it defines the barriers as direct and indirect based on their interaction with the company; (3) it presents two models of the barriers and provides empirical evidence that complement the literature; and (4) it contributes to the literature by focusing on the Nordic countries, a region that has received limited attention by scholarly research.
Analysis of Convergence in the Assessment of Corporate Social Responsibility Indexes in the Context of the Brazilian Firm
de Oliveira Freitas, M.R., Crisóstomo, V.L.
This paper investigates whether there is convergence in the assessment of the Brazilian firms in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) indexes. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of 1.007 observations of Brazilian firms evaluated by these indexes during 2013-2017 was carried out: Corporate Sustainability Index, Merco Corporate Reputation Companies, Merco Social Responsibility and Corporate Governance, and CSR indexes from CSRHub and Thomson Reuters. The results indicate that these indexes, although presenting specific methodologies, are positively correlated. This shows that there is convergence in the evaluation of Brazilian firms in corporate social responsibility performance, and shows that the process of evaluating indexes seems consistent. This finding represents an additional contribution to deepening the debate about the effectiveness of the criteria for evaluating CSR.
National Culture and Corporate Social Responsibility
Koprowski, S., Mazzioni, S., Dal Magro, C.B., da Rosa, F.S.
Objective – To determine whether national cultural dimensions influence a company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS) performance. Theoretical Framework-Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and Stakeholder Theory were used as theoretical bases for the study. Methodology – The study uses the multiple linear regression method to analyze data from a sample of 4,598 companies from 41 countries. The data were collected from the CSRHub, Geert Hofstede, Transparency International, and Thomson Reuters websites. Results – The findings indicate a country’s cultural dimensions influence business CRS activities. More specifically, companies based in countries with cultures that feature (i) a high power distance, (ii) high individualism, (iii) more femininity, (iv) low uncertainty avoidance, and (v) a long-term orientation exhibit higher CRS performance. Practical & Social Implications of the Research – Prior knowledge of expected CRS engagement according to the country’s culture could contribute to formulating corporate strategies to expand a company’s activities to countries other than the one of its origin. This would ensure stakeholders’ expectations are met and improve competitiveness in the domestic market. Contributions – The culture of a country may determine whether stakeholders are interested in CRS practices.
Effect of Diversity in the Board of Directors and Top Management Team on Corporate Social Responsibility
Prudêncio, P., Forte, H., Crisóstomo, V., Vasconcelos, A.
This study analyzes the effect of corporate governance, with an emphasis on gender and age diversity in the board and Top Management Team, on Corporate Social Responsibility in Brazil. The sample was composed of Brazilian firms with corporate governance published in the CVM reference form, financial information in the Economática® database, and CSR assessed by the CSRHub database, in the 2016-2017 biennium, with a total of 194 firm-year observations. Diversity is measured by the presence of women, age heterogeneity, and average age in the board of directors and top management team. The results indicate that gender diversity in the board of directors and the higher average age of the top management team have a favorable effect on the CSR practices of Brazilian firms. Additionally, it was observed that age heterogeneity among board members has a negative influence on CSR practices. The research contributes to a better understanding of the behavior of more diverse boards of directors and top management teams regarding CSR strategies.
Do Companies in Different Industries Respond Differently to Stakeholders’ Pressures When Prioritising Environmental, Social and Governance Sustainability Performance?
Rendani Mavis Matakanye, Huibrecht Margaretha van der Poll, Binganidzo Muchara, University of South Africa
Good sustainability decisions depend on how companies respond to wide-ranging exposure to exogenous and endogenous pressures. The purpose of the article was to determine whether companies in different industries respond differently to stakeholders’ pressures when prioritising Environmental, Social and Governance sustainability performance (ESG-SP) activities. Data of six sectors, with a total of 75 companies was extracted from the CSRHub database, which is a rating agency that focuses on assessing ESG performance of companies. The ANOVA, pairwise comparative and multiple comparison Tukey HSD tests were applied to compare mean scores across the sectors. Overall industry scores show no evidence of ESG-SP differences across industries in the sectors examined. It was however revealed that three (3) out of twelve ESG ratings have significant differences namely: Community Development and Philanthropy; Human Rights and Supply Chain; as well as Compensation and Benefits. The study found that the type of industry does not have a significant role in determining the ESG rating of a company. Future studies can look at a longitudinal analysis to shed light on the pattern of sustainability practices across companies that are listed on the JSE
An Analysis on the NASDAQ’s Potential for Sustainable Investment Practices during the Financial Shock from COVID-19
Rachel Shields, Samer Ajour El Zein, Neus Vila Brunet, EAE Business School
There is a growing demand for sustainable business practices and for sustainable and impact investment as has been signaled by the Sustainable Development Goals ratified by all the United Nations members. However, there is not that much evidence on how sustainable investments perform during crises compared to regular investments. This paper investigates if sustainable investments within the NASDAQ have a lower volatility rate when reacting to a significant global crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. It groups the shares of businesses with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices that are ranked 70% or higher given by CSRHub, Inc. and compares it to business shares with the lowest-ranked CSR business practices at 30% or lower. The top 30% and bottom 30% CSR stocks’ volatility will be predicted using variations of the GARCH model. The top 30% CSR stocks of the NASDAQ had a lower rate of volatility for a global crisis than the bottom 30% CSR stocks. Technology is the only sector whose top 30% showed higher volatility. However, the top 30% of companies in the Health Care and Utilities sectors show a higher increase in returns and a lower drop in returns. These results signal the higher uncertainty associated with some cutting-edge products and services offered by the top 30% of technology companies and the preference for more established companies that offer higher quality services when it comes to satisfying basic needs such as health and utilities in difficult times.
Are Socially Responsible Firms in The U.S. Tourism and Hospitality Industry Better Off During COVID-19?
Jihwan Yeon, Hyoung Ju Song, Heyao (Chandler) Yu, Yue Vaughan, Seoki Lee, Pennsylvania State University
Since COVID-19 struck Wuhan, China, in early 2020, the novel infectious disease has caused unprecedented havoc on every industry sector globally, and the tourism and hospitality industry has received the hardest hit (Gursoy & Chi, 2020). Governmental strategies to attenuate the spread of COVID-19, such as community lockdowns, stay-at-home orders, and travel restrictions, mandated tourism and hospitality firms to temporarily cease their operations, resulting in drastic revenue loss (Song et al., 2020). Even after the governmental policies have lessened, uncertainty about the pandemic’s spread and severity of the pandemic made customers hesitant to dine out and travel, which has exacerbated the damage to the tourism and hospitality firms during the pandemic (Zheng et al., 2020).
As the pandemic has triggered a crippling effect on economic activities, numerous studies in the tourism and hospitality literature have examined the adverse impact of COVID-19 on the tourism and hospitality industry by focusing on labor markets (Huang et al., 2020), a country-level industry index (Sharma & Nicolau, 2020), and job engagement and turnover intent (Jung et al., 2020). However, the impact of COVID-19 on firm- and property-level financial performance has been relatively understudied while multiple empirical efforts have existed in other industry contexts (e.g., Baker et al., 2020; Ramelli & Wagner, 2020). Examining the impact of COVID-19 on a firm’s financial performance in the tourism and hospitality industry seems to be a salient topic given that empirical results will provide guidelines for businesses to effectively cope with the unprecedented pandemic with appropriate strategic directions with their resources and capabilities (Song et al., 2020; Zenker & Kock, 2020). Furthermore, the crippling effect of COVID-19 on a firm’s performance may differ, hinging on a firm’s pre-pandemic characteristics and strategies (Ramelli & Wagner, 2020; Song et al., 2020). For example, Ramelli and Wagner (2020) revealed that declines in stock returns reacting to COVID-19 varied across and even within industries, dependent on a firm’s pre-pandemic characteristics (e.g., international trade and financial strength) related to COVID-19. That is, while examining the impact of COIVD-19 on firm performance, firm-specific characteristics should be contemplated to reveal the impact of COVID-19 more specifically.
Among multiple pre-pandemic firm-level characteristics, this study focuses on a tourism and hospitality firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities since relationships between stakeholders (e. g., employees, suppliers, customers, and community) of a firm may formulate resilience to the adverse impact of COVID-19 on its performance (Ding et al., 2020). CSR— defined as “situations where the firm goes beyond compliance and engages in actions that appear to further some social good, beyond the interests of the firm, and that which is required by law” (McWillams et al., 2006, p. 1)—has received extensive attention from researchers across several business disciplines in the past decades (Godfrey et al., 2009) due to the significant financial implications for CSR investments. Based on the stakeholder theory (Freeman, 1984), the overall orientation between CSR and firm performance in previous empirical studies is positive (Wang et al., 2016). That is, CSR activities help firms generate competitive advantages by maintaining positive relationships with diverse stakeholders. Recent studies have put forward the idea that CSR performance is important for building firm resilience, a capability to adjust to and recover from unexpected shock, from an investor perspective (e.g., Albuquerque et al., 2020; Jia et al., 2020). On the other hand, several studies suggest that CSR investments may impose high costs on firms (e.g., Aupperle et al., 1985; Barnett & Salomon, 2012). This argument draws on the neo-classical economic viewpoint that firms should focus on serving their self-interest to maximize resource allocation (Friedman, 1970).
2020 Papers
Some Issues With Using ESG Ratings in an Investment Process
Bahar Gidwani
A growing number of investors want to integrate information about company sustainability into their investment decision processes to avoid risk, satisfy an asset owner’s needs, or find a new alpha-generating factor. Few new users of environment, social, and governance (ESG) data understand how ESG ratings behave over time. We use the CSRHub data set to show that ESG ratings regress strongly toward the mean. These ratings include both data from most commercial ESG ratings firms and another 640 sources. The observed regression persists within the ratings data across nine years, for a sample set of more than 8,000 companies. Newly-rated companies show even more reversion than “seasoned” companies. It is rare that a company maintains an especially high or low ESG rating. Investors and company managers should both realize that ESG ratings are likely to change toward the mean and that this pattern does not necessarily mean that a good company is getting worse or a bad one is getting better. © 2020 Portfolio Management Research. All rights reserved.
Impact of Positive And Negative Corporate Social Responsibility on Automotive Firms' Financial Performance: A Market Based Asset Perspective
Lin Woon Leong, Jo Ann Ho, Lee Chin, Siew Imm Ng, Universiti Putra Malaysia
Prevailing studies on the economic implication of corporate social responsibility (CSR) for businesses has mainly stressed on the positive facet of corporate social responsibility (PCSR), failing to comprehend that firms also espouse behaviors and initiatives which can be characterized as negative corporate social responsibility (NCSR). Additionally, limited researches have considered how both PCSR and NCSR influence corporate financial performance (CFP). In consideration of this view, we present a framework that connects both PCSR as well as NCSR to CFP. We also analyzed the moderating role of the firm's market‐based asset. Using 924 observations from 2011 to 2017 and a combined secondary data of 132 global automotive firms from CSRHub and Thomson Reuters Datastream, we examined how increases in either PCSR or NCSR relate to CFP via dynamic panel data system Generalise Moment of Method estimates. Our results demonstrate that PCSR improves CFP while and NCSR is detrimental to a firm's financial performance. Correspondingly, the results indicate that market‐based asset moderates the relationship between PCSR and NCSR. Firms that possess higher market based assets tend to enjoy higher profitability with PCSR as they are in a better position. However, it has been observed that market‐based assets tend to weaken the relationship between CFP and NCSR.
An Exploratory Study of Factors Influencing Corporate Sustainability on Business Performance
Benjamin Johnson, Johnson Katherine Chibuzo, Cyprian Chinwo, Assoc. Prof. Dr Valliappan Raju, University of Creative Technology, Malaysia
This study evaluates the effect of corporate sustainability on business performance of manufacturing industries in USA, from 2012 to 2015. These Manufacturing industries are listed in Corporate Social Responsibility Hub (CSRHub), Morning Star and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). All data used in this report were extracted from 37 manufacturing companies’ Sustainability, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and annual reports. These companies are of diverse sectors such as Automobile, Health care, consumer goods, food, beverages and technology. Quantitative method of research is used in this study; this also includes the use of explanatory and descriptive research design. The main issues to be discussed in this study are Donation, Incident rate reduction and Water Recycled as the independent variables, while Revenue is the dependent variable. Data analysis was carried out using the regression analysis, descriptive statistics and correlation. E-views software generated the data for further analysis. The findings imply that donation has a positive insignificance effect on revenue, reduced incident rate reduction had positive significance effect on revenue and water recycling has negative insignificant effect on revenue. In the future researches, larger samples of companies form diverse sectors and subsectors should be studied to broaden the research on company performance especially the non-financial aspect.
New York Stock Exchange Retail Sector: Corporate Social Responsibility And Financial Performance
Lewis Mcadoo, Colorado Technical University
Using public data as reported in 2019, the correlation between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial performance measures, as well as the correlation between market capitalization and financial performance measures were examined to provide executives in the retail sector with the information needed to make objective, strategic decisions. The target population was the 34 publicly traded retail companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange, which had CSR programs evaluated and scored by CSRHub.
https://www.proquest.com/docview/2387263003?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true
Corporate Social Responsibility in European Union Countries on Background of the Economic Development
Klaudia Przybysz
The aim of the study was to analyze the relationships between economic factors and the number of enterprises operating according to the CSR rules. The enlargement of the European Union (EU) resulted in the expansion of markets and increased competition. The improvement of goods and services quality as well as respect for natural and human resources become a value. Long-term practices such as the Corporate Social Responsibility constituting an investment in the company's competitive position are the answer to the needs of consumers. The implementation of CSR programs and planned PR activities in the company also leads to an increase in the company's value and thus improves its competitiveness. We want to determine whether entrepreneurs in more developed countries are more likely to implement the CSR rules than those in countries with a lower level of economic development. The base of our analysis was rating of CSR companies from every country in compared to their economic growth. In order to detect any dependency, multivariate comparative analysis and Hellwig’s method were used. Results may prove useful in the process of shaping the EU policy towards enterprises. Data from CSRHub.
2019 Papers
Role Of Innovation In Relationship Between Corporate Social Performance And Corporate Financial Performance
Polina Oshchepkova, University of Technology LUT
The focus of the thesis is an analysis of the influence of corporate social performance (CSP) on the corporate financial performance (CFP) of a firm and role of innovation in this relationship. The primary research problem is the fact that there is not established relationship between CSP and CFP and unspecified role of innovation in this relationship. Previous researches found mostly positive CSP-CFP relationship, but there is still lack of understanding in role of innovation, as most of studies, which explored role of innovation in CSP-CFP relationship, got a neutral result. To address this gap, the researched question formulated is: what is the effect of innovation and their interaction CFP? The data for this study was acquired from CSR Hub dataset, The Eikon datasetand Amadeus dataset, and it focuses only on 2017. The data includes 312 companies. The findings highlight that CSP has a positive impact on CFP; however, innovation shows negative influence in CSP-CFP relationship. The key theoretical contribution of the thesis is an attempt to build new theoretical framework to test CSP-CFP relationship, using currently established datasets such as CSRHub and The Eikon datasets. For practioners, it is concluded that it is more effective to a focus on either CSR or the innovation alone, or adjusting them to consider, include, and account for the complex interconnections and implications in both dimensions instead.
https://lutpub.lut.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/159781/Oshchepkova.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1
Addressing Endogeneity in the Causal Relationship Between Sustainability and Financial Performance
Soytas, M.A., Denizel, M., Durak Usar, D.
The existing empirical literature on the relationship between corporate sustainability performance and corporate financial performance casts doubt on the direction of this relationship although more studies point out a direction from sustainability to performance. Literature also presents a gap in addressing the mechanism(s) of the relationship that hinders the convergence of the empirical findings and only recently the question of causality is being addressed with modern econometric techniques. We argue that due to the potential endogeneity problem in the relationship, an empirical strategy without a theoretical base may result in inconclusive or misleading conclusions. We address the potential endogeneity problem in the relationship and identify the possible causes of this endogeneity as: (i) firm level heterogeneity in financial returns, (ii) the relationship between firm's productivity level and the marginal cost of sustainability initiatives, and (iii) measurement error. We implement Instrumental Variable (IV) technique to overcome these biases. Our results present empirical evidence to support the hypothesis that corporate sustainability is positively related (possibly causally) with corporate financial performance. We further find that sustainability initiatives are more costly for companies that are more productive; thus, they have less incentive to invest. Finally, measurement error in the sustainability metrics does not play a crucial role.
CSR Performance and Annual Report Readability: Evidence From France
Sami Bacha, faculté des sciences économiques er de gestion de sousse, Aymen Ajina, University of Liège
Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship between the corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and the readability of annual report. The shareholder theory suggests that CSR firms will provide more transparent disclosures because this reflects a socially and environmentally responsible behavior and a firm’s commitment to high ethical standards. In the same time, the agency theory offers an opposite view. It predicts that opportunistic managers use CSR as an entrenchment strategy and hide their maneuvers through complex textual financial disclosures. Design/methodology/approach Based on a sample of 100 listed firms on the French CACAll-shares index over the period from 2013 to 2016, the authors use a panel regression analysis and run other estimation methods (IV-2SLS) and simultaneous equation model to address the endogeneity issues. They assess the readability of annual reports using the Gunning-Fog Index and the Flesch Index derived from the computational linguistics literature. Findings The results show a significant positive relationship between CSR performance and the readability of annual report. Firms engaging in CSR practices are more likely to provide transparent disclosures with higher readability because this reflects a socially responsible behavior and a firm’s commitment to high ethical standards. This result supports the stakeholder theory and the corporate reputational view. The finding is also robust to alternative readability measurements and to endogeneity bias. Practical implications This study helps all market participants to more comprehensively evaluate the CSR performance disclosed on annual report. It encourages managers to consider CSR as a means to prevent the opacity risk through improved information quality. It also drives French authorities to better regulate the narrative disclosure of CSR firms and change the way companies design their reporting practices. Moreover, it encourages CSR rating agencies to become the dominant definition of CSR evaluation by granting more importance to the quality of disclosed information. Originality/value This study extends previous research on the potential impact of CSR on information quality measured by annual report readability in the French context. Unlike prior studies on the impact of CSR on information quality, that focus exclusively on earnings management and adopt qualitative approaches to assess the SCR score, the authors use simultaneously the Gunning–Fog Index and the Flesch Index to assess the information quality and extract the CSR score from the CSRHub database of companies’ social, environmental and governance performance.
Influência Das Dimensões Culturais No Desempenho Em Responsabilidade Social Corporativa
Sirlene Koprowski, Sady Mazzioni, Fabricia Silva Da Rosa, Cristian Baú Dal Magro, Universidade Comunitária da Região de Chapecó
RESUMO O objetivo do estudo é verificar se as dimensões culturais influenciam o desempenho em Responsabilidade Social Corporativa (RSC) das empresas, no âmbito internacional. Para tanto, realizou-se uma pesquisa explicativa, documental e quantitativa. A amostra da pesquisa é composta por 4.598 empresas que possuíam dados disponíveis para operacionalizar as variáveis selecionadas, distribuídas em 41 países. A coleta dos dados foi realizada no site CSRHub (variável dependente), Geert Hofstede (dimensões culturais), Transparência Internacional de 2018 e base de dados Thomson Reuters (variáveis de controle). Análise dos dados deu-se por meio do método de regressão linear múltipla com erros-padrão robustos. Como principais achados da pesquisa, comprova-se que as diferenças existentes na cultura dos países influenciam as atividades empresariais voltadas à comunidade, empregados, meio ambiente e governança, considerando ao menos cinco das seis dimensões culturais de Hofstede. Mais especificamente, os resultados indicaram que empresas pertencentes as culturas com i) maior distância do poder, ii) mais individualistas, iii) menos masculinas, com iv) menor aversão à incerteza e, v) maior orientação a longo prazo, apresentam maiores desempenhos em RSC. Os resultados contribuem com as empresas, ao considerar que, o conhecimento prévio do engajamento em RSC, observado pelas companhias pertencentes a cada tipo de cultura, pode auxiliar na formulação de estratégias de organizações que almejam expandir seus negócios para países distintos dos de sua origem, possibilitando maior atendimento as diversas expectativas das partes interessadas quanto a RSC, que acabam sendo moldadas conforme as especificidades culturais, bem como, competir com suas concorrentes domésticas nesse aspecto. Palavras-chave: Dimensões Culturais; Hofstede; Cultura; Desempenho em RSC.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338533443_INFLUENCIA_DAS_DIMENSOES_CULTURAIS_NO_DESEMPENHO_
CSR Ratings and Contradiction of Real and Communicated Aims of Media Organization: The Case of News Corporation
Kreft, J
The article aims at the critical analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) ratings in accordance with reports presented by the largest organization which evaluates corporate social responsibility—the CSRHUB. The analysis refers to media corporations, such as News Corporations, and it aims at providing an answer to the question how the crisis of social trust towards media which belong to a media corporation affects their CSR ratings. In the article, there have been two hypotheses formulated: (1) the complex character of social, political and market aims pursued by media corporations is not clearly reflected by CSR ratings; (2) the comprehensiveness of CSR ratings does not contribute to the identification of key threats which result from the lack of social responsibility in a media corporation. The analysis indicates that—in their scope which is difficult to verify—CSR ratings of media corporations take into consideration the following elements: media specificity, and lobbying nature of some organizations (e.g. News Corporation). Their complexity and aggregated character makes it difficult to identify the sources of the problem. Furthermore, image disasters of particular entities within corporations insignificantly affect their CSR ratings.
Does Firm Size Matter? Evidence on the Impact of the Green Innovation Strategy on Corporate Financial Performance in The Automotive Sector
Lin Woon Leong, Cheah Jun Hwa, M. Azali, Jo Ann Ho, Universiti Putra Malaysia
In the past few years, there has been increasing awareness regarding the significance of the Green Innovation Strategy (GIS) in the academic and practical fields. Hence, it becomes important to determine the correlation between the GIS and the Corporate Financial Performance (CFP). This study attempted to determine the dynamic correlation between the GIS and the CFP, with regards to the firm size. For this purpose, this study has collected data for 163 international automotive firms, from the CSRHub database, for the period ranging between 2011 and 2017. Furthermore, we also used the dynamic panel data system, i.e., the Generalised Method of Moment (GMM) method, for estimating this relationship. The empirical results indicated that the GIS positively affected the CFP. Interestingly, we also uncovered that the firm size moderated the negative correlation between the GIS and the CFP. The small-sized firms showed higher green innovation investments return than the larger-sized firms, which indicated that these smaller firms were more prone to seek variation and visibility, for accessing better resources. Furthermore, due to the extensive scrutiny of the stakeholders, these small firms could generate higher profits. The implications for managers and the theories in this regard are then discussed.
Financial Performance and Corporate Social Responsibility: Empirical Evidence From Taiwan
Lin Lina, Pi-Hsia Hung, De-Wai Chou, Christine W.Lai, National Chi Nan University
This study, using data provided by CSRHub, examines the effect of CSR dimensions on the financial performance of firms in Taiwan. Specifically, we examine whether CSR in employment exhibits a signaling effect and results in financial benefits to firms in Taiwan. We find that allocating resources to diversity, labor rights, treatment of unions, compensation, benefits, training, health, and worker safety can be beneficial to a firm's value creation. Using sustainability ratings by CSRHub, we are able to cover a broader range of companies in size, geography, and industry type than those previously studied.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1029313217302191
To Agree or Disagree? An Analysis of CSR Ratings Firm
Elaine Conway, University of Derby
With the increasing use of CSR ratings firms’ data to guide ethical investing and to derive findings in academic studies, there has been a growth in the number of ratings firms. These firms use differing methodologies and data to derive their ratings. Therefore, it is important to understand whether ratings are commensurable, as decisions made on the basis of the ratings data used may differ. This paper assesses the level of agreement between two ratings firms, Bloomberg and CSR Hub across three main CSR sub-categories and an overall score. It uses Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient and intraclass correlation coefficient on continuous ratings, and cross-tabulation and Cohen’s kappa on ranked ratings within a sample of 720 US and EU companies. For both continuous and ranked data, there is most agreement on Employees/Social, Community/Social and Overall categories and weaker agreement on Environmental and Governance categories. Firms in the German DAX are most consistently rated, as are large and medium-sized firms. These findings propose a degree of caution for investors and academics using only one rater as the basis for their decisions/inferences. Accounting practitioners should be aware their CSR disclosures result in differing ratings and should consider which raters their key investors use. This paper is original in the comprehensive range of methods used to analyse two ratings firms across all CSR sub-categories, in samples from both the US and EU.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0969160X.2019.1613248
The Integration of a Newly Defined N-gram Concept and Vector Space Model for Documents Ranking
Wafaa Salama Mohamed, Mostafa Salama, The British University in Egypt
The competency of this approach is verified by ranking the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports of a set of multinational firms, according to their relevancy to Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G4 standards.The ranking results are compared to those of ethical rating organizations like Futurescape and CSRHub. Furthermore, the approach is utilized in the classification set of documents in other general categories from a benchmark Reuters data set. The results show the robustness and high accuracy of the proposed approach over the traditional VSM model.
Mission Statements and the Sustainability Communication
Lara Penco, Giorgia Profumo, Ilaria Tutore, Università degli Studi di Genova
SR and Environmental Performance Data on CSR performance was obtained from the CSRHub database that represents the world’s largest CSR database providing social, environmental, community, and governance ratings on around 16,891 companies from 200 industries in 133 countries. While not as widely used in management as the KLD database, the CSRHub has recently been used in the context of social responsibility both in academic (Bu et al. 2013, Cruz et al., 2014) and practitioner environments (Gidwani, 2013).
2018 Papers
Corporate Social Performance: Inter-Industry and International Differences
Heli Arminen, Kaisu Puumalainen, Satu Pätäri, Katharina Fellnhofer
The past decades have experienced a growing interest in social and environmental issues, which has put more pressure on companies to meet diverse stakeholder expectations. These expectations encompass both inter-industry and international differences, highlighting the context-dependence of corporate social performance (CSP). Given the increased pressure to conduct business in a socially responsible manner, managers and policy-makers must understand the institutional factors that affect CSP but are not directly controllable. Despite this need, empirical studies of institutional effects are relatively rare and have mostly concentrated on a limited number of countries or industries. Moreover, informal institutions such as postmaterialistic values have not been adequately considered in the context of institutional research, although postmaterialism represents social change resulting in new social demands, which then cause more intense pressure on companies to improve their CSP. Our study accounts for postmaterialism and examines the institutional effects on CSP at both the national and industry levels in a sample of 6211 companies from 52 countries. To conduct this study, we utilized CSP information from the CSRHub database, which allowed us to analyse overall CSP and its four dimensions: community, employees, environment and governance. Our findings based on linear regression analyses indicate that country-level institutions are most strongly associated with CSP, and that the level of economic development and postmaterialistic values are positively related with the overall CSP and most of its dimensions. Also, company size and financial performance appear to affect CSP, while the evidence for the effect of industry impact is weak. Overall, there are both similarities and significant differences in the drivers of overall CSP and its dimensions. Understanding the determinants of CSP can improve understanding of how companies can contribute to sustainable development across nations and industries via
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652617332444
Strategic Silence: Withholding Certification Status as a Hypocrisy Avoidance Tactic
Chad Carlos and Ben W. Lewis
We examine why organizations that obtain prominent certifications may at times elect not to publicize them. Drawing on the impression management lit-erature, we argue and show that concerns about being perceived as hypocritical may cause organizations to strategically withhold their certification status. Using a longitudinal panel of corporations that were members of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, a prominent environmental certification, we show that in the face of reputational threats, organizations are less likely to publicize their certification status when the threat appears to directly contradict the claims implied by the certification. Our findings suggest that the threat of hypocrisy is amplified for firms with stronger reputations in the same domain as the certification and when audience members better understand and value the certification. Our findings delineate new boundary conditions under which firms will make prosocial claims and inspire reconsideration of long-held assumptions about the process of decoupling the implementation and communication of socially valued practices. This study also provides insights for scholars of nonmarket strategy on how corporations strategically communicate with external constituents about their sustainability initiatives.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0001839217695089
The Relationship Between Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance (A Case Study from Finland): How Businesses and Organizations Can Operate in a Sustainable and Socially Responsible Way
Mari Kooskora, Estonian Business School; Miia Juottonen; Katlin Cundiff, Drury University
The impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on the company’s performance has become an increasingly important issue among investors, companies and company’s management. Despite the fact, that many studies have been conducted on this topic, the relationship between CSR and financial performance is still unclear regarding the causality and different categories of CSR. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to study if corporate social responsibility (CSR) has an impact on financial performance (FP) and to find out, what the nature of the impact is. This study uses correlation and multiple linear regression models in order to examine the relationship between CSR and the financial variables. The sample consists of 30 publicly listed companies in Finland whose financial data and CSR activities during the years 2013–2016 are analyzed. The accounting based model of Return on Assets (ROA) and the market-based model of Earnings per share (EPS) are selected to measure financial performance and CSRHub rates to estimate the corporate social responsibility (CSR). The control variables: capital structure, risk, size and industry were chosen for this research, because of their tendency to have association with the financial performance.
Relationship Between Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Success: Case of the Global Tobacco Industry
Marcela Misura, Ljerka Cerovic, Vesna Buterin, University of Rijeka
This study evaluates the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the financial performance of companies operating within the global tobacco industry. According to the Forbes Global 2000 list, the research covers almost the entire industry, more accurately nine companies whose value is about 99% of the total market capitalization of the industry. Analysis of this research problem covered a five-year period, from 2011 to 2015. To evaluate CSR of the companies involved in research, the CSRHub rating list was used. An aforementioned list gives ratings for the four criteria of CSR: community, employees, environment, and governance. To assess the financial performance of the companies and to obtain representative results, two indicators were used: ROA, as a measure based on the accounting records of the company and Tobin’s Q ratio, as a measure of the market success of the company. The research results indicate that there is no statistically significant correlation between the CSR and the financial performance at the tobacco industry level, but statistically significant correlation can be confirmed only selectively at the level of individual companies and individual indicators.
Corporate Social Responsibility Practice of Malaysian Public Listed Government-Linked Companies: A Dimensional Analysis
Boon Keong Lim, Southern University College; Suresh Ramakrishnan, Hishan Sanil, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
This paper examines the corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of the Malaysian public-listed government-linked companies (GLCs) using a dimensional analysis. Four dimensions of CSR activities, namely community, employees, environment and governance, are investigated to study the latest CSR practice of GLCs in year 2016. Each dimension is divided into three subcat-egories to further examine the performance of GLCs on a particular CSR area. This is the first paper in Malaysia which uses CSR ratings (obtained from CSRHub database) to proxy for CSR practice. None of the past literature has been found to adopt this approach. The findings show that Malaysian public-listed GLCs performed better in community, employees and environment dimensions, whilst tend to underperform in governance dimension.
The Trident of Corporate Corruption Control: Implications and Effects
Leyla Orudzheva, University of North Texas
Corporate corruption is a widespread phenomenon that persists in the functioning of both public and private companies of differing size, performance, industry, and national origin. As it generates negative effects both within and outside the organization, corporate corruption has been the subject of scholarly research. Yet, despite attempts to understand its antecedents and consequences, companies continue to struggle to eliminate corruption in their business practices. Thus, the overarching research question for this dissertation is "Why do companies continue engaging in corruption?"
To answer this research question, I focused on the topic of organizational corruption control, i.e., a set of mechanisms that purposefully target the prevention of corrupt practices within an organization. Specifically, I investigated the trident of organizational corruption control via its effects and implications on three constructs - corporate social performance, opportunity attractiveness of organizational corruption and corporate corruption recidivism. Using distinct methodologies, I examined corporate corruption control in three separate studies to address 1) the effect of corruption control on the opportunity attractiveness of organizational corruption 2) the effect of corruption control on corporate social performance and 3) the implication of ineffective corruption control on organizational corruption recidivism. Based on interdisciplinary theoretical perspectives and several secondary data sources, the hypothesized effects were empirically tested and insights were derived from a multiple case study approach.
The three studies used different firm samples. Study 1 was based on the data of the United States enforcement actions for violations of the 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practice Act (FCPA) formally prohibiting foreign bribery; firm-level data from the Bloomberg terminal; and a country-level measure from Worldwide Governance Indicators. In Study 1 (N=71 firms involved in foreign bribery), results supported hypotheses that regulatory sanctioning in host countries and bureaucratic controls at a firm level were negatively correlated with corruption opportunity attractiveness. Furthermore, vigilance controls help strengthen negative effect of bureaucratic controls on corruption opportunity attractiveness. Study 2 was based on reports of anti-corruption programs of the world's largest companies from Transparency International, corporate social performance scores from CSRHub, and firm-level financial indicators from the Bloomberg terminal. The findings of Study 2 (N=102 firms) supported hypothesis that corporate corruption controls positively affect Sustainable Resource Management, a sub-dimension of CSP. Importantly, the use of a cross-lagged design helped to specify that the relationship between Corruption Controls and CSP dimensions is not reciprocal (2-way) as was previously discussed in the literature. Study 3, was based on 6 cases of corruption recidivists identified via FCPA enforcements' database, and utilized data from court proceedings, annual reports, and news articles. Data were coded following prescribed steps to arrive at categories and themes. An inductive qualitative analysis performed in Study 3 resulted in a descriptive framework of ingenious deviance that underpins the profile of corporate corruption recidivists. The analysis revealed that a) a combination of underlying contextual and situational factors provided fertile ground for corruption, b) the phenomenon of recidivism occurred in the presence of multiple competing logics, and c) internal controls were subverted through ingenious deviance to facilitate bribery.
Relationship Between Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Success: Case of the Global Tobacco Industry
Marcela Mišura, University of Rijeka
This study evaluates the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the financial performance of companies operating within the global tobacco industry. According to the Forbes Global 2000 list, the research covers almost the entire industry, more accurately nine companies whose value is about 99% of the total market capitalization of the industry. Analysis of this research problem covered a five-year period, from 2011 to 2015. To evaluate CSR of the companies involved in research, the CSRHub rating list was used. An aforementioned list gives ratings for the four criteria of CSR: community, employees, environment, and governance. To assess the financial performance of the companies and to obtain representative results, two indicators were used: ROA, as a measure based on the accounting records of the company and Tobin's Q ratio, as a measure of the market success of the company. The research results indicate that there is no statistically significant correlation between the CSR and the financial performance at the tobacco industry level, but statistically significant correlation can be confirmed only selectively at the level of individual companies and individual indicators.
A Study of Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance - Take Taiwan’s Companies as Examples
Lin, Yu-Yun, National Chiao Tung University
This research intends to verify the hypothesis whether the greater Corporate Social Responsibility a corporate is, the higher financial performance of a corporate would be. In this study, the Corporate Social performance (CSP) scores of Taiwan’s public companies in the CSRHUB database are used to explore the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance. The research constructs two stages regression models to verify the hypothesis. The first stage shows that relationship between the CSP and the financial performance dependent variables is negative-related. The reduce model of first and second stage shows that relationship between the CSP and the financial performance dependent variables is significantly negative-related for companies volunteer for CSR reporting, but not significantly for companies requested for CSR reporting by Financial Supervisory Commission, R.O.C.
The Relationship between Business Foundation and Corporate Social Responsibility
Te-Tzu Kuo, National Donghua University
The meaning of the corporate social responsibility is that while a firm is pursuing its profit, it should contribute to the community and meet the expectations of the community, which is similar to the aim of the establishment of corporate foundations. Therefore, this research examines the association between the corporate foundations and corporate social responsibility. The samples are Taiwanese listed companies from 2010 to 2014. The corporate social responsibility data is from TEJ and CSRHUB database. The results show that firms with foundations are more likely to implement corporate social responsibility. Second, firms with foundations reveal the corporate social responsibility report more voluntarily. Besides, when firms implement corporate social responsibility, we find that firms with corporate foundations have better corporate social responsibility performance than those firms without corporate foundations. Finally, we find that there is no association between corporate foundations and illegal behavior. However, firms with foundations have less illegal events than those firms without corporate foundations when they both have illegal behavior.
2017 Papers
Corporate Social Responsibility And Brand Value In Luxury
Bravo González, Ramón, University of Glasgow
With a combined annual revenue of approximately $250 billion dollars, the luxury industry is highly significant, from a financial and commercial point of view. Within luxury, an area that is becoming increasingly important due to the visibility of this industry is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). While consumers are still not actively demanding CSR in luxury products and services, and there is evidence that CSR is not a key area of interest for the luxury industry; the luxury industry is becoming the target of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other stakeholders interested in environmental and ethical practices. Thus, it is essential that luxury companies explore CSR implementation, as neglecting to do so, is likely to affect their brands and their brand value. One of the most important assets that luxury firms have is brand value, an intangible asset influenced by consumer and company-led actions. CSR is a company-led action, which depending on how it is managed, can either increase or decrease brand value. It is important to note that to understand the role of CSR within luxury and how it can influence brand value, it is not possible to study CSR in isolation, as this would not fully reveal its importance in the wider context of brand value overall. Thus, CSR needs to be studied alongside other factors affecting brand value. Despite the fact that CSR can influence brand value in luxury, CSR is still overlooked by the industry. Due to the increasing relevance of CSR within luxury, this research explores the role of CSR within luxury and how it, together with other factors, contributes to brand value in luxury. An additional consideration is that despite the importance of brand value in luxury, the industry does not normally measure, manage and leverage brand value. As a result, it is also necessary to examine how brand value is perceived within luxury. To meet these research goals, a mixed methods approach was selected. More specifically, a theoretical framework was built with input from the literature and interviews with key interviewees from the luxury industry. Then, the theoretical framework was tested quantitatively. The quantitative analysis was conducted with a dataset based on consumer panels, and additional secondary data including Bloomberg, CSRHub, Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), Interbrand, and company reports. The results were subject to ‘credibility checks’ with interviewees from the industry. It is noteworthy to highlight that for the statistical analysis, one of the largest datasets with US consumer data was used. Similarly, for the qualitative interviews, representatives from some of the largest luxury companies in the world in terms of brand value, and luxury stakeholders were recruited. The results from this research suggest that despite the importance of brand value within luxury; brand value is not widely understood by the industry and it is not measured, managed or leveraged. This research also suggests that CSR, company size, having controlled distribution, country of origin, marketing and research and development (R&D)/design, energized differentiation, esteem, and relevance; are critical factors to brand value. Consequently, luxury brands need to manage all these determinants to be able to create and preserve brand value. Nevertheless, while all these determinants are important, their importance can vary by brand; depending on brand size, brand category, target market, and whether the brand is heritage or non-heritage. With regard to CSR, an outcome from this research is that CSR is becoming an increasingly important contributor to brand value in luxury. Still, the luxury industry is not fully aware that CSR implementation is consistent with key luxury values such as high-quality and service and luxury’s long-term vision; and that stringent CSR policies and practices constitute a potential strategy to anticipate future regulatory and social constraints. Furthermore, CSR implementation within luxury is generally limited to discrete actions, such as collaboration with the arts, compliance, local production, philanthropy/voluntarism, and use of environmentally friendlier materials. It is crucial that luxury companies incorporate CSR into the DNA of their brands and choose a CSR strategy aligned with their brand vision. Luxury brands may be able to positively change consumer perceptions of CSR and, thus, drive consumer demand. Also, engagement with CSR may result in a competitive advantage to them and in a potential increase in their brand value. Moreover, the results suggest that brand knowledge is overemphasized by the luxury industry, although it does not appear to be essential for brand value in luxury. Additionally, with respect to brand relevance, this research makes a case to consider brand desirability as a potentially more appropriate determinant of brand value within a luxury context.
https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?did=1&uin=uk.bl.ethos.716889
Gender Equality and Corporate Social Responsibility in Swedish corporate Governance : A Gender Perspective
Heinonen, Tobias and Clavijo-Retamales, Isaac, Södertörn University
Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to investigate whether the number and proportion of women on the board affect company CSR performance and diversification. The study also has an exploratory purpose in that the authors describe and explore an own created methodology that can contribute to an alternative operationalization of CSR diversification. Method: The study is based on a positivist and deductive approach. A quantitative strategy is applied for data collection. The study´s population consists of Swedish large cap corporates on the Stockholm Stock Exchange market. A total of 69 corporates are observed. The board's composition with respect to gender is the primary data and obtained from the corporates annual reports of the year 2015. Secondary data consists of the companies CSR-performance and -diversification for the year of 2016 and retrieved from CSRHub's database. Furthermore, a multiple regression analysis is applied to investigate the relationship between the gender and CSR variables, in relation to different control variables. Result: The regression result shows no significant evidence that the CSR-performance/ -diversification and the number and/or proportion of female representation on the boards have a relationship. Furthermore, the result shows that the size of the board has importance with respect to CSR-performance, but not to the diversification, and that there are differences between industries. The result shows that Swedish large cap corporations have greater points on their CSR-score, than the average company on CSRHub. Women represent 33% of the board members. All boards have at least one women director and consist of an average of three women. 43 of the observed corporates have three or more women on their boards. Conclusion: It is difficult to prove a causal and significant relationship between the number and / or proportion of women in the board and the company's CSR-performance and the degree of diversification. The size of the board seems to be more decisive (for the CSR-performance). It is assumed that factors other than those used in the study may have greater impact than the number and proportion of women. The method used to measure CSR-diversification is not complete and needs further development.
The Association among Corporate Social Responsibility, Earnings Management and Tax Management in China
Pei-Yi Wu, National Donghua University
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has got attention in the international community recently, and has become a trend in the company's development. There is a considerable literature on CSR. However, CSR is a new concept in China, and the relevant research and implementation is in initial stage. This study examines the relation among CSR, earnings management and tax management in China. The samples are CSR corporations in China during 2011-2014 from CSRHub database, and matched the pair of samples with similar size. The primary empirical findings of this study indicate that there is a significantly positive association between CSR and earnings (tax) management. Moreover, the results also show that there is a significantly positive association between CSR scores and tax management. However, the association between CSR score and earnings management is not significant. My findings indicate that CSR may not be able to restrict the earnings (tax) management of Chinese corporations, opposite, CSR become a tool to cover up their wrongdoings.
Relationship Between CSR Rating and Tax Avoidance
M Karthikeyan, Jain Bhawana, School of Business Amrita Vishwa
This study has been done to find whether there is a significant relationship between corporate social responsibility rating and tax avoidance. Sample includes 79 companies based on availability of ratings data. Companies' financial data was collected from Prowess for the year 2004 to 2017. CSR data was collected from CSRHub. CSRHub is third party site where we can collect CSR ratings data. Regression analysis was used to analyze the significance between corporate social responsibility rating and tax avoidance. Our results suggest that companies with higher CSR ratings have lower involvement in tax avoidance practices. Companies that are showing higher commitment towards the environment are more tax responsible.
Interrelation between Corporate Social Responsibility and Company Performance
Maria Markhaichuk, Vladimir State University
The paper is focused on the identification of relation between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and company performance in the Russian Federation. The aim of study is an empirical search for the answer to the question: Are socially responsible activities of the companies linked to their results?Design/methodology/approach: Data on the large Russian companies belonging to different branches were taken as a basis for the research. The sample includes data on the CSR level of fully and partially rated by CSRHub Russian companies for the 2012-2017 years.
2016 Papers
The Relationship Between Corporate Social Responsibility And Firm Performance: A Study Of South African Listed Companies
Mukoki, Paul Shepherd, A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree in Master of Commerce (50% course work) / A growing number of institutional investors that are adopting corporate social responsibility (CSR) philosophy are playing a crucial role in influencing listed companies to adopt and address CSR issues. CSR is defined as “…a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations…” (European Commission, 2010). CSR is now widely accepted as a way of doing business in the contemporary environment. It is evident in companies that are spending large sums of money, time and effort on satisfying various stakeholders’ requirements for responsible behaviour. Despite the growing pressure on companies to become socially responsible, the direct benefits of CSR contribution to firm performance remain questionable. From existing literature the relationship between CSR and firm performance have pointed to mixed results (Gladysek & Chipeta, 2012; Aggarwal, 2013). This study examines the relationship between CSR performance and firm performance using the CSRHub sustainability indexes as proxy for CSR performance. The firm performance measures of firm value (Tobin’s Q) and financial accounting performance (return on assets) were used. Annual data of firms from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) from year 2009 to 2012 was analysed using the Multiple Regression Analysis techniques. The study revealed that significant and positive relationship exists between CSR/environmental performance and firm value of listed South African companies. The study concluded that there is no significant relationship between firm performance and the other components of CSR such as community relations, employment relations, and governance. The relatively small sample size of the listed companies, some missing values on the sample data and the shorter time period on the study are the main limitations acknowledged in this report. In the overall, the study provides important insights for understanding the contribution of CSR and its disaggregated components to firm performance.
Corporate Social Responsibility och riskpåverkan : En studie av det sociala ansvarstagandets effekt på risk i Svenska börsbolag
Elman, Beatrice, Södertörn University, School of Social Sciences
This study uses a quantitative method that aims to investigate the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firm risk within Swedish public companies. Despite previous research at Anglo-Saxon companies with similar results, authors found cause for further investigation. Authors identified differences in the Swedish context that could affect the earlier found negative relation between CSR and firm risk, thereby legitimizing further examination. The research is built on secondary data collected from Nasdaq, Morningstar, Orbis and the CSRHub database. Through theory of relevance and current research, it develops a hypothesis which states that as CSR increases, firm risk is reduced in accordance with previous research. Testing was done with Pearsons bivariate correlation table and a multivariate regression analysis, controlling for various firm characteristics. The study found no connection between market risk and CSR, but could not determine whether a relationship between CSR and total risk exists within the population, only partly rejecting the hypothesis. The study raises attention as to how the relation between CSR and risk could be different in a context outside the typical Anglo-Saxon population. It could also be used as a base to further research on the cause to the lack of relation between CSR and market risk, in this study’s particular population.
Corporate Sustainability Performance and Financial Performance of Indian Companies: A Relational Study
Abbey Stemler, Timothy L. Fort Nandi Sushanta Kumar, Prof. Bal Ranjan Kumar, Dept. of Commerce, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar
In the world of ever changing expectations, companies must account for the way they impact the communities and environments where they operate. Businesses can sustain their growth only if society is generally satisfied with their overall contribution to societal well-being. During last few decades the concept of Sustainable Development (SD) has established itself as an important concept not only at global level but also at corporate level. The objective of this paper is to find out relationship between Corporate Sustainability Performance and the Corporate Financial Performance (FP) of some selected Indian companies. We analyse the impact of sustainability performance components (community involvement, natural environment, employees, governance and consumers) on Financial Performance. We find no significant association between overall sustainability performance and financial performance but further analysis revels that five sustainability components have varying impact on Financial Performance of Indian companies.
https://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:ajm&volume=7&issue=1&article=009
A Study Critically Analysing the CSR Activities of UK Supermarkets and How They Compare When Evaluated Using a Framework Based on ISO 26000
Christopher Keough, University of Huddersfield
This thesis examines the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of UK supermarkets and measures how they compare amongst each other when evaluated using a framework based on ISO 26000, incorporating the seven core principles of ISO 26000. UK supermarkets first started to grow in popularity throughout British high streets circa the 1950s, since then the sector has experienced rapid growth levels over many years with UK supermarkets of recent times becoming powerful retail giants.
Supply Market Intelligence for Procurement Professionals: Research, Process, And Resources
CSRHub http://www.csrhub.com CSRHub provides access to corporate social responsibility and sustainability information and ratings on major companies in North America, Europe and Asia, representing 135 industries in 104 countries, and covering the categories of Community, Employees, Environment, and Governance. CSRHub pulls together information across a wide range of different sustainability measurements and data sources and transforms it into a 0 to 100 scale, with 100 being the best rating. The amount and quality of data sources used to calculate the ratings is impressive. The list of sources is made readily available on the site and in company profiles. Examples of sources include ASSET4 (Thomson Reuters), CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project), EIRIS, Governance Metrics International, IW Financial, MSCI (ESG Intangible Value Assessment and ESG Impact Monitor), RepRisk, Trucost and Vigeo. Company ratings are open source. Subscribers, paying a reasonable fee, have access to more detailed information, including twelve subcategory ratings.
http://cottrillresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/WAV_Update_Comp_February_2016.pdf
Earnings Quality and Corporate Social Responsibility in the Philippines and China: A multidimensional Analysis Through Earnings Management
Paula Alyanna F. Balarbar, Jasmin Faye D. Borja, Laurence Mitchelle L. Tiglao, Ramon V. Del Rosario College of Business
This study focuses on determining the relationship between the quality of reports provided by the management of Philippine and Chinese firms and their CSR disclosures. Philippines and China are considered extreme opposites with respect to their giving behavior, CSR regulation, economic status, and cultural influences thus is deemed to be a good center of analysis when establishing the relationship between earnings quality and CSR. That is, whether changes in the relationship may occur. From the data gathered from online database resources such as CSRHub and Osiris, different sets of regression analysis were performed to determine the relationship of our variables. Results show that there is a negative relationship between earnings quality and CSR for both Philippines and China, that is, investing in CSR activities is not necessarily correlated with higher quality reports. Therefore, investments in CSR may actually encourage managements opportunistic behavior. Furthermore, the results show that Philippines and China differ on their perceptions of what activities increases shareholders value and what regulations incentivize specific types of CSR activities amongst firms CSR activities of Philippine firms focuses on the Community dimension while Chinese firms focuses on the Employees and Environment dimension.
Evaluating the Impact of Sustainability Reporting on Financial Performance of Selected Indian Companies
Hemal Pandya, Shilpi Motwani, Gujarat University
This study aims to evaluate the impact of sustainability reporting on the financial performance of the firm. For the purpose of the study companies on CSRHub were chosen. All these companies are listed on NSE as well as BSE. Out of the companies on CSRHub, only those companies were selected which reported completely on all sustainability criteria viz. Overall, Employee, Environment, Community, Governance; and also whose financial data for all six years was available. The final sample size stood to 103.The research is based on the secondary data of publically listed companies. The financial data was obtained from the ACE Knowledge, while the sustainability data was obtained from CSRHub; as it uses GRI framework. A period of study considered comprises of six years from 2009-10 to 2014-15. Correlation Analysis and Cross-sectional Multiple Regression Analysis have been carried out using the averages of all the considered variables over these six years.
2015 Papers
Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Operations: An Empirical Analysis of Banking Industry
Su, H.-M., Huang, C.-M., Liao, T.-H.
This study is to explore the relationship between the domestic banking industries devoting to the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) actions with their operating performance. In contrast to the previous studies, this study further observes the effect related to the bank risk taking degree. Regarding recent studies, it can be found the level of corporate social responsibility usually being access by qualitative indicators, but cannot observe the differences brought by the degree of the corporate devotion to CSR. In view of this, by using the CSR quantitative data provided by CSRHUB to the banking industry of Taiwan, taking into account of the operating performance and various levels of risk categories regression models, the empirical results confirm that when the banks devote to CSR, it will be helpful for the company accounting-based performance levels, but it could not explain the potential risk of default, only has a significant relationship with the operating risk. If the bank is the subsidiary of the financial corporation, although devoting to the CSR would increase the operating cost of the company; however, the external benefits associated with CSR could ease the pressure of having less operating profit, and mitigate the fluctuations in earnings.
The Ethical Pitfalls and Opportunities of Initial Public Offerings
Abbey Stemler, Timothy L. Fort,
Initial public offerings (IPOs) have been a focus of qualitative and quantitative research since the 1960s. However, the majority of research emanates from the fields of finance and management, with very little coming from the field of ethics. In this paper, we attempt to fill this gap by answering the question: Does the IPO process change a company’s ethical culture? In order to answer this question we examined S-1 filings made by companies before they went public. We used text-mining techniques to identify words that are uniquely related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) in those filings. We then used linear regression to compare those word counts to data produced by CSRHub. Companies that include words related to CSR tend to score better on various CSR measures. This evidence can support several explanatory theories, such as companies that take the time and effort to discuss CSR concepts in their S-1s make ethics a priority and therefore score higher on CSR ratings. Similarly, companies that had never formally thought about their ethical culture might feel, under the pressure of an IPO, to think about what kind of company the owners and leadership want it to be in the long run. Our study only analyzed companies three years post-IPO and did not control for certain variables. This paper is the first of its kind to discuss and, more importantly, attempt to quantify the impact of the IPO process on a company’s ethical culture. We hope that by understanding how the IPO process influences companies in terms of ethics, companies can more easily develop and maintain ethical cultures pre- and post-IPO.
https://searchworks.stanford.edu/articles/edsrep__edsrep.h.eme.aseizz.s1048.473620150000025003
The Impact of Return and Default Risk on China Corporate Social Responsibility
Ling Peng, Tamkang University
Recently, corporate social responsibility plays an important role, it is consist of employment community, governance, employees and environment, thus, this study examines the effect of return financial performance and risk on corporate social responsibility, providing a new perspective on motivation of corporate social responsibility. We will add central enterprise to discuss what is the main reason of corporate to fulfill corporate social responsibility. Our sample with 69 monthly data about 141 of China corporation corporate social responsibility score from December, 2008 to August, 2014 from CSRHUB. Our finding suggests that central enterprise return, financial performance and risk is positive and significantly relation to corporate social responsibility, and government policy of China emphasis on sustainable society and environment protection.
Costs and Benefits of Reducing Financing Costs Through Corporate Social Responsibility
Bandžak, Richard, University of Economics, Prague
The dissertation thesis investigates the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial performance (FP) on the sample of 51 Eurozone banks over the period from 2008 to 2014. The investigation is based on a panel data regression analysing the financial data from Bankscope and the social performance data from CSRHub. Return on assets and the ratio of non-performing loans to total loans represent the measures of financial performance and are used as dependent variables. The results of this model have shown a positive and statistically significant CSR-FP relationship. It is argued that even though the results show statistical significance, they do not necessarily include such a strong informational value. This is caused by methodological limitations, such as potentially biased data on CSR, as well as by the theoretical ones. The main theoretical concern, detected in the dissertation thesis, is a need for redefinition of the banks' driving motives of engaging in CSR activities. Banks engaging in CSR activities for merely strategic reasons should be analysed separately on a firm-level as they may otherwise bias the empirical results. Another important aspect of the work was an argument that banks benefit from CSR mainly through the product differentiation. This could not have been tested empirically, but it is assumed that the product differentiation, for example through reputation enhancement, may play a significant role in boosting bank's profits.
A Study on the Behaviors of Corporate Social Responsibility in Taiwanese Financial Institutions
Ting-Huei Liao, Tamkang University
This dissertation aims to investigate the relationship between the domestic banking devoting to the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) with their operating performance. In contrast to existing literatures, this dissertation further observes the degree of CSR related to the bank risk taking degree. Regarding recent studies, it can be found the level of corporate social responsibility usually being access by qualitative indicators, but cannot observe the differences brought by the degree of the corporate devotion to CSR. In view of this, by using the CSR quantitative data provided by CSRHUB to the banking industry of Taiwan, taking into account of the operating performance and various levels of risk categories regression models, the empirical results from the regression model and bootstrapping method confirm that when the banks devote to CSR actions, it will be helpful for the company performance levels of both accounting-based and market-based indicators. It can effectively reduce the potential risk of default. In addition, the bank possess the characteristics of financial holding company has large the positive effects than the bank with non-financial holding company. However, the results are not found in current operating risk indicator.
Earnings Management -- Does Corporate Sustainability Performance Matter?
Katrin Hummel, Peter Ising, Vienna University of Economics and Business
This study investigates the relationship between corporate sustainability performance and earnings management practices in a European setting. We measure earnings management based on discretionary accruals (cash flow approach) and real activity management. Corporate sustainability performance is a multi-dimensional construct that is measured based on data provided by the CSRHub database. Employing a European sample of 1,426 firm-year observations, our results reveal a negative relationship between corporate sustainability performance and earnings management activities. This finding supports the notion that a broad and integrated approach of sustainability performance constrains the use of earnings management practices. The results are consistent with recent research on U.S. non-financial companies (Kim et al. 2012), indicating the application of similar principles in U.S. and European settings. Additional analyses reveal that this relationship is particularly applicable to the environmental and community dimensions of sustainability, whereas we find only limited empirical evidence on this relationship for the employee dimension. Taken together, our study provides further evidence regarding the relevance of corporate sustainability in the financial context.
2014 Papers
How Does Extent of Environmental Protection Contribute to Firm Financial Performance and Default Risk?
Jung-Kai Liang, Tamkang University
In response to the new trends in the global green economy, this research examines the relationship between extent of environmental protection and corporate financial performance, the risk of default. CSRhub database rating 165 companies in Taiwan the scores of corporate social responsibility.In this pater , the degree of environmental protection in accordance with the environmental scores of corporate social responsibility.Other financial information are derived from TEJ database.Select the data for the period from December 2008 to July 2014.
This research confirm that corporate social responsibility and financial performance was non-significant positively correlated, and significant negatively correlated with the risk of default. The degree of environmental protection was non-significant positively correlated with financial performance, and significant negatively correlated with the risk of default. The company can strengthen environmental protection and corporate social responsibility to lower the risk of default.
The Association between Corporate Social Performance and Family Firms: Evidences from the CSR Rating Agency
Li-Ting Huang, National Donghua University
Family-controlled firms are important forces in the development of Taiwan's economic growth, and their unique shareholder ownership structure affects their operating performance. This study examines the relationship between family-controlled firms and the corporate social performance (CSP). The sample selected from Taiwan listed companies rated by CSRHUB. Empirical results show that: first, family-controlled firms show poor CSP relative to non family-controlled firms. Second, family-controlled firms have lower grades in each four dimensions of CSP ─ community, employees, environment, and corporate governance. Furthermore, this study documents that when firms are non-family-controlled type and also selected from Common Wealth Magazine "Best Corporate Citizen TOP50", they show the best CSP.
The Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility on Earnings Management: Evidence from Taiwan
Chen, Cindy Yi Lin, National Taipei Institute of Business and Technology
An empirical study was done to study the effect of the change in overall corporate social responsibility (CSR) score on earnings management. We measure two different types of earnings management – earnings smoothing and earnings aggressiveness. Data were obtained from the Taiwan Economic Journal (TEJ) and the CSRHub database. Our main research question is how does CSR activities affect affect a manager’s intention to engage in earnings manipulation activities in Taiwan, if it supports the long-term perspective hypothesis or the managerial opportunism hypothesis. The long-term perspective hypothesis argues that socially responsible firms are not only focused on increasing current profits but also on fostering future relationships with stakeholders, and therefore should not engage in earnings manipulation (Choi et al., 2013). On the other hand, the managerial opportunism hypothesis suggests that managers may strategically use CSR to disguise their opportunistic behaviors. A second research question we try to find out is the relationship between corporate financial performance and earnings management. Empirical results show significant negative results for change in CSR score with earnings aggressiveness, in support of the long-term perspective hypothesis. However, earnings smoothing was not supported for either of these hypotheses. Moreover, corporate financial performance was shown to have a positive relationship with earnings management, specifically earnings smoothing.
Corporate Social Responsibility and the Pollution Haven Hypothesis: Evidence from Multinationals’ Investment Decision in China
Maoliang Bu, Zhibiao Liu, Marcus Wagner, Xiaohua Yu, The City University of Hong Kong and National Taiwan University
This paper tests the pollution haven hypothesis by examining the relationship between environmental regulation and foreign investment with consideration of the role of corporate social responsibility, which has so far been neglected. Using multinationals’ investment data from China, our results in general support the pollution haven hypothesis that less stringent environmental regulation is more attractive for multinationals to invest in China, but high social responsibility can counteract attractiveness of weak environmental regulation.
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/s1574-871520140000014017/full/html
2013 Papers
Impact of Corporate Governance on Corporate Financial Performance
Priyanka Aggarwal, University of Delhi, Delhi School of Economics
Corporate governance is the new buzz-word in corporate world these days. It is viewed as a moral duty. It involves promoting the compliance of law in letter and spirit and demonstrating ethical conduct. The relationship between corporate governance and financial performance has caught wide attention of researchers in the last decade.
Numerous researches have been conducted in past to investigate this linkage, but there has been lack of conclusive evidence. The results obtained from existing researches have been mixed. In this paper, we attempt to investigate the impact of corporate governance on corporate financial performance in an Indian context, using a sample of 20 companies listed on S&P CNX Nifty 50 Index. Various tests like –regression, correlation, t-test and F-test have been performed using secondary data over a period of two years from FY 2010-11 to FY 2011-12 to study this linkage. We have also controlled for size of firm. We find that governance ratings have positive and significant impact on corporate financial performance. But like any other research, the present study is also subject to certain limitations, which should be considered while using the results of this study and the future researchers should attempt to overcome these limitations.
http://iosrjournals.org/iosr-jbm/papers/Vol13-issue3/A01330105.pdf
Formal and Informal Institutional Influences on Multinational Enterprise Social Responsibility: Two Empirical Studies
Dawn L. Keig, Kennesaw State University
How do environmental institutional influences in a multinational enterprise’s (MNE’s) total portfolio of locations affect its social responsibility (and irresponsibility)? To begin to answer this question, I engaged in two complementary empirical research studies, each exploring a particular subset of the MNE portfolio environment-social responsibility dynamic.
The first study applies the concept of institutional distance from the international business literature to examine how the differences in formal and informal institutional environments across a firm’s full portfolio of operating locations can affect its social performance. I hypothesize and find that firms with greater informal institutional distance within their locations will have lower overall levels of corporate social performance. I also suggest that greater average formal institutional distance within the MNE’s portfolio will moderate the social responsibility benefits associated with greater international scope. These hypotheses were tested and found to be supported using secondary data on a sample of 408 firms headquartered throughout Europe, Asia, and North America.
The second study also explores the institutional environment of MNEs and social responsibility, but from a different perspective. This study looks at the influence of institutionalized corruption on firms’corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR). Consistent with institutional theory, I conceptualize corruption as having both a formal and informal component and hypothesize that operating in portfolios of locations with greater formal and/or informal corruption environments may lead MNEs to have higher levels of social irresponsibility. Furthermore, I explore the relationship between irresponsible behavior and firm performance, finding that higher levels of firm CSiR are related to lower performance. Support for my social irresponsibility hypotheses was confirmed using a sample of 699 MNEs operating throughout the world.
It has been noted that institutions matter to international business. These two studies help us better understand the complex institutional environments of MNEs and how specific institutional environments can matter to MNE social responsibility-related outcomes, providing guidance related to country selection for MNE managers concerned about maintaining high corporate social performance and minimizing incidents of social irresponsibility in their firms.
http://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1538&context=etd
Factors Effecting Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure Ratings: An Empirical Study of Finnish Listed Companies
Artturi Roitto, University of Oulo, Oulu Business School thesis
As Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) disclosure is becoming more common practise amongst companies, it is valuable to understand the underlying factors involved. The Goal of this thesis is to examine if the factors suggested by previous studies seem to have significance in a Finnish sample composed of 31 listed companies. As an ancillary research question linkage between Corporate Governance recommendation deviations and CSR ratings were examined.
The research was executed by utilizing raw data from Thomson ONE Banker financial database, public information available in the 2012 annual reports, corporate governance statements and company web sites. This data was used to construct 10 independent variables. The CSRHub overall rating was applied to form the dependent variable. The raw data was then processed using linear regression.
The results were limited as in many variables’ case no significance was found. Age and profitability factors alone had an anticipated affect on CSR disclosure ratings, but other variables fell short when trying to demonstrate positive or negative significant linkages. Average age of board members showed negative significant relationship with CSR ratings at a 1 % level, profitability at a 5 % level.
The relative homogenous nature of Finnish listed companies can be argued to hinder the results. It is unlikely that the variables used in this thesis have such insignificant affect on CSR disclosure in all situations. It can be argued that the Finnish cultural environment is most likely the cause of the variables’ indifference. Finland is seen as a “model student”of the European Union and this cultural atmosphere might be the single most powerful determinant. More important than any specific company characteristic. It would be highly interesting to see more studies thriving to examine this perspective.
CSR AND Financial Performance of RESPECT Index vs. Other Highly Visible Companies in Poland
Maria Strubińska, Monika Żebrowska, Maciej Dydo, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw
The aim of this work is to assess the corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial performance of the companies belonging to the RESPECT Index, the first index in Central and Eastern Europe comprised of companies that emphasize corporate social responsibility, transparency, and good investor relations in comparison to the CSR and financial performance of other companies in Poland that are transparent and have visible CSR profiles, but are not in the RESPECT Index.
This exploratory study will employ a number of methods and consider a num- ber of aspects. One aspect will be whether or not a company is transparent and visible enough to have a CSR performance profile and rating in the world’s largest database of CSR data (CSRHub, which includes data on 7,300 companies from 135 industries in 93 countries and 12 indicators of CSR performance). Another aspect will be to compare the ratings in CSRHub of those companies that are vs. those that are not in the RESPECT Index. The study will also con- sider whether and to what extent the companies have adopted sustainability reporting. Finally, conventional measures of financial performance will be compared. Differences between RESPECT Index vs. other highly visible companies in Poland will be explored and displayed in tables and graphs. Where possible and appropriate, regression analysis will be used to test for potential causative relationships (e.g. between sustainability reporting or high CSRHub rating and financial performance).
2012 Papers
More Disclosure=Better CSR Reputation?
Reprint of paper published in the Journal of the Academy of Business &Economics (JABE), presented at the IABE conference in Key West, FL, USA, March 2012 Christopher J. Hughey, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Adam J. Sulkowski, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
This paper contributes to the scholarship of CSR and sustainability reporting by testing whether greater data availability about companies leads to their having better CSR reputations and possibly CSR performance. The authors begin with a brief literature review to develop the hypothesis that greater data availability may be correlated with having a positive CSR reputation. The authors chose the international energy industry as a focus, since these companies were early adopters of sustainability reporting and have the potential to have widespread and either very good or very bad reputations. Leaders and laggards in terms of perceived CSR performance within this industry are identified using scores generated by CSRHub, a sustainability information aggregation service. A regression test is performed and the results indicate a significant positive relationship: the more data is available about a company in the international oil and gas industry, the better its CSR reputation tends to be. Since this study only considers availability of data, and not the quality or content of information, the key finding appears consistent with the old adage that “any publicity is good publicity.”The authors also share some observations about the characteristics of the reputational leaders and laggards and their reputations across various aspects of CSR. For example, consistent with previous findings, CSR reputation leaders are found to be older and larger, while laggards are newer and smaller. The authors conclude with a discussion of implications for managers and scholars and potentially fruitful future veins of inquiry.
http://tennesseine.blogspot.com/2012/03/more-disclosure-better-csr-reputation.html
Institutional and Resource Based Drivers for Corporate Social Responsibility: a Single Case Study on TomTom’s CSR Practices and its Drivers
Sebastiaan van der Zalm, Bedrijfskunde Universiteit van Amsterdam Master Thesis
This thesis addresses the question what drives an organization to have Corporate Social Responsibility practices in place. This thesis is written within TomTom International BV who is a provider of personal navigation solutions. Based upon two different perspectives, the Institutional Theory and the Resource Based View and their drivers for CSR, this thesis attempts to unveil whether these have a relationship with TomTom’s social responsible behavior. Furthermore this thesis aims to answer the question what the current CSR practices are of TomTom and what the outcome is of those. The results of this thesis are based upon a single case study for which a documentary analysis is performed and interviews are conducted. Apart from that a benchmark has been performed to understand how the CSR strategies of TomTom and its competitors relate to each other and whether TomTom might have CSR practices in place to gain a competitive advantage. TomTom mainly refers to the fact that using their products helps customers to; drive safer, reduce their carbon foot print and lowering their stress; hence they put their product central in their CSR strategy. This is obviously a nice to have, but this is not why TomTom started to sell personal navigation devices. On the other hand TomTom does have social responsible products that might fit a proper CSR strategy better. TomTom’s CSR strategy is mainly driven by the norm and values of the policy maker.
The Link between Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Financial Performance from the Perspectives of Environment, Employee, Community and Governance ─ An Evidence from American Manufacturing Industry.
Xie Yiling, National Chiao Tung University
The concept of corporate social responsibility has been discussed for many years. Recently, due to the lack of resources and the emerging concern of the sustainability of corporation, this big issue is under more thoroughly examination. In this study, the ratings of environment, employees, communities and governance in 2010 and 2011 of American manufacturing industry in the CSRHUB database are used to evaluate the relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate performance. The result found that environment and governance did actually have significant effects on corporates’ performance. Moreover, the result suggested that the two years ratings of environment had a time lag effect. The positive effect of corporate social responsibility would benefit the company eventually in the future.
More disclosure=better CSR reputation? An examination of CSR reputation leaders and laggards in the global oil and gas industry
Christopher Hughey, Adam Sulkowski, Babson College
SELECTION OF SOURCE FOR DATA ON CSR REPUTATION To test their hypothesis, the authors used the CSRHub performance rating tool, available online at www.csrhub.com. CSR Hub’s objective is “to provide consistent ratings of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) performance for as broad a range of companies as possible.” As described on the company’s website: “[o]ur search system allows CSRHUB users to find and compare the ratings of companies in different industries and countries. Both consumers and businesspeople can use this information to make economic decisions, look for employees or jobs, organize boycotts and boycotts, and make purchasing or supply chain decisions.
Corporate Beauty Contests: What Is The Rank/Score For Your Company?
Hank Boerner
Many Americans seem to love corporate beauty contests -- the constant ranking, rating, and scoring of perceived company corporate governance progress, or lack thereof, and related aspects of evaluating boards and managements of publicly owned, private-sector enterprises. Beauty contests, some may pejoratively characterize these exercises, or at the opposite end of opinion, increasing numbers of investors see these exercises as rigorous attempts to better define and in some way quantify really effective governance. And to differentiate the best examples from too many examples of poor governance. The landscape may be seen as bewildering with the great range and variety of opinions being expressed (and widely circulated) by those outside the boardroom and C-Suite doing the judging of those inside the corporation. One indication of the rising interest of investors and their campaign coalitions is the collection of shareholder-sponsored proxy resolutions presented for shareholder voting each year.
https://www.proquest.com/docview/1431036086?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true
2011 Papers
Environmental Regulation and Economic Performance in U.S. Manufacturing: Industries, Firms, and Plants
Bedrijfskunde Universiteit van Amsterdam Master Thesis, Banerjee, Soumendra Nath, Ph.D.
Broadly speaking, goal of this research is to investigate the impact of environmental regulation on economic performances in the U.S. manufacturing sector. Researchers' findings vary from negative impact to positive one. This lack of consensus along with availability of large set of data motivates the long-run industry-level study to look into the dynamics of regulation-performance relationship from 1958 to 2005. Variables related to health and environmental regulations have been collected from EPA's Pollution Abatement Costs and Expenditures survey, and OSHA's Management Information System. NBER Manufacturing Productivity database is the source of the variables related to industrial economic performance. Ordinary least squares procedure reveals bigger effects for EPA than OSHA, and smaller/less significant contributions to productivity in later periods. Evidence has also been provided to indicate that pollution-abatement spending only affected the measurement of productivity growth, with no real effect on the productivity of inputs actually used in production.
Evidence show that many firms are subject to intense public scrutiny with the increasing environmental consciousness in society. In response, management research and conceptual thinking on environmental issues has expanded from a narrow focus on the concept of pollution control to a broader concept of being socially responsible that combines environmental issues into functional considerations. The potential link between economic performance and environmental regulation and so corporate social responsibility works as a motivation to examine the determinants of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Data on CSR rating comes from CSRHUB and Justmeans for cross-section and panel analyses, respectively. Firm-level productivity and financial data comes from COMPUSTAT. This essay involves performing probit, OLS, fixed-effects, quantile, and Chow procedures. The major finding of this essay is that bigger firms show better CSR performance.
Third and last essay of this study explores plant-level data on enforcement, compliance, and emission of pollutants with air pollution regulation to test whether enforcement is effective in inducing plants to comply, whether certain types of plants are more influenced by enforcement behavior, and to determine what other firm characteristics are associated with compliance covering the 1994–2002 period applying OLS, fixed-effects, logit, tobit, and Chow test procedures. Plant-level measures of air pollution enforcement activity, compliance status, and emissions of air pollutants during that period come from several EPA databases and firm-level data productivity comes from the COMPUSTAT. Results suggest that plants associated with firms that are making more profit or have more of any immediately negotiable medium of exchange emit less toxic inventory and air pollutants. Plants in violation with "voluntary compliance"as represented by TRI emissions are significantly less likely to comply with air pollution regulations, and plants owned by the firms specializing in paper and allied product or petroleum and coal product are less sensitive to other enforcement activity.
Quantitative Sustainability DisclosureAn International Comparison and Its Impact on Investor Valuation
Sebastiaan Muller, Lappeenranta University of Technology, St. Petersburg State University, International Technology and Innovation Management
This research focuses on the link between quantitative sustainability disclosure and information asymmetry. It builds upon previous research which links information asymmetry with voluntary disclosure. Stakeholders from the financial services sector claim that sustainability disclosure needs to be more numerical and comparable between companies. This research covers 111 firms from Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden from non-service industries and studies how quantitative their sustainability disclosure is, and whether or not there is a negative relation with information asymmetry. The results support the hypotheses, where two out of three information asymmetry proxies have a significant negative relation with quantitative disclosure. Size is supported as a moderating factor. Quantitativity also proves to have a significant link with third party sustainability ratings. The direct link between quantitativity and cost of capital is not however supported.
http://www.doria.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/69887/nbnfi-fe201106101728.pdf?sequence=2
Additional Research Papers Using CSRHub Data
Profitability Analysis And Comparison Finance Essay
ESG Disclosure Trends in the Technology Sector
The Conference Board, Emanuelle Raggi
Research by The Conference Board shows that many companies are employing their efforts towards a sustainable life style. A sustainable structural framework is useful to enable proper director oversight of corporate sustainability and its related issues. In particular, what appears to be broadly missing is access to sources of information and how sustainability should apply to businesses. Companies that decided to work and apply the precepts of ESG are effectively integrating social objectives into daily business activities. The enhanced sensitivity towards environmental issues convinced customers and stakeholders that this is the right way to follow for mixing good performances and profitability matters (i.e. financial indicators and non-financial indicators) for the common objective of achieving real sustainability practices.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2230170
The Conference Board, Emanuelle Raggi
Research by The Conference Board shows that many companies are employing their efforts towards a sustainable life style. A sustainable structural framework is useful to enable proper director oversight of corporate sustainability and its related issues. In particular, what appears to be broadly missing is access to sources of information and how sustainability should apply to businesses. Companies that decided to work and apply the precepts of ESG are effectively integrating social objectives into daily business activities. The enhanced sensitivity towards environmental issues convinced customers and stakeholders that this is the right way to follow for mixing good performances and profitability matters (i.e. financial indicators and non-financial indicators) for the common objective of achieving real sustainability practices.