{"title":"Strategic responses to hostile takeover threats: Empirical evidence on enhancing corporate social engagement","authors":"Sirimon Treepongkaruna, Pattarake Sarajoti, Chaiyuth Padungsaksawasdi","doi":"10.1002/csr.2861","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2861","url":null,"abstract":"Understanding the dynamics between external corporate governance mechanisms and social engagement offers insights into how corporate strategies towards social capital are shaped. We explore the impact of hostile takeover threats on corporate social engagement by utilizing a measure of takeover vulnerability. This allows for a detailed examination of how exposure to takeover threats influences firms' engagement in social engagement initiatives. Our analysis reveals a positive and causal relation between the degree of takeover threats and the level of social commitments in firms, suggesting that the presence of hostile takeover threats enhances corporate social responsibility as a means of external governance and reduces agency costs. The findings support the hypothesis that the threat of hostile takeovers prompts firms to invest more in social commitments, potentially as a strategic defense mechanism.","PeriodicalId":505003,"journal":{"name":"Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141104657","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Analysing green interpersonal citizenship behaviour as a mediator between green HRM and green outcomes: A study of manufacturing units","authors":"Harleen Kaur, Ragini Gupta","doi":"10.1002/csr.2856","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2856","url":null,"abstract":"Using an integrated approach grounded on the theories of AMO (Ability‐Motivation‐Opportunity), RBV (Resource‐Based View), and Social Learning, the present study aims to assess the mediating role of Green Interpersonal Citizenship Behaviour (GICB) between Green HRM and Green Outcomes. The data was gathered from 371 manufacturing unit employees in India's Jammu region of UT of J&K using a cross‐sectional study approach. The sample size was depicted using G* power software. The model was tested using PLS‐SEM 4.0, (Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling). According to the results of the survey, these green HRM strategies are highly associated to producing environmentally friendly results, which in turn lead to sustainability. Industrial organisations that want to improve their environmental performance might use the model as a guide. Positive green results may result from a combination of environmentally friendly techniques and green behaviour adopted by employees.","PeriodicalId":505003,"journal":{"name":"Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141108813","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yizhou Wang, Siyu Shen, Jun Xie, Hidemichi Fujii, A. Keeley, Shunsuke Managi
{"title":"How corporate climate change mitigation actions affect the cost of capital","authors":"Yizhou Wang, Siyu Shen, Jun Xie, Hidemichi Fujii, A. Keeley, Shunsuke Managi","doi":"10.1002/csr.2853","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2853","url":null,"abstract":"Japan has been at the forefront of global efforts to accelerate climate change mitigation. Japanese firms have led in the development of decarbonization technologies and have positively disclosed climate change‐related information based on the Task Force on Climate‐related Financial Disclosures recommendations to address climate change. We explore the relationship between corporate climate change mitigation actions and the cost of capital for 2100 Japanese listed companies from 2017 to 2021. The results reveal that a higher carbon intensity correlates with an increased cost of equity, debt, and weighted average cost of capital. Interestingly, although climate‐related information disclosure is associated with an increased cost of debt, it concurrently lowers the cost of equity and overall capital. This research recommends strategic approaches for firms to reduce their costs of capital while proactively combating climate change, highlighting the divergent responses of equity and bond markets to decarbonization initiatives.","PeriodicalId":505003,"journal":{"name":"Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141123105","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gema C. Fleitas‐Castillo, Devora Peña‐Martel, Jerónimo Pérez-Alemán, D. J. Santana‐Martín
{"title":"Board gender diversity and corporate social irresponsibility in a dominant owner context","authors":"Gema C. Fleitas‐Castillo, Devora Peña‐Martel, Jerónimo Pérez-Alemán, D. J. Santana‐Martín","doi":"10.1002/csr.2851","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2851","url":null,"abstract":"The growing prominence of women directors has increased interest in their role in firms' social performance. However, knowledge of what impact female directors might have on corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) remains virtually non‐existent. This study aims to fill this gap. Using a sample of 107 Spanish listed non‐financial companies from the OSIRIS database (Bureau Van Dijk) for the period 2014–2022, together with alternative regression methods to account for endogeneity (2SLS, propensity scoring matching and generalised method of moments), our results show an inverted U‐shaped relationship between female directors and CSI. This supports arguments that dominant owners might appoint a small number of female directors symbolically to create a ‘halo effect’ or to enhance their public image and thus reinforce their entrenchment and divert attention away from CSI episodes. However, the appointment of a critical mass of female directors does evidence dominant owner commitment to move away from irresponsible corporate practices, since the presence of a larger number of female directors encourages the firm's ethical behaviour and increases the costs of penalising CSI episodes in the face of the firm's hypocritical behaviour. This study contributes to the emerging literature on CSI by complementing the knowledge gained from studies on ethical behaviour in a concentrated ownership setting. However, the study is not without limitations, especially in terms of the difficulty of measuring CSI episodes since, despite the work of the media, some socially irresponsible practices may remain hidden.","PeriodicalId":505003,"journal":{"name":"Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141124926","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The use of corporate social responsibility in response to product‐harm crisis: How do stock market reactions matter?","authors":"Zhe Ouyang, Xiaojiao Wang, Yang Liu","doi":"10.1002/csr.2739","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2739","url":null,"abstract":"The initial stock market reaction to a product‐harm crisis is an important factor motivating firms to engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR). By analyzing event data on product‐harm crises in Chinese listed companies spanning from 2009 to 2019, we uncover evidence that crisis‐related abnormal returns have a significant negative association with the subsequent growth of CSR. Importantly, we find that this negative relationship is especially pronounced for firms that have a greater need to restore moral legitimacy, such as those receiving high levels of media favorability and positive analyst recommendations. These findings offer novel insights into the motivations behind firms' increased investment in CSR following product‐harm crises from a legitimacy perspective.","PeriodicalId":505003,"journal":{"name":"Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139845061","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hui Xia, Shixian Ling, Z. Liu, Sirimon Treepongkaruna
{"title":"Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from directors' and officers' liability insurance","authors":"Hui Xia, Shixian Ling, Z. Liu, Sirimon Treepongkaruna","doi":"10.1002/csr.2732","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2732","url":null,"abstract":"Theoretical theories underpin the governance effect of directors' and officers' (D&O) liability insurance include agency costs and stakeholder interests. Motivated by mixed evidence on the corporate governance effects of D&O, we ask whether and how the directors' and officers' (D&O) liability insurance affects corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance in China, one of the largest and fastest growing economies in the world. We develop two contrasting hypotheses: (1) supervision and incentives versus (2) opportunism. To test these hypotheses, we rely on Chinese A‐share market data and fixed effect panel regressions, along with a battery of robustness checks, including Heckman sample selection bias, two‐stage least square instrumental variable (2SLS‐IV), difference‐in‐difference (DiD), propensity score matching (PSM) analyses. Consistent with supervision and incentives hypotheses and stakeholder theory, we find that D&O liability insurance significantly increases firm's CSR performance and firms renewing D&O liability insurance with the same insurers tend to have better CSR performance. Two possible mechanisms supporting this positive relation between D&O liability insurance and CSR performance are information transparency and accounting conservatism. Aside from theoretical contributions, our findings offer important practical contributions such as promoting D&O as external governance and ensuring the functions of D&O insurance comprehensively and correctly understood. Integrating D&O insurance with CSR can be viewed as an important business strategy by mitigating risks, enhancing reputation, ensuring legal compliance, and supporting responsible decision‐making.","PeriodicalId":505003,"journal":{"name":"Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139790738","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Happy troubles? CSR awards and CSR report quality","authors":"Yihao Guo, Yanwen Song, Yimin Wang","doi":"10.1002/csr.2720","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2720","url":null,"abstract":"We propose that quality of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports, as measured by independent agencies, will decline when firms perform well in social responsibility. Building on the existing literature on stakeholder theory and existing literature, we theorize that lower‐quality CSR reports may correlate with better actual CSR because performing well in CSR will increase external stakeholders' expectations but simultaneously stimulate discontent among shareholders, forcing firms to mitigate the conflict through CSR reports. This study takes Chinese listed firms from 2010 to 2019 as subjects and examines the relationship between winning prestigious CSR awards and CSR report quality. The results support our hypothesis. We further investigate two moderator variables and find the negative relationship is weakened when firms are state‐owned, potentially resulting in more social expectation pressures from the government and public. As an important financial indicator tracked by internal stakeholders, return on equity weakens this negative relationship.","PeriodicalId":505003,"journal":{"name":"Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139793221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ji Li, Tao Liu, Linping Dong, Guoxin Li, Zhenyao Cai
{"title":"Gender‐related institutional environments, gender pay gap/equality and prosocial behaviors: A cross‐national meta‐analysis","authors":"Ji Li, Tao Liu, Linping Dong, Guoxin Li, Zhenyao Cai","doi":"10.1002/csr.2728","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2728","url":null,"abstract":"We adopt a meta‐analytic approach to study the relationship between gender‐related institutional environments/logics at both organizational level and societal level on the one hand and gender heterogeneities in individual prosocial behaviors on the other. Analyzing data from 138 empirical studies covering 35 countries, we obtain evidence of gender heterogeneity in prosocial behaviors under different gender‐related institutional environments/logics. Our meta‐analysis helps obtain several important findings. For instance, a gender gap in pro‐environmental behaviors is more likely to be observed in societies/countries with low gender egalitarianism with women showing less prosocial behavior than their men counterparts. Moreover, women under the same institutional environments also show significantly more anti‐corruption behaviors than do their men counterparts, while this difference is much smaller (i.e., with smaller effect size) given the institutions of high gender egalitarianism. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of the findings for academic research and managerial practice.","PeriodicalId":505003,"journal":{"name":"Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139796963","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}