Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Governance: A Cognitive Approach

This chapter aims to critically review the existing literature on the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate governance features. Drawn on management and corporate governance theories, we develop a theoretical model that makes explicit the links between board diversity, CSR committees’ attributes, CSR and financial performance. Particularly, we show that focusing on the cognitive and demographic characteristics of board members could provide more insights on the link between corporate governance and CSR. We also highlight how the functioning and the composition of CSR committees, could be valuable to better understand the relationship between corporate governance and CSR.