International Journal of Disclosure and Governance最新文献

Globally, businesses are increasingly gaining recognition for their non-financial performance due to heightened stakeholder demands about ethical and environmental responsibilities. This noteworthy shift in perspective has catalyzed the inception of this research, which seeks to scrutinize the influence of environmental, social, and governance disclosure (ESGD) on financial distress. To investigate the potential capacity of ESGD in mitigating financial distress, the researchers have employed the Generalized Method of Moments. Additionally, the study takes into account the moderating role played by the firm’s life cycle in this relationship. The findings underscore that the adoption of ESGD is associated with a decreased likelihood of default, thus highlighting its effectiveness as a risk management strategy. Moreover, this investigation emphasizes the impact of the firm’s life cycle on the link between ESGD and corporate financial distress. Rooted in signalling theory as the theoretical framework, the research posits that a wide spectrum of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives not only enhances the consistency of signals but also amplifies the associated signal costs. Consequently, in alignment with this theoretical perspective and substantiated by empirical evidence, our study confirms a multifaceted influence of ESGD on financial distress, contingent upon the distinctive phases of a firm's life cycle. In consequence, this study offers valuable insights for managerial decision-making, guiding the development of tailored disclosure policies that align with the specific characteristics of a firm’s life cycle.

Abstract

In this study, we examine the impacts of the chief executive officer’s (CEO) ability on a firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the CSR effect on a firm’s performance. In addition, we explore the CEO’s role in aligning the relationship between CSR and firm performance. Our findings show that a firm’s CSR and performance increase with the CEO’s ability. Further, CEO ability moderates an insignificant association between CSR and firm performance. Importantly, we also find that the positive relation between CEO ability and CSR is weak for CEOs with dual roles and is also ineffective when CSR emphasis exerted by the external environment is more robust. Importantly, we find that gender critical mass substitutes the relation between CEO ability and CSR, signifying that a firm with gender crucial mass on its board is likelier to adopt CSR irrespective of CEO ability. We also find that CEO career concerns moderate the relation between CEO ability and firm performance. Notably, CEO gender moderates the association between CEO ability and firm CSR and firm performance, implying that female CEOs with high ability are likelier to adopt CSR practices and align CSR performance to firm performance. Overall, our evidence is consistent with our conjectures that more able CEOs have fewer career concerns and are more willing to undertake CSR investments leading to firm performance.

Participation of women on corporate boards has long been a topic of debate in academia and practice. Yet, the threshold of women's participation in a corporate board to obtain a synergetic impact on corporate sustainability performance remains to be examined. Data from 19 European countries, having 2640 firm-year of observation, this study revealed that women on boards positively affect corporate sustainability performance in the European context, with an approximately 30% participation of women on boards (WoB) ensuring synergetic impact. This study further revealed that after the threshold of WoB participation, the market value of companies tends to be negative in the European setting. An indication of investors' reactions. The issue was first examined through the lens of the resource-based view, social role, agency and critical mass theories and then empirically tested. To reach a conclusion, this study employs both static and dynamic econometric models; thus, the finding is consistent and empirically robust. The research findings contribute to the current discussion on corporate governance and corporate sustainability performances issues, especially in the European context, and have implications for researchers, business practitioners, and policymakers.

Decision-makers in any organization require an audit to ensure the reliability of the information presented in the reports. This task is performed by a qualified person who meets specific and necessary criteria, such as experience, competence, and credibility. These qualifications are used in implementing the integrated report. The present work aimed to provide empirical evidence of the mediating effect of integrated reporting (IR) on the relationship between audit quality and company performance. Our sample included 36 French companies between 2012 and 2021. The structural equation model was used to analyze the data and test the hypotheses via STATA17 software. The empirical results show that IR quality plays a mediating role (complementary mediation) in the relationship between Big4 firms, auditors’ competence and experience, and the performance of French companies. However, it negatively mediates the relationship between auditors’ experience and performance in a complementary way.

Abstract

The study investigates the competitive economic advantage of voluntary integrated reporting (IR) disclosures by publicly listed companies in Bangladesh. Thematic analysis of fifteen semi-structured interview transcripts reveals that investors consider both financial and non-financial factors where the emphasis is placed on the economic, business model, and governance factors. Many investors lack IR knowledge, whereas IR-familiar investors do not even regard IR adoption as value-adding due to certain limiting factors. A bit longer time frame and a developed market ecosystem are required to comment on the significance of IR for investment decisions in Bangladesh. Additionally, from an institutional theoretical lens, this study stipulates how an efficient capital market will trigger both the demand and supply of IR information and make voluntary IR adoption value relevant for appraising investment targets. It brings forward an important notion that fixing the capital market environment should be emphasized before attempts to make IR mandatory.

There has been a recent surge in interest in academic research and public discourse surrounding the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study examines the level of SDG disclosure (SDGD) in Bangladeshi banking companies and explores its relationship with board gender diversity. An automated keyword search is applied to measure SDGD in the annual reports of publicly traded commercial banks. Based on agency, resource dependence, and stakeholder theories, this study hypothesises that a higher presence of female directors on the board is associated with greater commitment and contribution to SDGs, as evident in SDGD. The findings reveal a consistent increase in SDGD from 2015 to 2020 and confirm a significant positive relationship between board gender diversity and SDGD. The results remain consistent following robustness tests, including one-step and two-step system (dynamic) GMM estimations. Also, the study provides evidence that a critical mass of at least three female directors is necessary to establish a significant positive relationship between board gender diversity and SDGD. The implications of this study are twofold: firstly, it provides preliminary insights into the state of SDGD in the banking industry, which can inform regulators in assessing corporate engagement to SDGs and issuing disclosure guidance for the interest of the stakeholders. Secondly, the study highlights the importance of gender diversity on boards, as more female representation is associated with increasing SDGD. Such empirical findings imply that banking companies should consider appointing more female directors to their boards to advance SDG initiatives. Policymakers can utilise these findings to formulate regulations, particularly regarding the minimum number of female directors on corporate boards. This research contributes to the limited SDGD literature in the emerging economy context, offering insights into how board gender diversity is associated with SDGD.

This paper aims to test whether earnings management techniques control the effect of corporate social performance in both current and subsequent firm performance. In fact, the effect of sustainable activities on firm performance through earnings management techniques are mainly examined as a mediating variable. The sample contains 9772 firm-year observations for 698 firms listed in countries with a civil law system. The findings highlight that CSR-oriented companies are less likely to engage in earnings management activities. In addition, CSR activities lead to minimize the trade-off from AEM strategy to REM. Thus, the findings reveal that CSR initiatives are still biased and are dependent on the interests of managers.

This study investigates how decisions about cash holdings are impacted by internal corporate governance mechanisms in the presence of external governance mechanisms (shareholders’ and creditors’ rights). On the data of listed manufacturing firms in the ASEAN-5 from 2005 to 2020, the fixed-effect and generalized method of moment models are employed. The results demonstrate that strong external governance mechanisms mitigate the negative impact of weak internal governance methods, such as a higher level of managerial ownership, a larger board, and CEO dual roles. This suggests that strong external governance mechanisms can help mitigate cash wastage and higher agency issues brought on by weak internal governance. However, when there is a presence of strong external governance mechanism, strong internal governance practices such as lower managerial ownership levels, a founder-CEO, and an independent board do not permit corporations to store more cash to avoid cash misuse. This is the first study that reveals how internal corporate governance mechanisms affect the choice to keep cash in the presence of strong and weak external governance mechanisms.