This study investigates the relationship between corporate political embeddedness and the quality of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure for Chinese listed A-share firms. The study applies the legitimacy theory to the diffusion of CSR in Chinese companies, which otherwise have a differentiating characteristic from Western companies: part of their property being owned by the government. We used 21,295 firm-year observations from Chinese listed firms between 2010 and 2016. The findings reveal that political embeddedness moderates the relationship between firms’ resource base and CSR disclosure quality, such that the effect of resource base on CSR quality was found to be weak for firms with a higher level of political embeddedness. Furthermore, firms with a higher level of political embeddedness will disclose CSR with a lower quality, whilst firms with a higher resource base report CSR with a higher quality. The findings of this study contribute significantly to the literature on CSR disclosure by recognizing the positive impact of political embeddedness and resource base on CSR disclosure quality.

This paper examines the heterogeneous links between board gender diversity and corporate social performance in different industries across China. OLS regression models are approximated using the data of Chinese industries from 2009 to 2015. Robustness test and two-stage least square (2SLS) methods are incorporated to cater for robustness and endogeneity. Board gender diversity (BGD) stimulates corporate social performance (CSP) of firms with environmental and social risk exposure regardless of critical mass and directors’ independence. It does so for firms with governance risk exposure while incorporating the critical mass effect and the director’s independence. Overall, the positive effect of BGD is prevalent in different industries at an aggregate level while considering firms with an overall ESG risk exposure. The findings imply that BGD can mitigate the ESG risk exposure in terms of enhancing the CSP and the advantage can be transpired with the inclusion of even one female director (independent or executive) to the board. The study also highlights that BGD enhances CSP in industries with more environmental and social risk exposure while doing so in industries with governance risk exposure after complementation by critical mass and independent director effects.

This study pursues to clarify the effect of environmental management systems (EMS) comprehensiveness on environmental performance and financial performance using an extensive quantitative dataset obtained in Brazil over an eight-year period. It is recognized that the implementation of environmental management differs per company varying in how many environmental practices are adopted and hence how comprehensive the EMS is. The relationship between EMS comprehensiveness, environmental performance, and financial performance proves to be complex. First of all, the overall negative effect of environmental performance on financial performance may indicate that the resources needed to realize an improved environmental performance do not outweigh the cost reductions resulting from eco-efficiency or improved reputation. The effect of EMS comprehensiveness on financial performance is in line with that, indicating that an above average EMS comprehensiveness results in lower financial performance, which may correspond to high environmental management- and overhead costs. Across sectors, the companies operating in sector industries have high quality EMS comprehensiveness, while the companies in agriculture, commerce, and services exhibit a lower EMS.

This study investigates the drivers of pressures from various institutions in the nonmarket environment and the responses of MNEs to these pressures in a host country. By taking a broad institutional perspective, this study pairs and integrates the economic perspective of new institutionalism and the sociological perspective of neo institutionalism with the corporate political strategy perspective. This research provides a systematic review of the drivers underlying pressures from various types of nonmarket institutions that explain the preference of firms to use a transactional or relational strategy to deal with these pressures. The evidence is based on research involving MNEs in the Netherlands. The nonmarket institutions that exert the greatest pressures at the national level pushing MNEs to use transactional more than relational strategies and tactics are regulatory and standards agencies. The pressures of political institutions, interest groups, and the media, in contrast, trigger MNEs to employ relational rather than transactional strategies and tactics.

Mechanisms that large organizations employ to facilitate corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement simply do not apply to start-ups due to distinct differences. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into how start-ups strive for sustainability in their business models by investigating internal and external drivers related to organizational processes, managerial characteristics, and stakeholder expectations. We explored key factors such as decision-making regarding CSR engagement, business values about sustainability, entrepreneurial orientation, and the relevance of the CSR theater (philanthropic orientation, disruptive innovation, or transforming the ecosystem). Multiple case studies and interview data elucidated how start-ups engage with their community and stakeholders to determine the best approach to sustainability demands, how start-ups embed sustainability practices within their business models, and how these practices match with the entrepreneurs’ personalities. On the basis of our case studies and data analysis, we propose that the decision to engage in CSR is treated as an investment decision. The business values of a start-up determine its CSR engagement. The philanthropic drive of a start-up determines its CSR initiatives, which are then in line with the field the start-up is operating in. Entrepreneurs’ willingness to adopt CSR practices is determined by their personalities and organizational expertise and experiences. CSR engagement within the business models of start-ups is based on a combination of financial and social capital, while financial benefits act as a continuous motivator for CSR engagement from inception.

The context of China fosters different contextual factors, which influences the quality of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in comparison to firms across the rest of the world. Political ties at a corporate level are one of these vital factors. This paper studies the influence of firm-level political ties (PT) and executive turnover (ET) on the quality of CSR disclosure in the context of shareholding status of departing executive in Chinese listed A-share firms. Stakeholder and Agency theories are applied to the dissemination of CSR disclosures in Chinese firms whereby we used 20,578 firm-years interpretations of Chinese registered companies between 2012 and 2019. The results foster a negative link between executive turnover and quality of CSR disclosures. In addition, a negative relationship has been found between political ties and the quality of CSR disclosure. The findings disclose that the shareholding status of departing executive moderate the relationship between the impact of political ties and executive turnover on firms quality of CSR disclosure, whilst the effect of executive turnover on the quality of CSR disclosure was found more pronounced for firms whose departing executive held larger shareholding (SH). This study contributed to the literature on the quality of CSR disclosure while recognizing the negative effect of executive turnover on a firm’s quality of CSR disclosure for politically tied firms with a reinforcing moderating role of the shareholding status of departing executive.

This study contributes to the inconclusive literature on the relationship between board gender diversity (BGD) and green innovation (GI). It empirically examines the moderating role of normative, mimetic and coercive pressures in the relationship between BGD and GI, derived from an industry‐specific isomorphic exhibition of institutional theory. Appertaining to A‐share listed firms of China, the findings highlight the moderating effect of masculinity, environmental sensitivity, environmental regulation level and export orientation of an industry on the said relationship. Moreover, the coercive isomorphism exhibits pronounced impact with the intensity of export orientation. However, firms associated with high‐tech industries have not been confirmed for significant effect on the relationship. Thus, the findings imply that the dynamics of the corporate governance and institutional isomorphism in case of BGD and GI relationships, in the organisational field of industry, are likely both pertinent and prevalent. Moreover, the increase in the number of females on the corporate boards could enhance the green performance of a firm, subject to the fulfilment of industry specific boundary conditions, predefined by the unique set of industry specific institutional pressures. These pressures amid affiliation with a specific industry should be evaluated and controlled for, on the bases of coercive, normative, and mimetic isomorphism it hatches, to device an optimum composition of the corporate board.

This study investigated the relationship between executive turnover (ET) and quality of corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) at the firm level. The role of political embeddedness (PE) in the association between ET and CSRD quality in Chinese listed A-share firms is also inspected. We employed 20,850 firm’s/year observations between 2010 and 2016. An inverse relationship was found between ET and CSRD quality as well as PE and CSRD quality. In addition, the study findings disclose that corporate PE moderates the relationship between ET and a firm’s CSRD quality whilst the impact of ET on a company's CSRD quality was found more pronounced for firms with a low level of corporate PE. This examination adds to the literature on CSRD quality under the premise of normative stakeholder theory and leads to the conclusion that the political link of departing executives is an active participant in the exacerbation of CSRD quality in PE firms of China. This implies a reinvigoration of the roles of decision-makers for sustainable CSR assurance.