This study proposes a new research approach to examine the relationship between board independence and corporate performance, measured by technical efficiency. Moreover, this paper examines the moderating role that institutional factors exert on this relationship through the legal system-the content of law and its enforcement. The research questions are examined using an international sample of 2185 firms from 2006 to 2015, applying truncated regression models for panel data and employing data envelopment analysis to examine efficiency as a measure of performance. This paper supports that board independence increases the firm's technical efficiency. Even more, greater legal and judicial protection exerts a positive moderating effect on the previous relationship by protecting private benefits for insiders, among other aspects. Thus, the positive impact of independent directors on efficiency is greater when firms operate in countries with a greater extent of law and enforcement. Our findings include endogeneity checks using instrumental variables.

This paper contributes to the debate on the corporate governance of financial institutions, by studying the effect of different board characteristics on the level of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures of banks. For that, we use a sample composed by 159 banks over the period [2004][2005][2006][2007][2008][2009][2010]. We found that independent directors and gender diversity favor the disclosure CSR information in baking sector. But, these results are moderated by the national cultural system; concretely, previous positive effects of independence and diversity of banks' boards on CSR reporting are reduced in countries with a weaker cultural system, that is, individualist, masculine and vertically stratified societies, that are little indulgent and short-term oriented and show high levels of uncertainty avoidance.

The objective of this research is to determine the impact that sustainability assurance services have on corporate reputation and stakeholder engagement, delving into the differentiating effect of certain attributes of the assurer and the quality level of the assurance. After an initial exploratory analysis in which the added value that the assurance service has on the external business image and on the relationships with stakeholders is evidenced, the results obtained for a sample of 604 multinational corporations for the period 2011–2017 show the existence of a reputational advantage for those companies that have contracted for a higher quality assurance service. On the contrary, the attributes of the assurer have no direct and indirect effect on corporate reputation unless the assurer is an auditor, which favours a higher quality of assurance service and indirectly affects the probability that the company will be included in a reputation ranking. The intrinsic characteristics of this service do not translate into active stakeholder engagement. From a theoretical and practical point of view, this evidence contributes to the knowledge of the effect of assurance on stakeholder engagement and corporate reputation by improving the climate of trust around the company's disclosure.

In periods of crisis, companies face a financial reality that forces them to decide whether to maintain their commitment to sustainability or prioritize their financial returns. The study of what happened during the COVID‐19 pandemic is vital, given the hard blow it has implied for business and, consequently, for employment. Thus, this paper seeks to determine whether the business commitment to sustainability policies focused on employment and gender diversity translates into concrete results. In a sample of 1761 multinationals (8963 observations) during the 2015–2020 period, we found that the pandemic has harmed employment at the microeconomic level. However, this impact is moderated by the level of responsibility that companies have with their workers. Therefore, the most sustainable companies have been more reluctant to reduce their workforce and even more so when they are women. These results help to position sustainability performance as a way to achieve gender equality at the business level.

This document, through a systematic review of academic papers, presents a comprehensive and synthetic proposal that compiles, on the one hand, the prevailing macho, misogynistic and phallocentric obstacles and stereotypes at the family, social and work level between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries and that had an impact on the accounting profession, hindering the access and evolution of women in it. In contrast, a series of factors are presented that drove the training and entry of women to bookkeeping and accounting tasks, which, in turn, served as a way to break stereotypes and traditional gender roles, achieve legislative improvements and the incursion of women into the paid labor market. Besides the above-mentioned elements, it is important to take into account the class perspectives that, under promises of well-being and economic status, idealized a model of a woman whose realization was exclusively at the domestic and family level. Este documento, a través de una revisión sistemática de trabajos académicos, presenta una propuesta integral y sintética que recopila, por un lado, los obstáculos y estereotipos machistas, misóginos y falocéntricos imperantes a nivel familiar, social y laboral entre los siglos XVIII y XX y que repercutieron en la profesión contable, dificultando el acceso y evolución de la mujer en la misma. En contraposición, se presentan una serie de factores que impulsaron la formación e incorporación de la mujer a las tareas de teneduría de libros y contabilidad, lo que, a su vez, sirvió para romper estereotipos y roles tradicionales de género, conseguir mejoras legislativas y la incursión de la mujer en el mercado laboral remunerado. Además de los elementos mencionados, es importante tener en cuenta las perspectivas de clase que, bajo promesas de bienestar y estatus económico, idealizaron un modelo de mujer cuya realización se daba exclusivamente en el ámbito doméstico y familiar.