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Prior CSR and firm performance research has produced mixed results. Even so, numerous researches examining this relationship from the perspective of international standardisation have primarily concentrated on developed economics. This leaves an obvious gap within the extant literature with regards to evidence from sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the extent of CSR disclosure performance and firm value, in an emerging institutional setting. Using hand collected data of South African listed companies, we apply the GRI G3.1 guidelines, as a measure of disclosure performance. Based on the panel data fixed effect model, we document a positive but insignificant relationship between CSR disclosure performance and firm value. Secondly, a negative and insignificant relationship was found between environmental disclosure performance and firm value. Lastly, we found a positive and statistically significant relationship between social disclosure performance and firm value. Overall, our findings suggest that CSR disclosure has a limited effect on firm value. Our findings hold for a set of robustness tests. Our findings suggest that the incorporation of sustainability disclosure, on the basis of GRI, is moderately high among the selected companies. Implications of our results suggest that CSR disclosure may not necessarily influence firm value, despite its numerous benefits. We contribute to this line of research from a multi-theoretical perspective.

Ending poverty in all its forms by 2030 remains the first agenda of Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations in 2015. Motivated by this agenda, this study examined the direct and indirect effect of financial technology (fintech) and its sub-measures of third-party payment and credit on poverty measured by household per capita consumption. We used a panel of 31 provinces in China from 2011 to 2017. The results indicated that fintech and these sub-measures reduce poverty in China. The results further showed that fintech complements economic growth and financial development to reduce poverty in China.

Background: Since December 2019, the novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), first spread quickly in Wuhan, China, then globally. From previously published evidence, ACE2 and TMPRSS2, are both pivotal entry molecules that enable cellular infection by SARS-CoV-2. Meanwhile, increased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, or a "cytokine storm," is associated with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome that is often observed in critically ill patients. Methods: We investigated the expression pattern of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 in major organs in the human body, especially under specific disease conditions. Multiple sequence alignment of ACE2 in different species was used to explain animal susceptibility. Moreover, the cell-specific expression patterns of ACE2 and cytokine receptors in the urinary tract were assessed using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). Additional biological relevance was determined through Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) using an ACE2 specific signature. Results: Our results revealed that ACE2 and TMPRSS2 were highly expressed in genitourinary organs. ACE2 was highly and significantly expressed in the kidney among individuals with chronic kidney diseases or diabetic nephropathy. In single cells, ACE2 was primarily enriched in gametocytes in the testis, and renal proximal tubules. The receptors for pro-inflammatory cytokines, especially IL6ST, were remarkably concentrated in endothelial cells, macrophages, and spermatogonial stem cells in the testis, and renal endothelial cells, which suggested the occurrence of alternative damaging mechanisms via autoimmune attacks. Conclusions: This study provided new insights into the pathogenicity mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 that underlie the clinical manifestations observed in the human testis and kidney. These observations might substantially facilitate the development of effective treatments for this rapidly spreading disease.

Online health information seeking (OHIS) functions as a coping strategy to relieve health-related stress and problems. When people rate their health as poor or felt concern about their health, they frequently visit the Internet to seek health-related information in order to understand their symptoms and treatments. Regarding this role of OHIS, it is important to understand the relationships between health-related problems and OHIS. This study applies the Common-Sense Model as a theoretical lens to examine the relationship between health-related problems (ie, diagnosis of cancer, poor self-rated health, and psychological distress) and OHIS of adults in the US. Using the Health Information National Trends Survey 4 Cycle 1 (2012), a total of 2351 adult Internet users was included in this research. Hierarchical logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the research model, and the model adding psychological distress resulted in a statistically significant improvement in model fit. In this study, lower levels of self-rated health and higher levels of psychological distress were significantly associated with higher odds of OHIS. Study findings support the idea that individuals' low levels of self-rated health and high levels of perceived psychological distress make people search for health-related information via the Internet in order to cope with health-related concern and distress.

Financial technology (fintech) has seen fast development recently in China; however, studies exploring the contributions of fintech to China’s economic growth remain limited. Thus, this study motivated by the knowledge gaps and fast expansion of fintech examined: (i) the impact of fintech and the submeasures of third-party payment, credit, and insurance on China’s economic growth; (ii) the regional and provincial impact of fintech on China’s economic growth; (iii) the causality relationships between fintech and economic growth. By using a sample of 31 provinces in China and the instrumental variable generalized method of moments (IV–GMM) technique, the study established the following: (i) fintech and the submeasures of third-party payment, credit, and insurance have a statistically significant positive effect on China’s economic growth. Specifically, a 10% rise in fintech, third-party payment, credit, and insurance raises China’s economic growth by 8%, 4%, 5%, and 16%, respectively; (ii) the eastern region has the highest growth effect of fintech. Moreover, Zhejiang province has the highest growth effect of fintech at the provincial level; (iii) a unidirectional causality exists from third-party payment and credit to economic growth, and economic growth to insurance; a bidirectional causality exists between fintech and economic growth. This article explicitly suggests substantial institutional reforms to promote the healthy development of fintech in China.

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