Does financial performance moderate the relationship between board attributes and corporate social responsibility in French firms?

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study how board attributes impact corporate social responsibility (CSR). In particular, this paper aims to empirically examine the impact of financial performance on the relationship between board attributes and CSR. Board attributes such as board size, board independence, female board representation and CEO-chair duality are included. Design/methodology/approach This study uses panel data set of 200 French companies listed during 2007–2018 period. The direct and moderating effects were tested by using multiple regression technique. Findings The results indicate that significant direct relationships exist among board attributes and CSR. Board independence and female board representation are positively linked with CSR. However, board size and CEO duality are negatively associated with CSR. Findings show, also, that corporate financial performance accentuates significantly the effect of board size, board independence and CEO-duality on CSR, but does not moderate the relationship between female board representation and CSR. Practical implications The findings may be of interest to different stakeholders and policy-makers and regulatory bodies interested in enhancing CG initiatives to strengthen corporate social responsibility because it suggests thinking about implementing a broadly accepted framework of good CG practices to meet the demand for greater transparency and accountability. As an extension to this research, further study can examine the impact of ownership structure and audit quality on CSR issues. Originality/value This study extends the dynamic relationship between CG mechanisms and CSR by offering new evidence on how corporate financial moderates this relationship.

Do women on corporate boardrooms have an impact on tax avoidance? The mediating role of corporate social responsibility

“…We can therefore conclude that CSR serve as a mediating factor facilitating relations between the company and its board and the environment. Otherwise, the diversity of board allows board members to mobilize different cognitive frameworks, and these, due to their variety, allow the interest of several stakeholders to be considered (Dakhli, 2021; Byron and Post, 2016; Fernández-Temprano and Tejerina-Gaite, 2020; Lu and Herremans, 2019; Agyei-Mensah, 2021), resulting in improving CSR performance (Beji et al , 2020; Nuber and Velte, 2021; Yang et al , 2019; Ardito et al , 2021; Yarram and Adapa, 2021; Velte, 2019; Nwude and Nwude, 2021; Nguyen et al , 2021; Govindan et al , 2021). On the other side, CSR has been shown to affect negatively corporate tax avoidance.…”

“…BGD. To assess the BGD, the number of women on boards was divided by total board size of the sampled firms (Kachouri et al , 2020; Vacca et al , 2020; Liu et al , 2020; Mouakhar et al , 2020; Yarram and Adapa, 2021; Fernández-Temprano and Tejerina-Gaite, 2020; Dakhli, 2021).…”

“…Following Achour and Boukattaya (2021), Dakhli (2021), Alareeni and Hamdan (2020) and Bacha et al (2020), we use CSR scores to proxy for corporate social performance. CSR score is a combined score of environmental, economic, social and governance dimensions extracted from DataStream of Thomson Reuters-ASSET4.…”

Does financial performance moderate the effect of CEO characteristics and stakeholder influence on corporate social responsibility in Indonesia?

“…There are two well-known financial performance indicators and are often used in various studies, i.e., ROA and Tobin's Q ratio [9]. Financial performance measurement using ROA assesses the financial performance of accounting-based firms, while the Tobin's Q ratio is a market-based performance indicator.…”

“…The Tobin's Q ratio takes into account the market value of the firm on the stock exchange. It is often considered a reliable measure that shows a firm's performance based on its growth potential [9].…”