Advances in Corporate Governance Mechanisms and Corporate Social Responsibility

Dear Colleagues,

Within the context of organizational governance, CSR reporting allows firms to maintain close relations with all stakeholders and to be perceived by society as actors committed to CSR matters (e.g., Simpson and Kohers, 2002). In this way, firms can signal to society that they are interested in meeting the expectations and needs of shareholders and all stakeholders (Arvidsson, 2010), because the disclosure of social and environmental issues may be useful for decreasing agency problems and information costs in capital markets, enhancing companies’ reputation and increasing stock values, among other things (Jizi, 2017).

Firms interested in being perceived by all stakeholders and society as drivers of CSR activities, specifically CSR reporting, should have boards of directors that defend not only shareholder interests, but also all stakeholders’ needs. Gray, Kouhy and Lavers (1995) suggest that efficient boards will be likely to support CSR reporting when companies wish to signal to all stakeholders and society that they are committed to their needs. Furthermore, Jamali, Safieddine, and Rabbath (2008) support the idea that board structure is a key element in organizational decision-making regarding CSR disclosure. Therefore, it is expected that efficient corporate governance mechanisms, particularly well-structured boards, will have an impact on CSR disclosure. Boards of directors and their composition, including oversight of management, independent internal audit, and ownership structure, among other things, are internal corporate governance mechanisms which potentially affect CSR reporting. Additionally, external corporate governance mechanisms such as the market for corporate control, regulators, governments, financial institutions, or trade unions are controlled by those outside an organization and may be potentially associated with CSR reporting as well (Jamali et al., 2008). Thus, internal and external corporate governance mechanisms may be relevant factors to be considered by firms when making strategic decisions such as CSR reporting.

There is an important number of previous research papers examining corporate governance and CSR reporting separately, without analyzing their relationship. However, empirical evidence is scarce when we focus on the effect of internal corporate governance mechanisms such as boards of directors, particularly their composition (board gender diversity, race, religion, size, nationality, or busy directors) or external corporate governance mechanisms, on CSR disclosure (e.g., Jain and Jamali, 2016).

This Special Issue aims to advance the recent developments in our knowledge of the relationship between internal and external corporate governance mechanisms and CSR reporting. In this call for papers, we encourage researchers to submit papers about this topic conducted on developed countries, emerging countries, or in a broader context with several countries around the world. We welcome both review and original research papers for submission to this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. María Consuelo Pucheta-Martínez
Guest Editor

References

1. Arvidsson, S. (2010). Communication of corporate social responsibility: a study of the views of management teams in large companies. Journal of Business Ethics, 96: 339–354.
2. Gray R, Kouhy R., and Lavers, S. (1995). Corporate social and environmental reporting a review of the literature and a longitudinal study of UK disclosure. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 8(2): 47–77.
3. Jain, T., and Jamali, D. (2016). Looking inside the black box: the effect of corporate governance on corporate social responsibility. Corporate Governance: An International Review, 24(3): 253-273.
4. Jamali, D., Safieddine, A., and Rabbath, M. (2008). Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility synergies and interrelationships. Corporate Governance: An International Review, 16(5): 443–459.
5. Jizi, M. (2017). The Influence of Board Composition on Sustainable Development Disclosure. Business Strategy and the Environment, 26: 640-655.
6. Simpson, W., and Kohers, T. (2002). The link between corporate social and financial performance: evidence from the banking industry. Journal of Business Ethics, 35(2): 97–109.

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• Board composition and CSR reporting
• Internal corporate governance mechanisms and CSR reporting
• External corporate governance mechanisms and CSR reporting
• Board gender diversity and CSR reporting
• Corporate governance mechanisms and CSR reporting
• Corporate governance mechanisms and CSR practices
• Corporate governance mechanisms and environmental reporting
• Corporate governance mechanisms and integrated reporting
• Corporate governance mechanisms and sustainability reporting
• Board gender diversity and environmental reporting
• Board gender diversity and integrated reporting
• Board gender diversity and sustainability reporting