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AbstractThe objective of this paper is to determine the effect that certain internal and external factors have on the CSR report assurance quality. Among the different internal factors, firm's incentives and the effectiveness of the CEO and the board of directors will be considered. The external factors analyzed are relating to the institutional pressures at the country and sector levels, and the intrinsic characteristics of the assurer. Using a sample of the 678 largest companies in the world in the 2011–2017 period, the application of the two‐stage model confirms the supremacy of firms' incentives and the characteristics of the service provider as aspects with greater predictive capacity in the assurance quality. Results that would give the CEO, the board and institutional pressures a secondary role in corporate transparency because their effect only occurs in the absence of the two previous drivers.

Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- The Transparency Society and Its Impact: The Case of Spanish Local Governments -- Abstract -- Introduction -- Transparency in Local Government: The Expected Impact -- Transparency in Spanish Local Governments: Evolution and State of the Art -- The Implications of Transparency in Governance and Trust -- Methodology -- Results -- Conclusion -- Acknowledgment -- References -- Accountability in Italian Local Governments: State of the Art and Future Perspective -- Abstract -- Introduction -- The Accountability Principle in Local Governments -- Sustainability Reporting in Italian Local Governments -- Methods -- Findings -- Conclusion -- References -- The Citizens' Report as Tool of Financial Accountability for Local Governments -- Abstract -- Introduction -- Citizen and Local Government: What Role and Approach? -- Environmental Report: Technical and Internal Focus Rather than External Accountability -- Social Report: From Transparency to Confusion -- Citizens' Report: Definition and Characteristics -- Conclusion -- References -- The Democratic Participation of Local Governments: A Survey on Italian Local Governments Web Sites -- Abstract -- Introduction -- Theoretical Framework -- Democratic Participation and Transparency in the Italian Legislative Context -- Research Methodology -- Results -- Conclusion -- References -- Online Transparency on European Local Government Sustainability: Focusing on Accountability -- Abstract -- Introduction -- Online Transparency and Government Sustainability as Key Elements in Accountability -- Research Methodology -- Sample Selection -- Explanatory Factors -- Population Factors -- Socioeconomic Factors -- Financial Factors -- Legal Factors -- Results -- Regression -- Cluster Analysis -- Conclusion -- References

AbstractFrom a business perspective, the health and socio‐economic effects of the COVID‐19 have affected a firm's stakeholders to a different extent, making it necessary for them to develop sustainable initiatives that allow them to meet their needs. Decisions must be made and implemented in a recessionary environment in which companies debate whether it is economically reasonable to promote them and whether they can afford not to do so. In this work, based on the theory of social identity, we argue that these business commitments will have been promoted in companies with boards of directors that have a greater female presence. The results obtained for a sample of 4821 multinationals confirm that the repercussion of incidental affect on the social identity of the in‐group of female directors has partially slowed the setback that business sustainability has suffered due to the pandemic, which is especially important with respect to good governance policies and practices and guaranteeing the social and environmental commitment of previous years. This evidence has important theoretical and practical implications, contributing the current debate on strategic decisions regarding sustainability and the benefits associated with board gender diversity.

AbstractA bibliometric and bibliographic review was carried out to determine the effect that gender diversity in a board of directors has on the level of business commitment to sustainable development and stakeholder engagement through the dissemination of social and environmental information. The review included 89 articles published in the 66 most prestigious journals on business, management, ethics and environmental sciences according to the journal citation reports on the ISI Web of Knowledge. There has been spectacular growth in this line of research since 2016, led by Spanish and American researchers. There is currently a paradigm shift in the theoretical frameworks that support these investigations in examining the organisational and institutional environments that favour the advantages associated with the presence of women in bodies responsible for business strategy. However, the latest papers are based on the use of the Critical mass theory and moderating factors in order to explaining the divergence of results.

We analyze the association between managerial ability in banks and three different typologies of investments that demand significant resources: capital, research and development (R&D), and acquisition expenditures. We also analyze whether managerial ability is related to increased (reduced) investment in banks prone to underinvestment (overinvestment). The sample for analysis is composed of 877 observations of banks in nine countries over the period 2004–2010. We find evidence that more able bank managers select and implement investment projects more efficiently and confirm the upper echelon theory and resource-based view, which suggests that managers' characteristics affect financial decisions. The findings are robust to alternative measures of investment efficiency. The evidence confirms that, after controlling for bank and country-specific institutional factors, managers' abilities influence investment efficiency in banks in a significant way. This paper is a response to the calls for a further exploration of the roles that individual managers play in financial decisions and is the first empirical study to investigate this association in the international financial industry.

AbstractThis paper aims to examine two closely related issues: first, the effect of the presence of female directors on boards on corporate social responsibility disclosure, focusing on the necessary critical mass of this minority group, and, second, the moderation of the human capital of board members—their background, skills, and experience—that could favor the intrinsic female directors' characteristics through the cognitive effect of equal board members. For an international sample of 9,744 firm‐year observations from 2007 to 2016, different panel data regressions are proposed. The findings of this study reveal a positive impact of gender board diversity on voluntary socially responsible disclosure by examining the presence of at least three women on the board—the critical mass. Moreover, the paper reports a greater effect when the board's background, skills, and experience are greater. As a supplemental analysis, the evidence shows that the female role does not remain when women achieve the position of chairperson; that is, female directors adopt a male stereotype regarding voluntary information disclosure when they are also the chairperson of the firm, independently of the human capital of the board members.

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AbstractManuscript typeEmpiricalResearch question/issueThe main objective of this paper is to examine the influence of managerial ability on investment efficiency. Using a sample of 2185 firms from 24 countries for the period 2006–2015, we hypothesize a positive association between investment efficiency and managerial ability and suggest that able managers make fewer over‐ and underinvestment decisions. As a unique and helpful feature of this study, we also employ a model to capture the different interactions between internal and external corporate governance mechanisms and managerial ability.Research findings/insightsOur results show that managerial ability is an economically relevant determinant of investment efficiency, resulting in lower levels of underinvestment and overinvestment. Additionally, our findings note that the benefits of able managers for investment efficiency are reinforced when companies are located in countries with better board effectiveness, superior investor protection, and better legal enforcement, suggesting that governance mechanisms are effective complementary measures to constrain inefficient investment decisions. The results also indicate that the advantages of having able managers are especially noticeable during a financial crisis and under conditions of greater information asymmetry.Theoretical/academic implicationsOur findings suggest that governance mechanisms are effective complementary measures to constrain inefficient investment decisions. Specifically, our results highlight the relevance of the monitoring role of the board, noting that the efficiency of this internal control mechanism complements the effect that able managers have on investment efficiency.Practitioner/policy implicationsThe paper has relevant implications. First, boards of directors must be aware that, although the access to financial resources is a determinant of firms' financial success, the individual ability to manage them is essential in making efficient investment decisions, which should be considered when recruiting new managers and establishing compensation schemes. Second, the paper shows that managerial ability is reinforced when the company is in a country with strong corporate governance mechanisms, implying that regulators should be aware of the relevance of investor protection, legal enforcement, and board effectiveness to improve the benefits of managerial attributes and therefore the financial efficiency of firms.

AbstractThis paper examines how independent directors behave with respect to sustainability disclosure, attending to its comparability, utility, and reliability, and the moderating effect of the level of socially responsible performance. A large sample of international companies from the period 2006–2014 was used to develop our models of analysis. This research evidences that independent directors show an initial opposition to this voluntary disclosure policy unless there is a higher sustainable development and performance. Several disclosure aspects are examined where, first, utility and comparability of sustainability disclosure are fomented by independent directors only under a greater social and environmental performance. Second, this performance reinforces the positive orientation of independents towards the external assurance of social and environmental disclosure. Thus, the initial opposition of independent directors towards a sustainability disclosure is avoided if there is a greater responsible performance that reduces their reputation risks associated with potentially misleading information. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

AbstractThe aim of this study is to analyse the possible relationship between integrated information disclosure and the degree of information asymmetry. Additionally, we analyse this relationship in firms characterised by higher/lower financial reporting quality and those located in environments defined by strong/weak investor protection. The initial results obtained after applying the panel data methodology confirm that there is a negative relationship between information asymmetry and the disclosure of an integrated report, which indicates that using this tool to inform can help to mitigate agency problems, facilitate corporate decision‐making and improve the information among investors. Further, our first complementary analysis shows that the integrated report effect is more statistically significant relative to information asymmetry in countries with strong investor protection. We can also observe in the second complementary analysis that companies that report a lower quality of financial information have a more important reduction effect on asymmetric information than firms with higher‐quality annual accounts. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

AbstractOur main objective is to study whether banks that follow CSR practices enhance earnings quality. We also analyse whether differences in earnings quality that are driven by CSR engagement are affected in a complementary or substitutive manner by levels of investor protection and bank regulation for financial institutions across countries. To test our predictions, we use a sample of 877 observations, corresponding to 159 banks from 9 countries, for the period 2004–2010. Our results indicate that a bank's commitment to CSR practices enhances earnings persistence as well as cash flow predictability. The empirical evidence also shows that the effect of CSR on the quality of bank earnings is particularly high in countries with higher levels of investor protection and bank regulation, providing evidence that these institutional factors are complementary mechanisms for CSR activities in banks, and suggesting that more socially responsible banks have higher earnings quality in a stricter regulatory environment. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

AbstractIn 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.

AbstractEnvironmental sustainability represents a business challenge that draws the attention of multidisciplinary and multicultural researchers. This study presents a comprehensive picture of the most relevant research on corporate governance and environmental sustainability since 1991. Through a bibliometric analysis of 233 articles retrieved from the Scopus database, we find that 71.67% of the research that addresses the dual theme in the last 7 years appears in journals of recognized impact (e.g., Business Strategy and the Environment). Researchers in the field focus on the United States, the United Kingdom, and China; determined by total link strength, D. M. Patten, D. Cormier, and P. Berrone are the most influential authors. We also identify 11 thematic groups or subdomains notable for their size and/or validity, including green innovation, institutional factors, climate change, environmental impact, and the board. Remaining to be addressed in future research are the agrifood sector, investment and energy efficiency, and patents and invention. In addition, theoretical approaches should be incorporated with cultural nuances that enrich our understanding of corporate governance as a driving mechanism of climate change.