Purpose Based on the approach of the varieties of capitalism, this paper aims to investigate the influence of national governance characteristics on environmental disclosure.
Design/methodology/approach This research analyzed companies based in coordinated economies, i.e. 1,815 companies from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden were investigated for the period 2009–2018. The authors created an index to measure environmental disclosure, and national governance was measured using the United Nations governance indicators.
Findings The findings show that countries with greater transparency, democracy, citizen participation and government effectiveness tend to have companies with a greater environmental concern. The results allow us to conclude that the responsible behavior of companies is a mirror of the governance environment of the country where they operate. The findings have managerial implications.
Practical implications Firms must be aware that institutional factors can influence their business. In institutional structures with low government effectiveness, little confidence in social rules and high levels of corruption, corporations tend to be less ethical.
Originality/value This research used the varieties of capitalism approach to explain companies' environmental disclosure. This is a recent approach to the institutional theory, and little explored in previous studies. Institutional level variables, such as governance indicators, can be used in other studies that analyze the relationship between institutional environment and corporate disclosure.
As empresas multinacionais têm operado suas fábricas em contextos emergentes e subdesenvolvidos. Nesses contextos, as empresas encontram uma legislação ambiental branda, leis trabalhistas frágeis, matéria prima em abundância e salários baixos. O presente ensaio tem como objetivo discutir a atuação das empresas multinacionais e suas políticas ambientais em ambientes institucionais emergentes. Assim, esse ensaio teórico busca contribuir com as discussões sobre pressões institucionais que as multinacionais sofrem em contextos emergentes, sob a luz da Teoria Institucional, já que existe uma ausência de ensaios teóricos que trabalham essa vertente. Para tanto, esse ensaio utiliza como pano de fundo para a discussão a Teoria das Multinacionais e a Teoria Institucional. O ambiente institucional afeta a atuação das multinacionais, alterando suas políticas e práticas ambientais. Países emergentes são caracterizados por problemas sociais e com altos níveis de corrupção. As empresas ao se instalarem nesses ambientes encontram regras não claras e consumidores com baixo poder de pressão por produtos, ações e políticas ambientais. Portanto, essas regras não claras deixam espaços para que as firmas atuem de forma a atingir seus objetivos organizacionais, sem a preocupação com as demandas de todas as partes interessadas.
AbstractThe research aims to examine the impact of board composition on the ESG performance of Latin American companies. 390 companies located in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, between 2016 and 2021, were analyzed. The board size, gender diversity, independence of the members and the duality of the executive director and chairman of the board were used as characteristics of the board of directors. Through symmetrical (panel data regression) and asymmetrical (fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis) approaches, the findings showed that larger, more diverse and more independent boards contribute positively to higher ESG performance. The presence of duality in the position of executive director and chairman of the board of directors was not a relevant driver, both for ESG performance and for its dimensions in isolation. This study has important theoretical, managerial and governmental implications.
Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of characteristics of the institutionalenvironment on the disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR).Design/methodology/approach – This is a quantitative and descriptive research. The dependent variablesused were environmental dimension (ED) and social dimension (SD) that together compose the corporate socialperformance (CSP). The independent variables that will be used are the characteristics of the institutionalenvironments of Brazil and the UK. Thus, for this end, variables of the national business system of both countrieswill be used: corruption transparency, access to credit by countries, quality of the education system and laborrelations. After their collection, the data were submitted to descriptive and inferential statistics and hierarchicalregression.Findings – Data show that UK companies make more disclosure in CSR than Brazilian companies. Throughlinear regression, it can be seen that the institutional environment affects disclosure in CSR. In the UK, a countrywith better educational, labor, political and financial indicators than Brazil, it presented better CSR practices. Thefindings reveal that the better an institutional environment, the more firms act in CSR. The findings of the researchconfirm the premise of institutional theory: different institutional fields can modify business performance.Research limitations/implications – The study analyzed only the disclosure practices of companies in thepublic sector. Thus, the results should be carefully analyzed, without generalizations for all industry sectors.Therefore, it is suggested that future research looks at other industry sectors as well as other institutionalcontexts, i.e. other countries.Practical implications – Multinational companies may have different CSR practices according to theinstitutional environment in which they operate. For example, companies in developed countries, such as theUK, have greater stakeholder pressure. Given this, managers must adapt their environmental strategiesaccording to the institutional environment in which they operate.Originality/value – This research contributes to CSR studies in various institutional contexts. There is aconsensus in the literature that institutional environments affect firms' CSR practices. However, few empiricalstudies show results between the national business system and CSR. Thus, the present study intends to fill thisresearch gap. ; Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of characteristics of the institutionalenvironment on the disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR).Design/methodology/approach – This is a quantitative and descriptive research. The dependent variablesused were environmental dimension (ED) and social dimension (SD) that together compose the corporate socialperformance (CSP). The independent variables that will be used are the characteristics of the institutionalenvironments of Brazil and the UK. Thus, for this end, variables of the national business system of both countrieswill be used: corruption transparency, access to credit by countries, quality of the education system and laborrelations. After their collection, the data were submitted to descriptive and inferential statistics and hierarchicalregression.Findings – Data show that UK companies make more disclosure in CSR than Brazilian companies. Throughlinear regression, it can be seen that the institutional environment affects disclosure in CSR. In the UK, a countrywith better educational, labor, political and financial indicators than Brazil, it presented better CSR practices. Thefindings reveal that the better an institutional environment, the more firms act in CSR. The findings of the researchconfirm the premise of institutional theory: different institutional fields can modify business performance.Research limitations/implications – The study analyzed only the disclosure practices of companies in thepublic sector. Thus, the results should be carefully analyzed, without generalizations for all industry sectors.Therefore, it is suggested that future research looks at other industry sectors as well as other institutionalcontexts, i.e. other countries.Practical implications – Multinational companies may have different CSR practices according to theinstitutional environment in which they operate. For example, companies in developed countries, such as theUK, have greater stakeholder pressure. Given this, managers must adapt their environmental strategiesaccording to the institutional environment in which they operate.Originality/value – This research contributes to CSR studies in various institutional contexts. There is aconsensus in the literature that institutional environments affect firms' CSR practices. However, few empiricalstudies show results between the national business system and CSR. Thus, the present study intends to fill thisresearch gap.
Purpose This paper aims to assess the level of compliance of the Integrated Management Reports of four Brazilian public universities with the International Integrated Reporting Framework.
Design/methodology/approach The authors carried out documentary research on the management reports of four Brazilian public universities for the period 2018–2020. For the analysis, the authors developed a Disclosure Index (DI) that analyzes the content of the reports and allows them to verify the quality of these institutional documents.
Findings The results show that two universities present low quality of their reports with a disclosure rate lower than 50%, while the other two demonstrate evolution in the quality of reporting over the years. In addition, the findings point to the need for greater conciseness in the preparation of reports and accessibility of disclosures, as well as inclusion of the impacts of organizations' activities on society and the environment.
Practical implications This research brings relevant contributions by identifying points of improvement in the dissemination of information by management reports from an Integrated Reporting approach and by identifying the need to adopt strategies that expand the understanding and knowledge of the preparers about this new approach.
Originality/value The authors adapted a DI to measure the adhesion of the management reports of Brazilian universities to the Integrated Reporting approach. The results will be of interest to public organizations that seek to improve information disclosure based on an Integrated Reporting approach.
Mediante a crescente necessidade dos stakeholders por informações que ultrapassam dados financeiros e a busca das empresas por legitimar sua imagem como responsável social e ambientalmente, esta pesquisa tem como objetivo investigar quais fatores podem explicar o nível de divulgação ambiental das empresas brasileiras e holandesas. A pesquisa analisou 19 empresas brasileiras e 22 empresas holandesas presentes no ranking da Forbes (2015), durante os anos de 2015, 2016 e 2017. A variável dependente foi medida através de 30 indicadores ambientais da GRI. As variáveis independentes foram as características das firmas, como desempenho financeiro, idade e tamanho. Para obter os resultados foram utilizados: estatística descritiva e inferencial, testes de normalidade, correlação de Pearson e regressão hierárquica. Sob a luz da teoria da legitimidade e da teoria dos stakeholders, os dados apontaram que as empresas brasileiras são mais transparentes do que as empresas holandesas em suas divulgações ambientais. Os resultados apontaram que existe uma relação positiva entre vendas, valor de mercado, tamanho e idade da firma e a divulgação ambiental. Em contrapartida, os dados mostraram que existe uma relação negativa entre lucros e ativos e a divulgação ambiental. Conclui-se que o desempenho financeiro das firmas brasileiras e holandesas pode afetar a divulgação ambiental.
Purpose This paper aims to analyse the influence of board characteristics on corporate reputation.
Design/methodology/approach In total, 128 Brazilian publicly traded companies from Refinitiv Eikon were analysed between 2016 and 2020. The dependent variable was corporate reputation, whereas the independent variables were board size, gender diversity, board independence and audit committee presence. Multivariate analysis was used.
Findings The results presented empirical evidence that board members can impact corporate reputation. Findings showed that board size, gender diversity and independence positively influence Brazilian companies' corporate reputation. Conversely, an audit committee had no significant impact on corporate reputation.
Research limitations/implications The paper presents a contribution to the significance of board members in shaping a company's corporate reputation, using the signalling theory and the resource-based view (RBV) theory.
Practical implications Regarding practical implications, this work provides subsidies for managers to value board characteristics because they directly reflect on corporate reputation and competitive advantage, leading to more sustainable performance.
Social implications The research findings highlight that a diverse board encourages the organisation to improve its workforce, human rights, relations with the community and responsibility for manufactured products.
Originality/value The relationship between board characteristics and corporate cooperation is poorly established in the literature. Furthermore, the results prove the RBV theory in an emerging context. Similarly, the signalling theory proved helpful in improving Brazilian firms' corporate reputation.
Purpose This research paper aims to examine the influence of greater female participation on the board of directors on the environmental transparency of companies.
Design/methodology/approach To achieve the purpose of this study, the authors analyzed the environmental transparency of 412 companies in the energy sector, headquartered in 19 countries, during a four-year period (2016 to 2019).
Findings The data reveal that gender diversity has a positive effect on the environmental transparency of companies in developed countries and on the total model. Furthermore, after removing the US companies, the results remained the same, indicating that companies with more women on the board tend to have greater environmental transparency. Regarding corporate governance variables, the results show that companies that have a corporate social responsibility committee tend to have greater environmental transparency, both in emerging countries and in developed countries.
Practical implications The findings indicate that if companies aim to have greater environmental transparency, they must encourage female participation on boards, giving them equal opportunities for professional growth. Organizations must deconstruct the ideology that women are fewer valuable members of their boards, which limits their contribution to organizational success. Additionally, regulators can encourage greater female participation on boards through the implementation of quota laws.
Originality/value The authors' evidence indicates that the presence of women on board is an antecedent of greater quality in the dissemination of environmental information. Thus, managers of companies in the energy sector must understand that diversity on the board affects communication with its stakeholders through environmental transparency.
PurposeThis study investigated the impact of some determinant organizational factors on disseminating LGBT information in Brazilian companies in 2019.Design/methodology/approachThe study is exploratory and has a quantitative approach, which uses secondary data from the CSR Hub database 2019 of publicly traded Brazilian companies. For constructing the LGBT disclosure metric, the authors took the study by Parizek and Evangelinos (2021). The independent variables were the social responsibility, financial and governance characteristics of the companies. Analysis was conducted by combining a symmetric method (multiple linear regression analysis with econometric models) and an asymmetric approach (fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis).FindingsThe research findings showed that companies with higher performance in CSR have greater LGBT disclosure. Findings also show that companies with higher financial performance tend to have greater LGBT disclosure. This is because larger companies have more resources to invest in CSR practices and sexual diversity policies, as well as a greater number of stakeholders pressing them to act more responsibly. Additional results showed that companies that signed the UN Global Compact and publish an environmental report annually have greater engagement in LGBT disclosure.Originality/valueThis study's novelty emerges from applying the fsQCA technique, which helps to a broaden understanding of the conditions necessary to achieve greater LGBT disclosure. Furthermore, this study initiates the debate on LGBT disclosure in emerging economies, a recent topic and still little explored empirically.
PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the effect of board gender diversity on corporate social performance (CSP) in Brazilian companies.Design/methodology/approachThis research collected available information on the CSP, financial performance and governance of Brazilian companies for five years (2016–2020). The dependent variable of this study is CSP (workforce, human rights, community and respect for the product). The independent variable is gender diversity. The authors control financial performance, the presence of a social responsibility committee and the industry sector. The data were analyzed using the dynamic panel data system, which is the generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator.FindingsThis empirical investigation confirmed the hypothesis that the female presence on boards has a positive effect on the CSP of Brazilian companies. The findings of this study are consistent with previous studies. The authors' results suggest that women are more socially aware and exhibit more social corporate behavior.Practical implicationsSupplementing financial reports with nonfinancial information draws the attention of regulators and shareholders. Companies can also create human resources policies for appointing women to senior management positions and a succession plan that values the talent that women bring to companies.Originality/valueA critical mass of women on the board can provide an effective balance, considering the diversity of backgrounds and experiences between men and women. Just one woman on the board can mean representation and resistance, but with a critical amount, female directors can have a voice and help formulate strategies aimed at CSP.
PurposeThis study aims to examine the effect of corporate governance mechanisms on social responsibility in Latin America.Design/methodology/approachThe hypotheses were tested using a sample of 371 companies based in eight Latin American countries, resulting in 4,823 observations.FindingsThe results show that more independent boards, with greater female representation and the presence of a sustainability committee lead companies to behave more ethically. The findings indicate that corporate governance mechanisms play an important role for companies to engage in social responsibility actions.Practical implicationsGovernments can use these findings to draft regulations that encourage Latin American companies to disclose more non-financial information and to support a more diverse board composition. The evidence shows that the quality of national governance plays a key role in times of crisis by encouraging more responsible behavior by companies.Originality/valueThis study broadens the scope of application of agency theory and the resource-based view by demonstrating that the board of directors is a unique composition and that organizations must understand how to balance external and internal members on their boards in order to achieve higher social and environmental performance.
