Keywords
Corporate social responsibility
Corporate Governance
How to Cite
Abstract
Purpose – To identify the relationship between characteristics of the Board of Directors and the dissemination probability of socially responsible reports.
Theoretical framework – Considering the central role of the Board of Directors in mitigating conflicts of interest, the study is based on the Stakeholders-Agency Theory.
Design/methodology/approach – The sample included 250 companies listed on the Brazilian stock exchange (B3). The data used were collected in the “Relate or Explain” Report, Economática® and CVM Reference Form, and then operationalized using a binary logistic regression model.
Findings – The results suggest that the dissemination chance of socially responsible reports is 1.52% higher in companies with more concentrated shares, 101.10% higher in larger companies and 59.2% lower in companies with dual positions.
Research Practical & Social implications – The findings can be useful to (i) direct organizational strategies for the composition of the Board of Directors that improve the dissemination of socially responsible reporting, (ii) to foster discussions about changes in the classification of levels about corporate governance at B3 and (iii) decision-making by several stakeholders.
Originality/value – To the Accounting Academy, the study promotes an additional debate on the role of the Board of Directors in dealing with the Agency Theory. The study innovates by showing how the characteristics of the Board of Directors can change the potential for dissemination of socially responsible reports.
Keywords – Stakeholder‐agency theory.; Corporate social responsibility; Corporate governance.
References
Abu Qa’dan, M. B., & Suwaidan, M. S. (2019). Board composition, ownership structure and corporate social responsibility disclosure: The case of Jordan. Social Responsibility Journal, 15(1), 28-46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/SRJ-11-2017-0225.
Al Fadli, A., Sands, J., Jones, G., Beattie, C., & Pensiero, D. (2020). Board independence and CSR reporting: Pre and post analysis of JCGC 2009. International Journal of Law and Management, 62(2), 117-138. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJLMA-11-2018-0259.
Ali, W., Alsayegh, M. F., Ahmad, Z., Mahmood, Z., & Iqbal, J. (2018). The relationship between social visibility and CSR disclosure. Sustainability (Basel), 10(3), 866. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su10030866.
B3. (2019). B3 divulga resultados do “Relate ou Explique para os Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável (ODS)”,
Relate ou Explique. B3. https://www.b3.com.br/pt_br/ noticias/relate-ou-explique 8AA8D0CC6D63929E016D6F1947DD7396.htm#:~:text=O objetivo do Relate ou,total das listadas na B3.
Barnea, A., & Rubin, A. (2010). Corporate social responsibility as a conflict between shareholders. Journal of Business Ethics, 97(1), 71-86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-010-0496-z.
Berle, A. A. & Means, G. C. (1932). The modern corporation and private property. New York: The Macmillan Company.
Chiang, M.-H., & Lin, J.-H. (2007). The Relationship between Corporate Governance and Firm Productivity: Evidence from Taiwan’s manufacturing firms. Corporate Governance, 15(5), 768-779. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8683.2007.00605.x.
Chijoke-Mgbame, A. M., Mgbame, C. O., Akintoye, S., & Ohalehi, P. (2020). The role of corporate governance on CSR disclosure and firm performance in a voluntary environment. Corporate Governance (Bradford), 20(2), 294-306. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/CG-06-2019-0184.
Clarkson, M. E. (1995). A stakeholder framework for analyzing and evaluating corporate social performance. Academy of Management Review, 20(1), 92-117. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/258888.
Crisóstomo, V. L., & Freire, F. de S. (2015). The influence of ownership concentration on firm resource allocations to employee relations, external social actions, and environmental action. Revista Brasileira de Gestão de Negócios, 17(55), 987-1006. http://dx.doi.org/10.7819/rbgn.v17i55.2026.
Deschênes, S., Rojas, M., Boubacar, H., Prud’homme, B., & Ouedraogo, A. (2015). The impact of board traits on the social performance of Canadian firms. Corporate Governance (Bradford), 15(3), 293-305. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/CG-08-2014-0097.
Dias, A., Rodrigues, L. L., & Craig, R. (2017). Corporate governance effects on social responsibility disclosures. Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal, 11(2), 3-22. http://dx.doi.org/10.14453/aabfj.v11i2.2.
Ducassy, I., & Montandrau, S. (2015). Corporate social performance, ownership structure, and corporate governance in France. Research in International Business and Finance, 34, 383-396. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2015.02.002.
Fallah, M. A., & Mojarrad, F. (2019). Corporate governance effects on corporate social responsibility disclosure: Responsibility Reports
Empirical evidence from heavy-pollution industries in Iran. Social Responsibility Journal, 15(2), 208-225. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/SRJ-04-2017-0072.
Fama, E. F., & Jensen, M. C. (1983). Separation of ownership and control. The Value Creating Board: Corporate Governance and Organizational Behaviour, 26(2), 301-325. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203888711.
Fávero, L. P., & Belfiore, P. (2017). Handbook of data analysis statistics multivariate modeling with excel, SPSS and stata. Elsevier.
Formigoni, H., Segura, L., & Gallego-Álvarez, I. (2021). Board of directors’ characteristics and disclosure practices of corporate social responsibility: A comparative study between Brazilian and Spanish companies. Social Responsibility Journal, 17(2), 282-298. http://dx.doi. org/10.1108/SRJ-01-2019-0043.
Forte, H. C., Silva, L. K. S., & Abreu, M. C. S. (2020). Effect of the structure of the board of directors on the disclosure of environmental and social practices in brazilian companies. Revista Universo Accounting, 16(1), 119-135. http://dx.doi.org/10.4270/ruc.2020106.
Giannarakis, G. (2014a). Corporate governance and financial characteristic effects on the extent of corporate social responsibility disclosure. Social Responsibility Journal, 10(4), 569-590. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/SRJ-02-2013-0008.
Giannarakis, G. (2014b). The determinants influencing the extent of CSR disclosure. International Journal of Law and Management, 56(5), 393-416. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJLMA-05-2013-0021.
Gunardi, A., Febrian, E., & Herwany, A. (2016). The implication of firm-specific characteristics on disclosure: The case of Indonesia. International Journal of Monetary Economics and Finance, 9(4), 379-387. http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/IJMEF.2016.080080.
Habbash, M. (2016). Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility disclosure: Evidence from Saudi Arabia. Social Responsibility Journal, 12(4), 740-754. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/SRJ-07-2015-0088.
Hill, C. W. L., & Jones, T. M. (1992). Stakeholder-agency theory. Journal of Management Studies, 29(2), 131-154. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.1992.tb00657.x.
Hong, B., Li, Z., & Minor, D. (2016). Corporate governance and executive compensation for corporate social responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, 136(1), 199-213. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2962-0.
Instituto Brasileiro de Governança Corporativa - IBGC. (2015). Code of best corporate governance practices. Instituto Brasileiro de Governança Corporativa. https://conhecimento.ibgc.org.br/Paginas/Publicacao.aspx?PubId=21138.
Jensen, M. C. (1993). The modern industrial revolution, exit, and the failure of internal control systems. The Journal of Finance, 48(3), 831-880. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.1993.tb04022.x.
Jensen, M. C., & Meckling, W. H. (1976). Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure. Journal of Financial Economics, 3(4), 305-360. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0304-405X(76)90026-X.
Jizi, M. (2017). The influence of board composition on sustainable development disclosure. Business Strategy and the Environment, 26(5), 640-655. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bse.1943.
Kao, M. F., Hodgkinson, L., & Jaafar, A. (2019). Ownership structure, board of directors and firm performance: Evidence from Taiwan. Corporate Governance (Bradford), 19(1), 189-216. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/CG-04-2018-0144.
Kaymak, T., & Bektas, E. (2017). Corporate social responsibility and governance: information disclosure in multinational corporations. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 24(6), 555-569. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/csr.1428.
Linck, J. S., Netter, J. M., & Yang, T. (2008). The determinants of board structure. Journal of Financial Economics, 87(2), 308-328. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2007.03.004.
Lopatta, K., Böttcher, K., Lodhia, S. K., & Tideman, S. A. (2020). The relationship between gender diversity and employee representation at the board level and non-financial performance: A cross-country study. The International Journal of Accounting, 55(1), 1-46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/S1094406020500018.
Mascena, K. M. C., Barakat, S. R., Isabella, G., & Fischmann, A. A. (2020). The influence of board structure and ownership concentration on GRI reporting. Revista Brasileira de Gestão de Negócios, 22(3), 608-627. http://dx.doi.org/10.7819/rbgn.v22i3.4075.
Prior, D., Surroca, J., & Tribó, J. A. (2008). Are socially responsible managers really ethical? Exploring the relationship between earnings management and corporate social responsibility? Corporate Governance: An International Review, 16(3), 160-177. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8683.2008.00678.x.
Pucheta-Martínez, M. C., & Gallego-Álvarez, I. (2019). An international approach of the relationship between board attributes and the disclosure of corporate social responsibility issues. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 26(3), 612-627. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/csr.1707.
Roudaki, J. (2018). Corporate governance structures and firm performance in large agriculture companies in New Zealand. Corporate Governance (Bradford), 18(5), 987-1006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/CG-07-2018-0241.
Sharma, P., Panday, P., & Dangwal, R. C. (2020). Determinants of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) disclosure: A study of Indian companies. International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, 17(4), 208-217. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/s41310-020-00085-y.
Smith, A. (1937). The wealth of nations. Modern Library. Tien, C., Chen, C. N., & Chuang, C. M. (2013). A study of CEO power, pay structure, and firm performance. Journal of Management & Organization, 19(4), 424-453. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2013.30.
Ting, P. H. (2021). Do large firms just talk corporate social responsibility? - The evidence from CSR report disclosure. Finance Research Letters, 38, 101476. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.frl.2020.101476.
United Nations Organization. (2021). Sustainable Development Goal Indicators. United Nations Organization. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/.
Valls Martínez, M., Martín Cervantes, P. A., & Cruz Rambaud, S. (2020). Women on corporate boards and sustainable development in the American and European markets: Is there a limit to gender policies? Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 27(6), 2642-2656. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/csr.1989.
If a paper is approved for publication, its copyright has to be transferred by the author(s) to the Review of Business Management – RBGN.
Accordingly, authors are REQUIRED to send RBGN a duly completed and signed Copyright Transfer Form. Please refer to the following template: [Copyright Transfer]
The conditions set out by the Copyright Transfer Form state that the Review of Business Management – RBGN owns, free of charge and permanently, the copyright of the papers it publishes. Although the authors are required to sign the Copyright Transfer Form, RBGN allows authors to hold and use their own copyright without restrictions.
The texts published by RBGN are the sole responsibility of their authors.
The review has adopted the CC-BY Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 allowing redistribution and reuse of papers on condition that the authorship is properly credited.