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Corporate Social Responsibility and Shareholder Proposals

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  • Erwin Eding
  • Bert Scholtens

Abstract

We study how corporate social responsibility relates to investors, firms, and shareholder proposals. We examine shareholder proposals on environmental, social, and governance issues at the annual general meeting of shareholders with US Fortune 250 firms during 2011–2014. We find that the probability of receiving shareholder proposals on environmental issues is positively associated with responsible institutional ownership. We find no systematic evidence that the outperformance regarding social responsibility of the firms themselves would significantly matter regarding the likelihood of shareholders filing proposals about corporate social responsibility, except for employee wellbeing. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

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  • Erwin Eding & Bert Scholtens, 2017. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Shareholder Proposals," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(6), pages 648-660, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:24:y:2017:i:6:p:648-660
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.1434
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    2. Mercedes Rodríguez‐Fernández & Ana I. Gaspar‐González & Eva M. Sánchez‐Teba, 2020. "Sustainable social responsibility through stakeholders engagement," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(6), pages 2425-2436, November.
    3. Nicolas Garcia‐Torea & Belen Fernandez‐Feijoo & Marta De La Cuesta, 2020. "CSR reporting communication: Defective reporting models or misapplication?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 952-968, March.
    4. Isabel‐María García‐Sánchez & Jennifer Martínez‐Ferrero, 2018. "How do Independent Directors Behave with Respect to Sustainability Disclosure?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(4), pages 609-627, July.
    5. Vincenzo D'Apice & Giovanni Ferri & Mariantonietta Intonti, 2021. "Sustainable disclosure versus ESG intensity: Is there a cross effect between holding and SRI funds?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5), pages 1496-1510, September.
    6. Charl de Villiers & Jing Jia & Zhongtian Li, 2022. "Corporate social responsibility: A review of empirical research using Thomson Reuters Asset4 data," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(4), pages 4523-4568, December.
    7. Concepción Campillo-Alhama & Diego Igual-Antón, 2021. "Corporate Social Responsibility Strategies in Spanish Electric Cooperatives. Analysis of Stakeholder Engagement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-28, June.
    8. Danny Zhao‐Xiang Huang, 2022. "Environmental, social and governance factors and assessing firm value: valuation, signalling and stakeholder perspectives," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(S1), pages 1983-2010, April.
    9. Jia Meng & ZhongXiang Zhang, 2022. "Corporate Environmental Information Disclosure and Investor Response: Empirical Evidence from China's Capital Market," Working Papers 2022.03, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    10. Adriana Barbeito‐Caamaño & Ricardo Chalmeta, 2020. "Using big data to evaluate corporate social responsibility and sustainable development practices," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(6), pages 2831-2848, November.
    11. Qiao Chen & Huixiang Zeng, 2022. "Is corporate social responsibility constrained by bank credit resource allocation?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1560-1577, September.
    12. Meng, Jia & Zhang, ZhongXiang, 2022. "Corporate environmental information disclosure and investor response: Evidence from China's capital market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    13. Patrizia Gazzola & Daniele Grechi & Paola Ossola & Enrica Pavione, 2019. "Certified Benefit Corporations as a new way to make sustainable business: The Italian example," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(6), pages 1435-1445, November.
    14. Linh-TX Nguyen & Anh N.P. Doan & Michael Frömmel, 2021. "Boards of directors and corporate sustainability performance: evidence from the emerging East Asian markets," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(2), pages 95-105, June.

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