IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/acctfi/v62y2022i1p213-242.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does lesbian and gay friendliness pay off? A new look at LGBT policies and firm performance

Author

Listed:
  • Veda Fatmy
  • John Kihn
  • Jukka Sihvonen
  • Sami Vähämaa

Abstract

This paper examines the association between LGBT‐friendly corporate policies and firm performance. Using data on US firms from 2003 to 2016, we document that LGBT friendliness is positively associated with firm performance. Specifically, we find strong evidence that more LGBT‐friendly firms have higher profitability and higher stock market valuations. Our results further demonstrate that the positive effect of progressive LGBT policies on firm performance is more pronounced for firms located in more liberal states. Overall, our empirical findings provide support for the view that socially progressive corporate policies and diversity management may create value for the firm.

Suggested Citation

  • Veda Fatmy & John Kihn & Jukka Sihvonen & Sami Vähämaa, 2022. "Does lesbian and gay friendliness pay off? A new look at LGBT policies and firm performance," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(1), pages 213-242, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:62:y:2022:i:1:p:213-242
    DOI: 10.1111/acfi.12787
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.12787
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/acfi.12787?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cahan, Steven F. & Chen, Chen & Chen, Li & Nguyen, Nhut H., 2015. "Corporate social responsibility and media coverage," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 409-422.
    2. Sandra A. Waddock & Samuel B. Graves, 1997. "The Corporate Social Performance–Financial Performance Link," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(4), pages 303-319, April.
    3. Iftekhar Hasan & Nada Kobeissi & Liuling Liu & Haizhi Wang, 2018. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Financial Performance: The Mediating Role of Productivity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(3), pages 671-688, May.
    4. Husam Aldamen & Keith Duncan & Simone Kelly & Ray McNamara & Stephan Nagel, 2012. "Audit committee characteristics and firm performance during the global financial crisis," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 52(4), pages 971-1000, December.
    5. Frijns, Bart & Dodd, Olga & Cimerova, Helena, 2016. "The impact of cultural diversity in corporate boards on firm performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 521-541.
    6. Michael C. Jensen, 2010. "Value Maximization, Stakeholder Theory, and the Corporate Objective Function," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 22(1), pages 32-42, January.
    7. Henri Servaes & Ane Tamayo, 2013. "The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Firm Value: The Role of Customer Awareness," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(5), pages 1045-1061, May.
    8. Olubunmi Faleye & Emery Trahan, 2011. "Labor-Friendly Corporate Practices: Is What is Good for Employees Good for Shareholders?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 101(1), pages 1-27, June.
    9. Jordi Surroca & Josep A. Tribó, 2008. "Managerial Entrenchment and Corporate Social Performance," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(5‐6), pages 748-789, June.
    10. Danny Z. X. Huang, 2021. "Environmental, social and governance (ESG) activity and firm performance: a review and consolidation," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(1), pages 335-360, March.
    11. Markus Kitzmueller & Jay Shimshack, 2012. "Economic Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(1), pages 51-84, March.
    12. Fauver, Larry & McDonald, Michael B. & Taboada, Alvaro G., 2018. "Does it pay to treat employees well? International evidence on the value of employee-friendly culture," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 84-108.
    13. Buchanan, Bonnie & Cao, Cathy Xuying & Chen, Chongyang, 2018. "Corporate social responsibility, firm value, and influential institutional ownership," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 73-95.
    14. Anant K. Sundaram & Andrew C. Inkpen, 2004. "The Corporate Objective Revisited," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(3), pages 350-363, June.
    15. Agle, Bradley R. & Donaldson, Thomas & Freeman, R. Edward & Jensen, Michael C. & Mitchell, Ronald K. & Wood, Donna J., 2008. "Dialogue: Toward Superior Stakeholder Theory," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(2), pages 153-190, April.
    16. Greg Filbeck & Dianna Preece, 2003. ""Fortune's" Best 100 Companies to Work for in America: Do They Work for Shareholders?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5-6), pages 771-797.
    17. Hilary, Gilles & Hui, Kai Wai, 2009. "Does religion matter in corporate decision making in America?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(3), pages 455-473, September.
    18. Robert G. Eccles & Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim, 2014. "The Impact of Corporate Sustainability on Organizational Processes and Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(11), pages 2835-2857, November.
    19. Chen, Jie & Leung, Woon Sau & Evans, Kevin P., 2016. "Are employee-friendly workplaces conducive to innovation?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 61-79.
    20. Feng Li & Venky Nagar, 2013. "Diversity and Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(3), pages 529-544, September.
    21. Caroline Flammer & Jiao Luo, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility as an employee governance tool: Evidence from a quasi-experiment," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 163-183, February.
    22. Unsal, Omer & Brodmann, Jennifer, 2020. "The impact of employee relations on the reputation of the board of directors and CEO," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 372-388.
    23. Michael L. Barnett & Robert M. Salomon, 2012. "Does it pay to be really good? addressing the shape of the relationship between social and financial performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(11), pages 1304-1320, November.
    24. Greg Filbeck & Dianna Preece, 2003. "Fortune’s Best 100 Companies to Work for in America: Do They Work for Shareholders?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5‐6), pages 771-797, June.
    25. Abagail McWilliams & Donald Siegel, 2000. "Corporate social responsibility and financial performance: correlation or misspecification?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(5), pages 603-609, May.
    26. Yasheng Chen & Johnny Jermias, 2014. "Business strategy, executive compensation and firm performance," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 54(1), pages 113-134, March.
    27. Edmans, Alex, 2011. "Does the stock market fully value intangibles? Employee satisfaction and equity prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 621-640, September.
    28. Stephen Brammer & Andrew Millington, 2008. "Does it pay to be different? An analysis of the relationship between corporate social and financial performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(12), pages 1325-1343, December.
    29. Weinzimmer, Laurence G. & Esken, Candace A., 2016. "Risky business: Taking a stand on social issues," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 59(3), pages 331-337.
    30. Caroline Flammer, 2015. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility Lead to Superior Financial Performance? A Regression Discontinuity Approach," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(11), pages 2549-2568, November.
    31. Jordi Surroca & Josep A. Tribó & Sandra Waddock, 2010. "Corporate responsibility and financial performance: the role of intangible resources," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 463-490, May.
    32. Iftekhar Hasan & Nada Kobeissi & Liuling Liu & Haizhi Wang, 2018. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Financial Performance: The Mediating Role of Productivity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(3), pages 671-688, May.
    33. Tracy Artiach & Darren Lee & David Nelson & Julie Walker, 2010. "The determinants of corporate sustainability performance," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 50(1), pages 31-51, March.
    34. Liwei Shan & Shihe Fu & Lu Zheng, 2017. "Corporate sexual equality and firm performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(9), pages 1812-1826, September.
    35. Stewart R. Miller & Lorraine Eden & Dan Li, 2020. "CSR Reputation and Firm Performance: A Dynamic Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(3), pages 619-636, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Brahma, Sanjukta & Gavriilidis, Konstantinos & Kallinterakis, Vasileios & Verousis, Thanos & Zhang, Mengyu, 2023. "LGBTQ and finance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    2. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Cheung, Adrian (Wai Kong) & Marwick, Trevor, 2022. "Corporate sexual orientation equality policies and the cost of equity capital," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    3. Roberto A. Weber & Sili Zhang, 2023. "What Money Can Buy: How Market Exchange Promotes Values," CESifo Working Paper Series 10809, CESifo.
    4. Nebojsa Dimic & Veda Fatmy & Sami Vähämaa, 2024. "Religiosity and corporate social responsibility: A study of firm‐level adherence to Christian values in the United States," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 396-413, January.
    5. Do, Hung X. & Nguyen, Lily & Nguyen, Nhut H. & Nguyen, Quan M.P., 2022. "LGBT policy, investor trading behavior, and return comovement," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 457-483.
    6. Schopohl, Lisa & Urquhart, Andrew & Zhang, Hanxiong, 2024. "Labor investment inefficiency and LGBTQ+-friendliness," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PB).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Olivier Meier & Philippe Naccache & Guillaume Schier, 2021. "Exploring the Curvature of the Relationship Between HRM–CSR and Corporate Financial Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(4), pages 857-873, May.
    2. Iftekhar Hasan & Nada Kobeissi & Liuling Liu & Haizhi Wang, 2018. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Financial Performance: The Mediating Role of Productivity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(3), pages 671-688, May.
    3. Iftekhar Hasan & Nada Kobeissi & Liuling Liu & Haizhi Wang, 2018. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Financial Performance: The Mediating Role of Productivity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(3), pages 671-688, May.
    4. Rajesh Kumar Bhaskaran & Irene Wei Kiong Ting & Sujit K. Sukumaran & Saraswathy Divakaran Sumod, 2020. "Environmental, social and governance initiatives and wealth creation for firms: An empirical examination," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(5), pages 710-729, July.
    5. Al-Shaer, Habiba & Uyar, Ali & Kuzey, Cemil & Karaman, Abdullah S., 2023. "Do shareholders punish or reward excessive CSR engagement? Moderating effect of cash flow and firm growth," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    6. Hans B. Christensen & Luzi Hail & Christian Leuz, 2021. "Mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting: economic analysis and literature review," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 1176-1248, September.
    7. Elena Platonova & Mehmet Asutay & Rob Dixon & Sabri Mohammad, 2018. "The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure on Financial Performance: Evidence from the GCC Islamic Banking Sector," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(2), pages 451-471, August.
    8. Bongani Munkuli & Renee Horne, 2018. "Financial Markets Value Reputation for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) – A Study of the South African Mining Sector," Africagrowth Agenda, Africagrowth Institute, vol. 15(2), pages 17-22.
    9. Aneta Havlinova & Jiri Kukacka, 2023. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Stock Prices After the Financial Crisis: The Role of Strategic CSR Activities," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(1), pages 223-242, January.
    10. Iordanis Kalaitzoglou & Hui Pan & Jacek Niklewski, 2021. "Corporate social responsibility: How much is enough? A higher dimension perspective of the relationship between financial and social performance," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 306(1), pages 209-245, November.
    11. Aseem Kaul & Jiao Luo, 2018. "An economic case for CSR: The comparative efficiency of for‐profit firms in meeting consumer demand for social goods," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(6), pages 1650-1677, June.
    12. Amrou Awaysheh & Randall A. Heron & Tod Perry & Jared I. Wilson, 2020. "On the relation between corporate social responsibility and financial performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(6), pages 965-987, June.
    13. Liwei Shan & Shihe Fu & Lu Zheng, 2017. "Corporate sexual equality and firm performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(9), pages 1812-1826, September.
    14. Liu, Xianda & Hou, Wenxuan & Main, Brian G.M., 2022. "Anti-market sentiment and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from anti-Jewish pogroms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    15. Eduardo Duque-Grisales & Javier Aguilera-Caracuel, 2021. "Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Scores and Financial Performance of Multilatinas: Moderating Effects of Geographic International Diversification and Financial Slack," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(2), pages 315-334, January.
    16. AMBASHI Masahito, 2023. "How are Organizational Architectures of Corporate Social Responsibility Related to Corporate Performance? The case of Japanese listed companies," Discussion papers 23030, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    17. Engida, Tadesse Getacher & Rao, Xudong & Oude Lansink, Alfons G.J.M., 2020. "A dynamic by-production framework for analyzing inefficiency associated with corporate social responsibility," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 287(3), pages 1170-1179.
    18. Hasan, Iftekhar & Karavitis, Panagiotis & Kazakis, Pantelis & Leung, Woon Sau, 2019. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Profit Shifting," MPRA Paper 91580, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. James J. Cordeiro & Ambra Galeazzo & Tara Shankar Shaw, 2023. "The CSR–CFP relationship in the presence of institutional voids and the moderating role of family ownership," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(1), pages 137-163, February.
    20. Zhou, Guangyou & Sun, Yongkun & Luo, Sumei & Liao, Jiayi, 2021. "Corporate social responsibility and bank financial performance in China: The moderating role of green credit," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:62:y:2022:i:1:p:213-242. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaanzea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.