IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v16y2023i6p284-d1155136.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social Performance Disclosed by European Companies: The Role of the Board Attributes and the Country’s Legal System

Author

Listed:
  • Albertina Paula Monteiro

    (CEOS.PP/ISCAP/Polytechnic of Porto, 4465-004 Matosinhos, Portugal)

  • Catarina Cepêda

    (ISCAP/Polytechnic of Porto, 4465-004 Matosinhos, Portugal
    UTAD, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal)

  • Cláudia Pereira

    (CEOS.PP/ISCAP/Polytechnic of Porto, 4465-004 Matosinhos, Portugal)

  • Amélia Silva

    (CEOS.PP/ISCAP/Polytechnic of Porto, 4465-004 Matosinhos, Portugal)

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze factors that influence social performance-related information disclosure in European countries. Specifically, the objective is to investigate the Board’s attributes (Diversity, Inclusion, People Development and Controversies). To achieve the goal, an empirical analysis was conducted with 2494 listed companies in Europe as support for the economic year 2021. To measure a possible link between the variables under study, a regression analysis was performed. Our results show that Board Diversity, Inclusion and People Development contribute positively to social performance disclosure, whereas Board Controversies negatively affect the dependent variable. Furthermore, the study results reveal that the country’s legal system is relevant to the company’s transparency. The model variables determine 62% of the social performance reporting variance. Our Results are useful for all non-financial information users, governments and organizations in developing sustainability reporting standards.

Suggested Citation

  • Albertina Paula Monteiro & Catarina Cepêda & Cláudia Pereira & Amélia Silva, 2023. "Social Performance Disclosed by European Companies: The Role of the Board Attributes and the Country’s Legal System," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-15, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:16:y:2023:i:6:p:284-:d:1155136
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/16/6/284/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/16/6/284/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Amama Shaukat & Yan Qiu & Grzegorz Trojanowski, 2016. "Board Attributes, Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy, and Corporate Environmental and Social Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(3), pages 569-585, May.
    2. Özge Sahin & Karoline Bax & Claudia Czado & Sandra Paterlini, 2022. "Environmental, Social, Governance scores and the Missing pillar—Why does missing information matter?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1782-1798, September.
    3. Ferrell, Allen & Liang, Hao & Renneboog, Luc, 2016. "Socially responsible firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(3), pages 585-606.
    4. Lee Siew Peng & Mansor Isa, 2020. "Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Practices And Performance In Shariah Firms: Agency or Stakeholder Theory?," Asian Academy of Management Journal of Accounting and Finance (AAMJAF), Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, vol. 16(1), pages 1-34.
    5. Elisa Baraibar-Diez & María D. Odriozola, 2019. "CSR Committees and Their Effect on ESG Performance in UK, France, Germany, and Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-20, September.
    6. Lehtonen, Markku, 2004. "The environmental-social interface of sustainable development: capabilities, social capital, institutions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 199-214, June.
    7. Michael J. Albert, 2020. "Capitalism and Earth System Governance: An Ecological Marxist Approach," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 20(2), pages 37-56, May.
    8. Gunnar Friede & Timo Busch & Alexander Bassen, 2015. "ESG and financial performance: aggregated evidence from more than 2000 empirical studies," Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(4), pages 210-233, October.
    9. Çisem Bektur & Sabri Burak Arzova, 2022. "The effect of women managers in the board of directors of companies on the integrated reporting: example of Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) Sustainability Index," Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 638-654, April.
    10. Anna, Petrenko, 2016. "Мaркування готової продукції як складова частина інформаційного забезпечення маркетингової діяльності підприємств овочепродуктового підкомплексу," Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, vol. 2(1), March.
    11. Gao, Yongqiang & Yang, Haibin, 2016. "Do Employees Support Corporate Philanthropy? Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(4), pages 747-768, December.
    12. Silvia Romero & Silvia Ruiz & Belen Fernandez‐Feijoo, 2019. "Sustainability reporting and stakeholder engagement in Spain: Different instruments, different quality," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 221-232, January.
    13. Beate Littig & Erich Griessler, 2005. "Social sustainability: a catchword between political pragmatism and social theory," International Journal of Sustainable Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 8(1/2), pages 65-79.
    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. Cláudia Pereira & Rui Bertuzi & Armindo Lima, 2024. "Impact of Accountability on the Economic Performance of Hospital Entities: The Moderating Role of Gender," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-14, September.

    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. Akrum Helfaya & Rebecca Morris & Ahmed Aboud, 2023. "Investigating the Factors That Determine the ESG Disclosure Practices in Europe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-23, March.
    2. Anca Antoaneta Vărzaru & Claudiu George Bocean & Michael Marian Nicolescu, 2021. "Rethinking Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability in Light of Economic Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-21, March.
    3. Halit Gonenc & Bert Scholtens, 2019. "Responsibility and Performance Relationship in the Banking Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-49, June.
    4. Jubril Olakitan Atanda & Ayşe Öztürk, 2020. "Social criteria of sustainable development in relation to green building assessment tools," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 61-87, January.
    5. Andreas G. F. Hoepner & Lisa Schopohl, 2020. "State Pension Funds and Corporate Social Responsibility: Do Beneficiaries’ Political Values Influence Funds’ Investment Decisions?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(3), pages 489-516, September.
    6. Torsten Ehlers & Ulrike Elsenhuber & Kumar Jegarasasingam & Eric Jondeau, 2022. "Deconstructing ESG Scores: How to Invest with Your own Criteria," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 22-23, Swiss Finance Institute.
    7. Gehrig, Thomas & Iannino, Maria Chiara & Unger, Stephan, 2024. "Social responsibility and bank resiliency," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    8. Zhao, Hong & Jin, Dawei & Li, Hui & Wang, Haizhi, 2021. "Affiliated bankers on board and firm environmental management: U.S. evidence," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    9. Angus W. H. Yip & William Y. P. Yu, 2023. "The Quality of Environmental KPI Disclosure in ESG Reporting for SMEs in Hong Kong," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-26, February.
    10. Daniel Kiel & Julian M. Müller & Christian Arnold & Kai-Ingo Voigt, 2017. "Sustainable Industrial Value Creation: Benefits And Challenges Of Industry 4.0," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 21(08), pages 1-34, December.
    11. Gillan, Stuart L. & Koch, Andrew & Starks, Laura T., 2021. "Firms and social responsibility: A review of ESG and CSR research in corporate finance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    12. Giovanni Cardillo & Ennio Bendinelli & Giuseppe Torluccio, 2023. "COVID‐19, ESG investing, and the resilience of more sustainable stocks: Evidence from European firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 602-623, January.
    13. Jing Jia & Zhongtian Li, 2022. "Corporate Environmental Performance and Financial Distress: Evidence from Australia," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 32(2), pages 188-200, June.
    14. Quan-Hoang Vuong, 2021. "The semiconducting principle of monetary and environmental values exchange," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 10(3), pages 284-290.
    15. John Holmberg & Johan Larsson, 2018. "A Sustainability Lighthouse—Supporting Transition Leadership and Conversations on Desirable Futures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-25, October.
    16. Pape, Helpe, 2021. "The semiconducting principle of monetary and environmental values exchange," OSF Preprints zp9jv, Center for Open Science.
    17. Anrafel Souza Barbosa & Maria Cristina Basilio Crispim Silva & Luiz Bueno Silva & Sandra Naomi Morioka & Vinícius Fernandes Souza, 2023. "Integration of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria: their impacts on corporate sustainability performance," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-18, December.
    18. Alessio Maria Braccini & Emanuele Gabriel Margherita, 2018. "Exploring Organizational Sustainability of Industry 4.0 under the Triple Bottom Line: The Case of a Manufacturing Company," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-17, December.
    19. Denis Cormier & Luania Gutierrez & Michel Magnan, 2024. "The link between CSR performance and CSR disclosure quality: does board diversity matter?," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 28(1), pages 237-263, March.
    20. Ferrés, Daniel & Marcet, Francisco, 2021. "Corporate social responsibility and corporate misconduct," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).

    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:gam:jjrfmx:v:16:y:2023:i:6:p:284-:d:1155136. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.