IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/corsem/v28y2021i1p485-496.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Religious social norms and corporate sustainability: The effect of religiosity on environmental, social, and governance disclosure

Author

Listed:
  • Simone Terzani
  • Teresa Turzo

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between religious social norms and corporate sustainability by analyzing the effect of religiosity and religious affiliation on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure. To this aim an empirical analysis was conducted on a sample of 17,432 firm‐year observations across 33 countries between 2004 and 2017. A principal component analysis (PCA) was performed in order to estimate a country‐level measure of religiosity, which included the variables “religious person,” “importance of religion,” and “religious service attendance.” The results, obtained by means of a country‐weighted random‐effect Tobit regression model, showed a non‐linear, U‐shaped relationship between religiosity and ESG disclosure, and a significantly moderating effect of religious affiliation. Consistent with the “social norm” theory, this study contributes to previous literature on ESG determinants by showing that religiosity and religious affiliation significantly influence companies' attitude toward non‐financial disclosure.

Suggested Citation

  • Simone Terzani & Teresa Turzo, 2021. "Religious social norms and corporate sustainability: The effect of religiosity on environmental, social, and governance disclosure," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(1), pages 485-496, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:28:y:2021:i:1:p:485-496
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.2063
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2063
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/csr.2063?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. Aishah Sheikh Abu Bakar & Rashid Ameer, 2011. "Readability of Corporate Social Responsibility communication in Malaysia," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(1), pages 50-60, January.
    2. Isabelle Maignan & David A Ralston, 2002. "Corporate Social Responsibility in Europe and the U.S.: Insights from Businesses' Self-presentations," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 33(3), pages 497-514, September.
    3. Kun Su, 2019. "Does religion benefit corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(6), pages 1206-1221, November.
    4. S. Brammer & Geoffrey Williams & John Zinkin, 2007. "Religion and Attitudes to Corporate Social Responsibility in a Large Cross-Country Sample," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 71(3), pages 229-243, March.
    5. Charl de Villiers & Ana Marques, 2016. "Corporate social responsibility, country-level predispositions, and the consequences of choosing a level of disclosure," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(2), pages 167-195, February.
    6. Harjoto, Maretno Agus & Rossi, Fabrizio, 2019. "Religiosity, female directors, and corporate social responsibility for Italian listed companies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 338-346.
    7. Valentina Lagasio & Nicola Cucari, 2019. "Corporate governance and environmental social governance disclosure: A meta‐analytical review," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(4), pages 701-711, July.
    8. Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim, 2012. "What drives corporate social performance? The role of nation-level institutions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 43(9), pages 834-864, December.
    9. Wu, Dejun & Lin, Chen & Liu, Sibo, 2016. "Does community environment matter to corporate social responsibility?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 127-135.
    10. 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.
    11. Chen, Hanwen & Huang, Henry He & Lobo, Gerald J. & Wang, Chong, 2016. "Religiosity and the cost of debt," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 70-85.
    12. Maurice J. Murphy & Jason B. MacDonald & Giselle E. Antoine & Jan M. Smolarski, 2019. "Exploring Muslim Attitudes Towards Corporate Social Responsibility: Are Saudi Business Students Different?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(4), pages 1103-1118, February.
    13. Zhongju Liao & Jincai Dong & Chen Weng & Chen Shen, 2019. "CEOs' religious beliefs and the environmental innovation of private enterprises: The moderating role of political ties," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(4), pages 972-980, July.
    14. Xingqiang Du & Yingjie Du & Quan Zeng & Hongmei Pei & Yingying Chang, 2016. "Religious atmosphere, law enforcement, and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from China," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 229-265, March.
    15. Guiso, Luigi & Sapienza, Paola & Zingales, Luigi, 2003. "People's opium? Religion and economic attitudes," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 225-282, January.
    16. Waris Ali & Jedrzej George Frynas & Zeeshan Mahmood, 2017. "Determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Disclosure in Developed and Developing Countries: A Literature Review," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(4), pages 273-294, July.
    17. Carri Reisdorf Tolmie & Kevin Lehnert & Hongxin Zhao, 2020. "Formal and informal institutional pressures on corporate social responsibility: A cross‐country analysis," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 786-802, March.
    18. Amir Rubin, 2008. "Political Views and Corporate Decision Making: The Case of Corporate Social Responsibility," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 43(3), pages 337-360, August.
    19. Allen D. Blay & Eric S. Gooden & Mark J. Mellon & Douglas E. Stevens, 2018. "The Usefulness of Social Norm Theory in Empirical Business Ethics Research: A Review and Suggestions for Future Research," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 152(1), pages 191-206, September.
    20. Ana Nave & João Ferreira, 2019. "Corporate social responsibility strategies: Past research and future challenges," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(4), pages 885-901, July.
    21. Chantziaras, Antonios & Dedoulis, Emmanouil & Grougiou, Vassiliki & Leventis, Stergios, 2020. "The impact of religiosity and corruption on CSR reporting: The case of U.S. banks," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 362-374.
    22. Rashid Zaman & Jamal Roudaki & Muhammad Nadeem, 2018. "Religiosity and corporate social responsibility practices: evidence from an emerging economy," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 14(2), pages 368-395, June.
    23. Jennifer Martínez‐Ferrero & David Ruiz‐Cano & Isabel‐María García‐Sánchez, 2016. "The Causal Link between Sustainable Disclosure and Information Asymmetry: The Moderating Role of the Stakeholder Protection Context," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(5), pages 319-332, September.
    24. Ahmed Al‐Abdin & Taposh Roy & John D. Nicholson, 2018. "Researching Corporate Social Responsibility in the Middle East: The Current State and Future Directions," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(1), pages 47-65, January.
    25. Jinhua Cui & Hoje Jo & Manuel Velasquez, 2015. "The Influence of Christian Religiosity on Managerial Decisions Concerning the Environment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 203-231, November.
    26. Benito Arruñada, 2010. "Protestants and Catholics: Similar Work Ethic, Different Social Ethic," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 120(547), pages 890-918, September.
    27. Waris Ali & Jedrzej George Frynas, 2018. "The Role of Normative CSR‐Promoting Institutions in Stimulating CSR Disclosures in Developing Countries," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(4), pages 373-390, July.
    28. Zeineb Miniaoui & Faten Chibani & Khaled Hussainey, 2019. "The impact of country‐level institutional differences on corporate social responsibility disclosure engagement," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(6), pages 1307-1320, November.
    29. Antonino Vaccaro & Alejo Sison, 2011. "Transparency in Business: The Perspective of Catholic Social Teaching and the “Caritas in Veritate”," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 100(1), pages 17-27, March.
    30. Vincenzo Verardi & Christophe Croux, 2009. "Robust regression in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(3), pages 439-453, September.
    31. Charles Noussair & Stefan Trautmann & Gijs Kuilen & Nathanael Vellekoop, 2013. "Risk aversion and religion," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 165-183, October.
    32. Scott D. Dyreng & William J. Mayew & Christopher D. Williams, 2012. "Religious Social Norms and Corporate Financial Reporting," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(7-8), pages 845-875, September.
    33. Maria Baldini & Lorenzo Dal Maso & Giovanni Liberatore & Francesco Mazzi & Simone Terzani, 2018. "Role of Country- and Firm-Level Determinants in Environmental, Social, and Governance Disclosure," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 79-98, June.
    34. Horacio E. Rousseau, 2017. "Corporate Sustainability: Toward a Theoretical Integration of Catholic Social Teaching and the Natural-Resource-Based View of the Firm," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(4), pages 725-737, November.
    35. Bicchieri,Cristina, 2006. "The Grammar of Society," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521574907, September.
    36. Carmelo Reverte, 2009. "Determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure Ratings by Spanish Listed Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 88(2), pages 351-366, August.
    37. Allen D. Blay & Eric S. Gooden & Mark J. Mellon & Douglas E. Stevens, 2019. "Can Social Norm Activation Improve Audit Quality? Evidence from an Experimental Audit Market," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(2), pages 513-530, May.
    38. Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Yang Ni & Jeffrey Pittman & Samir Saadi, 2012. "Does Religion Matter to Equity Pricing?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(4), pages 491-518, December.
    39. Montalvo, Jose G. & Reynal-Querol, Marta, 2005. "Ethnic diversity and economic development," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 293-323, April.
    40. Callen, Jeffrey L. & Fang, Xiaohua, 2015. "Religion and Stock Price Crash Risk," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 50(1-2), pages 169-195, April.
    41. Arturo Luque & Noelia Herrero‐García, 2019. "How corporate social (ir)responsibility in the textile sector is defined, and its impact on ethical sustainability: An analysis of 133 concepts," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(6), pages 1285-1306, November.
    42. Yusheng Kong & Alex Antwi‐Adjei & Jonas Bawuah, 2020. "A systematic review of the business case for corporate social responsibility and firm performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 444-454, March.
    43. Valentina Marano & Tatiana Kostova, 2016. "Unpacking the Institutional Complexity in Adoption of CSR Practices in Multinational Enterprises," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 28-54, January.
    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. Mathieu Gomes & Sylvain Marsat & Jonathan Peillex & Guillaume Pijourlet, 2023. "Does religiosity influence corporate greenwashing behavior?," Papers 2312.14515, arXiv.org.
    2. Yasser Eliwa & Ahmed Aboud & Ahmed Saleh, 2023. "Board gender diversity and ESG decoupling: Does religiosity matter?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7), pages 4046-4067, November.
    3. Zuobao Wei & Yicheng Zhu, 2023. "Does religiosity improve analyst forecast accuracy?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 915-948, April.
    4. Sofia Brunelli & Salvatore Sciascia & Massimo Baù, 2024. "Nonfinancial reporting in family firms: A systematic review and agenda for future research," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 162-179, February.
    5. Shusen Zhu & Hui Sun & Beibei Zhang & Zedong Yang & Xuechao Xia, 2023. "Bilateral Effects of ESG Responsibility Fulfillment of Industrial Companies on Green Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-20, June.
    6. Anrafel de Souza Barbosa & Maria Cristina Crispim & Luiz Bueno da Silva & Jonhatan Magno Norte da Silva & Aglaucibelly Maciel Barbosa & Sandra Naomi Morioka, 2024. "How can organizations measure the integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria? Validation of an instrument using item response theory to capture workers' perception," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 3607-3634, May.

    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. Mehdi Khodakarami & Hassan Yazdifar & Alireza Faraji Khaledi & Saeed Bagheri Kheirabadi & Amin Sarlak, 2024. "The Level of Islamic Religiosity of the Local Community and Corporate Environmental Responsibility Disclosure: Evidence from Iran," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 190(2), pages 483-512, March.
    2. 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.
    3. Ahsan Habib & Mabel D' Costa & Ahmed Khamis Al‐Hadi, 2023. "Consequences of local social norms: A review of the literature in accounting, finance, and corporate governance," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(1), pages 3-45, March.
    4. Kejing Chen & Wenqi Guo & Yanling Kang & Qingqing Wan, 2021. "Does religion improve corporate environmental responsibility? Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 808-818, March.
    5. Chuluunbat Tsendsuren & Prayag L. Yadav & Seung Hun Han & Seongjae Mun, 2021. "The effect of corporate environmental responsibility and religiosity on corporate cash holding decisions and profitability: Evidence from the United States' policies for sustainable development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(5), pages 987-1000, September.
    6. Rami Salem & Ernest Ezeani & Xi Song, 2023. "The relationship between religiosity and voluntary disclosure quality: a cross-country evidence from the banking sector," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 983-1023, April.
    7. Chourou, Lamia, 2023. "Corporate donations and religiosity: Cross-country evidence," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    8. Kun Su, 2019. "Does religion benefit corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(6), pages 1206-1221, November.
    9. Mathieu Gomes & Sylvain Marsat & Jonathan Peillex & Guillaume Pijourlet, 2023. "Does religiosity influence corporate greenwashing behavior?," Papers 2312.14515, arXiv.org.
    10. Yaoqin Li, 2021. "Religious founders and employee welfare," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(5), pages 6037-6067, December.
    11. Shahid, Ahmad Usman & Patel, Chris & Pan, Peipei, 2022. "Corporate social responsibility, intrinsic religiosity, and investment decisions," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    12. Geng Niu & Yang Zhou & Weijie Lu & Hongwu Gan, 2022. "Religiosity and corruption in bank lending," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(9-10), pages 1957-1983, October.
    13. Alabbad, Amal & Al Saleem, Jafar & Kabir Hassan, M., 2022. "Does religious diversity play roles in corporate environmental decisions?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 489-504.
    14. Isabelle Breton-Miller & Danny Miller & Zhenyang Tang & Xiaowei Xu, 2024. "CEO Religion and Corporate Social Responsibility: A Socio-behavioral Model," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 195(1), pages 167-189, November.
    15. Contreras, Harold & Korczak, Adriana & Korczak, Piotr, 2023. "Religion and insider trading profits," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    16. Chantziaras, Antonios & Dedoulis, Emmanouil & Grougiou, Vassiliki & Leventis, Stergios, 2020. "The impact of religiosity and corruption on CSR reporting: The case of U.S. banks," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 362-374.
    17. Leon Zolotoy & Don O’Sullivan & Keke Song, 2021. "The Role of Ethical Standards in the Relationship Between Religious Social Norms and M&A Announcement Returns," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 170(4), pages 721-742, May.
    18. Ines Gharbi & Mounira Hamed‐Sidhom & Khaled Hussainey & Janet Ganouati, 2021. "Religiosity and financial distress in U.S. firms," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 3902-3915, July.
    19. Jiang, Yan & Wang, Jiaxin & Huang, Yibo, 2024. "Does religious atmosphere affect enterprise digital transformation? Evidence from China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PB).
    20. Richard J. Cebula & Fabrizio Rossi, 2021. "Religiosity and corporate risk-taking: evidence from Italy," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 45(4), pages 751-763, October.

    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:wly:corsem:v:28:y:2021:i:1:p:485-496. 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://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1535-3966 .

    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.