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Title Corporate governance and sustainable business conduct-Effects of board monitoring effectiveness and stakeholder engagement on corporate sustainability performance and disclosure choices
ID_Doc 76071
Authors Manning, B; Braam, G; Reimsbach, D
Title Corporate governance and sustainable business conduct-Effects of board monitoring effectiveness and stakeholder engagement on corporate sustainability performance and disclosure choices
Year 2019
Published Corporate Social Responsibility And Environmental Management, 26, 2
DOI 10.1002/csr.1687
Abstract This study posits that, in the absence of extensive mandatory regulation and auditing, differences in internal and external corporate governance (CG) mechanisms will explain variations in choices concerning corporate sustainability reporting and the interrelated and underlying corporate sustainability performance (CSP). Specifically, we explore whether board monitoring effectiveness as a major internal CG mechanism and stakeholder engagement as a key external CG mechanism are positively associated with sustainability reporting quality (SRQ), compliance with generally accepted sustainability reporting standards (SRC) and guidelines, and CSP for a sample of Dutch firms that have voluntarily disclosed sustainability reports during the years 2012-2016. In addition to these direct effects, we also investigate the potential indirect effects of the CG mechanisms on SRQ and SRC via CSP and distinguish between nonlagged and lag effects. Using structural equation modeling, our results show that, in the short term, monitoring effectiveness positively affects SRQ and SRC. Stakeholder engagement positively affects SRQ and SRC in the short term and is positively related to SRQ via CSP in the longer term, indicating that active stakeholders, over time, may drive companies toward more sustainable business conduct. Finally, the findings that CSP is positively related to SRQ but negatively related to SRC provide further support for signaling and legitimacy theory, respectively. Companies with superior CSP disclose high-quality information on CSP to signal the firm's superior sustainability performance, whereas poor performing companies legitimize their inferior CSP by complying with more reporting standards, rather than by directly improving their underlying CSP.
Author Keywords board monitoring; corporate governance; corporate social responsibility; stakeholder engagement; sustainability performance; sustainability reporting quality
Index Keywords Index Keywords
Document Type Other
Open Access Open Access
Source Social Science Citation Index (SSCI)
EID WOS:000461058600008
WoS Category Business; Environmental Studies; Management
Research Area Business & Economics; Environmental Sciences & Ecology
PDF https://repository.ubn.ru.nl//bitstream/handle/2066/203845/203845.pdf
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