The era of sustainable transformation has witnessed an increase in corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure waves. Using Chinese A-share listed companies from 2016 to 2021 as a sample, this study adopted textual analysis and machine-learning techniques to analyze ESG reports and explore the imitation behavior of ESG disclosures in emerging Chinese markets for the first time. The results show imitation behavior exists in corporate ESG disclosures from the perspective of group association. Regarding the imitation object, enterprises (...) tend to choose the peer average level as a reference rather than the best enterprise in the same industry, which reveals the inherent law that enterprises' ESG disclosures are satisfied with compliance rather than championship. In terms of effects, the ESG-mimetic isomorphic pressure has no incremental information effect but has an efficiency optimization effect. Furthermore, the imitation intensity and impact effects of ESG disclosure behavior exhibit heterogeneity owing to differences in properties, sales growth rates, and external attention. This study expands the motivation for corporate ESG disclosure behavior and enriches the empirical evidence for institutional isomorphism. (shrink)

This paper examines whether a firm’s financial performance is associated with superior environmental, social and governance scores in emerging markets of multinationals in Latin America. The study addresses the current research gap on this issue; it develops hypotheses and tests them by applying linear regressions with a data panel drawn from the Thomson Reuters Eikon™ database to analyse data on 104 multinationals from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru between 2011 and 2015. The results suggest that the relationship (...) between the ESG score and FP is significantly statistically negative. Furthermore, in examining environmental, social and governance separately to accurately determine each variable’s relationship to multilatinas’ FP, the results reveal a negative relationship. Finally, the empirical analysis provides evidence for a moderating effect of financial slack and geographic international diversification on the relationship between ESG dimensions and firms’ FP. This study furthers understanding of the relationship between ESG dimensions and FP for the Latin American business context. (shrink)

The primary objective of this research is to examine the potential influence of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure on cash holdings. Additionally, the study explores the role of earnings management (EM) practices as a mediating factor in this relationship. The sample comprises 797 companies listed on financial markets across 19 European countries, and the data spans from 2013 to 2019. The outcomes indicate a significant negative correlation between ESG disclosure and cash holdings, implying that ESG performance can (...) be used by management to resolve disputes with stakeholders. The outcomes further indicate that the existence of EM practices partially mediates the link between ESG disclosure and cash holdings. Moreover, they are robust by substitute cash holdings specification, three distinct initiatives of ESG disclosure (i.e., environment, social, and governance), and a two-stage least squares assessment. Therefore, the findings document that nonfinancial reporting in the form of ESG disclosure can assist in controlling agency conflict, leading to better valuations of company performance by stakeholders. (shrink)

This study provides an in-depth examination of the relationship between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance and the idiosyncratic volatility of Korean companies. In line with the risk-mitigation view, the study finds that strong ESG performance is associated with a reduction in a firm's idiosyncratic volatility. The impact of ESG performance on reducing firm volatility was particularly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the role of ESG performance in risk mitigation during crisis periods. The study also shows that (...) companies with strong ESG performance in industries that are highly sensitive to ESG factors are particularly adept at reducing idiosyncratic volatility. These findings underscore the importance of ESG enhancement for both firm managers and policymakers, particularly within ESG-sensitive industries. (shrink)

We investigate the association between a wide range of community-level environmental, social, and governance (ESG) outcomes and the credit risk of U.S. municipal finance fixed-income securities. We develop a novel dataset of multiple ESG outcomes for U.S. counties and connect it to a 2001-2020 panel of municipal bonds issued within those counties. Overall, we find supportive evidence that collective increases in community-level ESG factors (i.e., ESG outcomes) are associated with reductions in credit risk for U.S. municipal finance instruments (...) over time. We theorize that these associations arise from variations in investor perceptions and manifested changes in fiscal health over time as a function of changing ESG outcomes. Post hoc analyses leveraging quasi-exogenous shocks to uncertainty, as well as connecting ESG outcomes to various measures of fiscal health at the county-year level, and credit ratings at the bond-year level, help validate this theory. Our research suggests that even socially agnostic investors should investigate the environmental and social performance of a municipality as part of their credit due diligence. (shrink)

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing is synonymous with sustainable investment for socially responsible investors. Unfortunately, the diversity of ESG investing remains unattended amidst the growth in ESG literature, as the academic literature focuses dominantly on measuring performance. An understanding of a wide range of subjects entailing ESG is required before future research on ESG investing is performed. To overcome the challenge, this systematic literature review uses bibliometric mapping to reveal four significant research themes within the ESG investing (...) literature: investor behavior and motivations for ESG investing; cost and risk mitigation in ESG investing; portfolio screening and ESG investing; and ESG performance. The review critically examines each theme and broadens the research agenda for future studies. In addition to the significant themes, this paper also discusses theoretical and recent research trends in the ESG investing literature. The review identifies clashes and crossovers between these themes to appropriately interpret one theme using another and emphasizes the heterogeneity in ESG investing. Lastly, discussion over concerns and criticisms of ESG investing highlights greenwashing as a major cause of concern for investors. (shrink)

This study attempts to examine the relationship between environment, social, and governance management and financial performance and the role of socially responsible investment in the National Pension Fund, Korea’s largest institutional investor. This study tries to provide evidence for the slack resource hypothesis by verifying whether companies with higher financial performance make more efforts to improve ESG performance. In addition, we tried to validate whether NPF is expanding its investments in corporations with high economic performance and high ESG (...) performance. Based on our analysis, Korean companies with good financial performance actively participate in ESG. When we compared the performance between 2019 and 2020, companies with high ESG performance increased regardless of financial performance level, whereas companies with high financial performance and low ESG performance decreased. This represents that the perception and attitude of Korean companies toward ESG management are evolving. NPF has a high investment ratio for firms having a high ratio in both financial and ESG performance. NPF further invested in companies with high ESG performance, even if the financial performance is not decent. This study provides evidence that Korean companies’ interest in ESG management as well as the behavior of socially responsible investment of NPF are rising. (shrink)

According to information asymmetry theory and stakeholder theory, this article explores the impact and mechanism of environmental, social, and governance information disclosure on the company’s future stock price crash risk based on the A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2019. We find that ESG information disclosure significantly reduces the company’s future stock price crash risk. This conclusion remains robust after a series of robustness tests, such as PSM-DID. The heterogeneity analysis shows that the negative relationship between ESG disclosure (...) and stock price crash risk is more significant in state-owned enterprises, companies with higher agency costs, and when companies in the bull market. The mechanism is that companies choose to disclose ESG information to alleviate information asymmetry problems and enhance corporate reputation capital, thus reducing the future stock price crash risk. This article shows that strengthening ESG construction will help improve the efficiency of China’s resource allocation and promote the capital market development. (shrink)

We study behind-the-scenes investor activism promoting environmental, social, and governance improvements by means of a proprietary dataset of a large international, socially responsible activist fund. We examine the activist’s target selection, forms of engagement, impact on ESG performance, drivers of success, and effects on the targets’ operations and value creation. Target firms are typically large and visible, perform well, and have high liquidity and low ESG performance. Engagement induces ESG rating adjustments: firms with poor ex ante ESG ratings (...) experience a ratings increase after complying with the activist’s demands, whereas firms with high ex ante ESG ratings experience a ratings decrease following the revelation of their ESG problems. Activism that is focused on environmental and social issues is more likely to succeed if targets are ESG-sensitive. Successful engagements boost targets’ sales. Risk-adjusted excess stock returns of successful engagements outperform those of unsuccessful engagements by 2.7%. Results are especially strong for firms with low ex ante ESG scores. Specifically, targeted firms in the lowest ex ante ESG quartile outperform matched peers by 7.5% in the year after the end of the engagement. Our results thus suggest that the activism regarding corporate social responsibility generally improves ESG practices and corporate sales and is profitable to the activist. Taken together, we provide direct evidence that ethical investing and strong financial performance, both from the activist’s and the targeted firm’s perspective, can go hand-in-hand together. (shrink)

This study analyzed the sensitivity between fund flow and fund performance with Korean funds, whether there would be a difference in the sensitivity between environmental, social and governance funds and non-ESG funds, and whether there was a difference in sensitivity according to the type of past fund performance. The main results of the analysis are as follows. First, the analysis of the fund flow–performance correlation of Korean funds revealed that they had a negative correlation and the ESG did (...) not affect fund flow. Analysis of the difference in sensitivity between fund flow and performance volatility revealed that there was a negative correlation regardless of the performance measuring method and ESG. Finally, the comparison of fund flow and performance sensitivity according to the type of past fund performance revealed that despite consistent asymmetry, there was little difference in sensitivity asymmetry between ESG funds and non-ESG funds. The results reveal that, unlike the expectation that investors in Korean ESG funds would focus more on non-financial properties like the purpose of investment than on profit, they attach the same importance to fund performance. (shrink)

Environmental, social, and governance is an indicator that measures a company’s non-financial performance. Many firms have recently emphasized the importance of ESG. Ascertaining what topics are being discussed around ESG and how they change over time will contribute significantly to gaining insight into ESG. Using 73,397,870 text data scraped and refined from publicly available Twitter data, this study applied Latent Dirichlet Allocation and the dynamic topic model to ascertain the hidden structure of the ESG-related document collection and the (...) topics being discussed. The study further conducts a sentiment analysis to examine the sentiment of the general public regarding ESG. Topic modeling shows that various topics regarding ESG are being discussed and evolve over time. Sentiment analysis shows that many people have neutral or positive sentiments toward ESG-related issues. This study contributes to exploring insights into ESG among the public and understanding public reactions toward ESG. We further conclude the study with a discussion of managerial implications and potential future research. (shrink)

The concept of environmental, social and governance (ESG) is rapidly emerging as the new global industry standard and an important benchmarking tool for socially responsible investments. Major corporations seek the expertise of specialized consultants to develop and implement tailored ESG framework for their businesses. This book offers a guide to ESG and its practical applications. Beyond introducing the structured procedures of the most common ESG approaches, it delves into the comprehensive impact on the value chain, providing practical insights. (...) The text explores the latest trends in various business sectors, offering insights into their ESG practices. Closing with a forward-looking perspective, the book anticipates future developments such as climate change management and ESG certifications, while also addressing potential pitfalls encapsulated by the term “greenwashing”. Written by authors with a solid background in teaching and research, the book establishes a robust theoretical foundation. The inclusion of numerous practical examples and country-specific recommendations enhances this book’s applicability and makes it an invaluable resource to those navigating the complexities of ESG. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the quality of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting of Spanish companies listed in the IBEX-35 stock index Firstly, it establishes four requisites for quality in ESG reporting. Secondly, it evaluates whether ESG reports comply with these requirements. Using a benchmark tool based on GRI3 we can conclude that the GRI has resulted in some standardization of corporate social and environmental reporting, particularly as regards to format, but their approach (...) to indicators is unlikely to produce high quality information that is relevant, comparable, complete and accessible to all stakeholders. Also, there seems to be evidence that reporting is orientated to satisfy shareholders and investors´ demands rather than to other stakeholders´. (shrink)

The objective of this research is to investigate the effects of corporate governance scores and environmental, social, and governance scores (ESG) on firms’ cost of capital in emerging countries. The sample consists of 800 firm-year observations collected from Thomson Reuters. We analyze the data using panel-corrected standard errors (PCSE) regressions, which correct for heteroskedasticity issues and contemporaneous errors in the data. When moderated with emerging market variable, our findings indicate that in the financial sector, corporate governance (...) and ESG score is negatively associated with cost of capital. Nonetheless, in the nonfinancial sector, no evidence is found on the effect of corporate governance and ESG on cost of capital. Our findings indicate that emerging countries, different institutional, ownership, and legal structural has an effect on corporate governance and ESG implementation. (shrink)

This study empirically investigates the dismissal of U.S. CEOs following negative media coverage of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices. Extending related literature on the media, ESG, and CEO dismissal, I develop a theoretical framework that considers the media as an influential third party that forms and reflects public opinion about ESG issues. In this role, the media reduces information asymmetry by providing cues on their relative salience and prompting corporate directors to attribute firm-level ESG issues to the (...) CEO, regardless of their involvement in the misconduct. Findings confirm this framework and particularly suggest that coverage of issues in prominent media sources is more likely to result in CEO dismissal. Further, companies that have made public commitments to ESG oversight and those with stronger monitoring are more likely to dismiss the CEO following negative coverage of ESG issues. Overall, this study builds an understanding of how contemporary boards approach the uncertain CEO dismissal decision amidst media coverage of ESG- related misconduct and reflects a shifting norm towards ESG integration at the board-level. (shrink)

While a growing number of firms are being evaluated on environment, social and governance criteria by sustainability rating agencies, comparatively little is known about companies’ responses. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with companies operating in Italy, the present paper seeks to narrow this gap in current understanding by examining how firms react to ESG ratings, and the factors influencing their response. Unique to the literature, we show that firms may react very differently to being rated, with our analysis yielding (...) a fourfold typology of corporate responses. The typology captures conformity and resistance to ratings across two dimensions of firm behaviour. We furthermore show that corporate responses depend on managers’ beliefs regarding the material benefits of adjusting to and scoring well on ESG ratings and their alignment with corporate strategy. In doing so, we challenge the idea that organisational ratings homogenise organisations and draw attention to the agency underlying corporate responses. Our findings also contribute to debates about the impact of ESG ratings, calling into question claims about their positive influence on companies’ sustainability performance. We conclude by discussing the wider empirical, theoretical and ethical implications of our paper. (shrink)

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing is increasingly popular (Giese, Lee, Melas, Nagy, & Nishikawa 2019), and is now percolating into sustainability textbooks and pedagogy. This is problematic because many faculty teaching sustainability do not have a background in finance, and thus find teaching ESG challenging. This paper develops pedagogical resources to teach the fundamentals of ESG investing, be that in a Foundations of Sustainable Management course or a Business Ethics course. We do this by developing four learning (...) objectives: (1) Understand the ESG basics, including why ESG investing is important to investors and, for faculty, outlining where it might be appropriately placed in an ethics or introduction to sustainability class, (2) Define ESG Investing and discuss how ESG investing strategies differ from regular investment strategies, (3) Identify the primary methods to choose ESG investments, the related ESG rating systems, and the primary proprietary investment options based on these screening rules, and (4) Identify ESG options available to investors that meet their risk preferences. (shrink)

In recent years, companies receive pressure to release environmental, social, and governance disclosure, since these are perceived as critical issues by society. Despite this pressure, ESG disclosure practices considerably vary by firm. Prior academic literature investigated country- and firm-level factors determining such variation, alternatively adopting the institutional and legitimacy theory. By combining these theories in a unique framework, this study investigates the extent to which social structures and social legitimization influence ESG disclosure practices and each pillar. (...) Results obtained using a cross-country sample of 14,174 firm-year observations during 2005–2012 provide evidence that country-level characteristics such as a political system, labor system, and cultural system significantly affect firms’ ESG disclosure practices. However, their impact is heterogeneous in that they either reduce or enhance disclosure levels and may differ by pillar. Results for firm-level characteristics related to a firm’s visibility demonstrate a positive and homogeneous effect on ESG disclosure and each pillar. These results inform policy makers and regulators aiming to enhance ESG disclosure levels of the risk they incur when managing variables related to social structure and the benefits of exposing firms to higher visibility. (shrink)

Governing greenwashing in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure is an important issue, but relevant literature is scant. Based on the data on Chinese A-share listed firms from 2012 to 2021, we investigate the governance role of corporate digital transformation (DT) in ESG greenwashing and its influencing mechanism. We find that DT significantly inhibits ESG greenwashing. Moreover, DT mitigates ESG greenwashing by enhancing corporate green technology innovation (i.e., innovation channel), reducing information asymmetry (i.e., information channel), and increasing (...) trade credit (i.e., resource channel). From the perspective of investor attention, we find that both retail investors' online opinions and institutional investors' site visits strengthen the inhibitory effect of DT on ESG greenwashing. Furthermore, such an inhibitory effect is more pronounced in large firms, industries with high competition, and regions with strong intellectual property protection. This research provides new insights and policy suggestions for governing corporate ESG greenwashing behavior. (shrink)

Despite much research now being published on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investments and Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) withdrawal risk, there appears to be a lack of evidence on the prospective IPO withdrawal risk associated with voluntary disclosure of ESG policies. This paper investigates the influence of ESG disclosure on IPO withdrawal by comparing voluntary ESG disclosure to conventional IPOs in the international market. A large data set is employed here, containing 33,535 failed and successful IPOs from 1995 (...) to 2019 from several nations with their own legal systems, cultural norms, and economic systems. The findings reveal that voluntary disclosure of ESG practices does significantly reduce the likelihood of an IPO withdrawal, by as much as 48%. These findings strongly suggest that organizations engaged in ESG activities perceive voluntary disclosure as an incentive, to adhere to social expectations. Consequently, reducing the asymmetry of information between IPO participants minimizes the withdrawal risk these companies face, hence diminishing doubts about their legitimacy. The results have consequences for IPO businesses, investors, researchers, and regulators. (shrink)

Responsible investing (RI) is a growing phenomenon in the international investment arena. This article investigates the level of knowledge of members of South African pension/provident funds with regard to RI and the importance with which they view various ethical, environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. Respondents ( n = 281) indicated a relatively low level of understanding of the concept of RI. Significant differences were noted in the perceptions of respondents about the relative importance of ethical and ESG (...) criteria based on their gender and level of education. The findings could assist asset owners in reformulating their investment mandates, which in turn, will enable fund managers to invest in a more responsible manner. (shrink)

Worsening energy crises and the growing effects of climate change have spurred, among other things, concerted efforts to tackle global problems through what the United Nations calls Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These are in turn argued to be best achieved via the adoption of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) as the vehicle for guiding our efforts. However, though these things are often presented as the solution to global issues, they are increasingly being used as a means to (...) centralize power and exacerbate growing authoritarian trends. This article aims to demonstrate how the narratives surrounding ESG mask this reality, taking as a solution one of the foundational causes of global wealth and power disparity. (shrink)

We explore the impact of board resources arising from diverse board members on the achievement of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals. Employing resource dependence theory as our frame and drawing on qualitative data from 41 interviews with board directors of publicly traded and privately held companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), we identify three key mechanisms underpinning the achievement of ESG goals, namely, the leveraging of particular connections, the deployment of different resources, and the harnessing of (...) a range of diversity types. We find that the use of social resources is often related to environmental concerns and occasionally social goals, but rarely governance issues. We also find that financial motivations often drive environmental issues, while many of the social resources that added value occurred in the public sector. Importantly, the combining of both skill and social resources, rather than relying on each alone, was seen to increase the likelihood of achieving ESG goals. Our findings also point to the importance of board diversity in accomplishing the board's ESG goals, most especially functional diversity. We propose that such functional diversity, along with resources in the form of social resources and skills, needs to feature more prominently in order to improve ESG performance and outcomes. We highlight the implications of our work, especially regarding the establishment of board diversity policies beyond gender alone. (shrink)

The effect of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activities on corporate financial performance (CFP) could be linear or nonlinear. However, inconsistent results remain a research gap and thus need to be re-examined. By drawing on stakeholder theory and the neoclassical economics perspective while using the panel data of 155 Chinese listed firms from 2010 to 2020, system generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation results revealed an inverted U-shaped relationship between ESG and CFP. Moreover, by drawing on the institutional-based (...) view, it was determined that government subsidies moderate the inverted U-shaped relationship between ESG and CFP. Specifically, we found that the inverted U-shaped effect of ESG on CFP is weakened when government subsidies are high. This study contributes to the literature by confirming the presence of a curvilinear relationship between ESG and CFP. This study also generates meaningful implications suggesting that the governmental role in ESG is salient in mitigating associated financial costs for firms, thereby ultimately affecting CFP. (shrink)

This research empirically investigates the static and dynamic impacts of firms' digital transformation on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance by employing data of listed Chinese companies from 2011 to 2020 via estimations of propensity score matching and difference in differences. First, we find that digital transformation does some good to improve firms' ESG, which is confirmed after conducting several robustness tests. Second, digital transformation benefits the three aspects of ESG (environmental performance, social responsibility, and governance), (...) and its impact is dynamic, promote ESG two years after the digital reform. Third, the impact of digital transformation on ESG is not constant among different firms. Specifically, digital transformation's impact on ESG is stronger among firms located in western or central regions of China and to those in polluting and competitive industries, as well as among non-stated-owned enterprises. (shrink)

BackgroundTo prevent the planet from catastrophic global warming a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to net zero is required. Thus, divestment from fossil fuels must be a strategic interest for health insurers. The aim of this study was to analyse the implementation of environmental, social and governance criteria in German private health insurers’ investments.MethodsIn 2019 a survey about ESG strategies was sent to German private health insurance companies. The survey evaluated investment strategies and thresholds for the exclusion of (...) sectors and business practices, as well as company strategies for sustainable business development.FindingsGiven their business reports, German private health insurers manage assets of more than €350 billion. 11 of 40 insurance companies provided quantitative data, 10 refused to answer. According to quantitative data, €66 billion of assets is managed according to any ESG criteria; this equals an average of 76% of each company’s bonds. None of these insurers excluded the production and sale of fossil fuels. All excluded coal mining but only at high thresholds. For €226 billion, no data were provided.InterpretationThe findings are in contrast to the expected intrinsic economic interest of the insurers to stop global warming and improve public health. The majority of assets are managed in a highly problematic manner, especially the absence of capital allocated in fields contrary to medical ethics cannot be presumed. Lack of transparency is a major problem that limits clients in choosing the insurer who has the most advanced ESG criteria. (shrink)

The study hypothesizes that the environmental, social, and governance of the host country have a significant effect on clean development mechanism implementation. As CDM incorporates sustainable development as one of the objectives for the green transition, many countries endeavor to adopt and implement CDM as their cleaner production method. Based on the institutional theory, the study aims to investigate the mechanism by which the institutional process of each ESG pillar makes an opportunity for a host country and to (...) see how such country-specific factors influence the implementation of CDM projects. A county-year unbalanced sample drawn from World Bank and multinational CDM project data was analyzed using panel logistic and Poisson regression. Panel regression results show that high-energy intensity and low renewable electricity output as an environmental pillar positively affect CDM implementation. Unemployment and undernourishment as a social pillar positively affect CDM whereas low government effectiveness and the high rule of law positively affect CDM. In the results of zero-inflated Poisson regression, the direction of government effectiveness was upturned. The findings have broadened and deepened the ESG pillar based on the institutional theory and emphasized sustainable development rather than economic outputs. (shrink)

Prior to its election to office in 2007, the Australian Labor Party announced a commitment to introduce Trade Training Centres (TTCs) into all Australian secondary schools as an initiative of its Education Revolution. TTCs were proposed as a key element of Federal Labor's education and training policy that aimed to manage future risks to Australia's competitiveness in the emerging global economy and to support school-to-employment transitions for young people. This analysis adopts a governmentality framework to conceptualise the Federal Government's introduction (...) of TTCs alternatively as a key strategy for nationalising social investment politics in Australia. The paper draws on recent Australian policy documents to argue that TTCs are social technologies that work to open up social spaces in and around schools for governing relationships between schools and other community stakeholders, particularly businesses and families. The paper concludes by examining policy implications, including those of social justice, for promoting school community partnerships through TTCs. (shrink)

We investigate the relationship of corporate social responsibility (CSR) (often assumed to reflect corporate voluntarism) and government (often assumed to reflect coercion). We distinguish two broad perspectives on the CSR and government relationship: thedichotomous(i.e., government and CSR are / should be independent of one another) and therelated(i.e., government and CSR are / should be interconnected). Using typologies of CSR public policy and of CSR and the law, we present an integrated framework for corporate discretion for engagement with public policy (...) for CSR. We make four related contributions. First, we explain the dichotomous and the related perspectives with reference to their various assumptions and analyses. Second, we demonstrate that public policy for CSR and corporate discretion coexist and interact. Specifically, we show, third, that public policy for CSR can inform and stimulate corporate discretion and, fourth, that corporations have discretion for CSR, particularly as to how corporations engage with such policy. (shrink)

With the surge in the number of data and datafied governance initiatives, arrangements, and practices across the globe, understanding various types of such initiatives, arrangements, and their structural causes has become a daunting task for scholars, policy makers, and the public. This complexity additionally generates substantial difficulties in considering different data(fied) governances commensurable with each other. To advance the discussion, this study argues that existing scholarship is inclined to embrace an organization-centric perspective that primarily concerns factors and dynamics regarding (...) data and datafication at the organizational level at the expense of macro-level social, political, and cultural factors of both data and governance. To explicate the macro, societal dimension of data governance, this study then suggests the term “social data governance” to bring forth the consideration that data governance not only reflects the society from which it emerges but also (re)produces the policies and practices of the society in question. Drawing on theories of political science and public management, a model of social data governance is proposed to elucidate the ideological and conceptual groundings of various modes of governance from a comparative perspective. This preliminary model, consisting of a two-dimensional continuum, state intervention and societal autonomy for the one, and national cultures for the other, accounts for variations in social data governance across societies as a complementary way of conceptualizing and categorizing data governance beyond the European standpoint. Finally, we conduct an extreme case study of governing digital contact-tracing techniques during the pandemic to exemplify the explanatory power of the proposed model of social data governance. (shrink)

This article examined the personal profiles of the Heads of Government of countries in South/North America and how they communicated with their audiences on institutional measures to contain COVID-19. Analyses were carried out on data collected from Twitter from November-2019 to November-2020. This study includes: i)quantitative analysis, measuring categories and emphases in the communication of tweets, retweets, likes, and comments on matters relevant to the pandemic; ii)qualitative analysis that allowed evaluating speeches to identify political interference and the effectiveness of communication (...) at critical moments of the pandemic. It was possible to infer that each president has his singularities and understanding about Social Media’s use as a more direct communication tool with his audience. It was also found that successful communication is not directly proportional to the volume of messages on Twitter, but to socio-political aspects and institutional leadership that can make a difference in Social Media in combating COVID-19. (shrink)

This paper unravels an unprecedented interplay between board gender diversity (BGD) and corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disputes among Chinese A-share-listed nonfinancial companies from 2017 to 2021. Framed within a knowledge-based and sensemaking perspective of institutional frameworks, the research not only illuminates the profound impact of internal (corporate governance ratings) and external (regional institutional development) institutional factors on this intricate relationship but also brings to light a paradigm-shifting revelation. The study employed a diverse set of empirical (...) tests, ranging from ordinary least squares regression to advanced methods such as the generalized method of moments, two-stage least squares, and propensity score matching, providing a nuanced and comprehensive analysis. The findings highlight the pivotal role of female directors in significantly mitigating ESG disputes. A mechanism analysis further uncovers that internal and external institutional quality are potent positive moderators in shaping the BGD–ESG dispute dynamic. This research has profound implications, providing valuable insights for stakeholders, policymakers, and scholars, offering a comprehensive understanding of how gender diversity fosters sustainability while unravelling the intricate tapestry of internal and external institutional dynamics that shape ESG outcomes. (shrink)

The rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 and its corresponding COVID-19 is challenging national preparedness and response ability to pandemics. No one is prepared well, but governments around the world must respond as effectively and efficiently as possible to pandemics, and every occurrence of such worldwide disease must be a lesson for preparedness. While plans and programs may be in place to arrest the rapid spread of the virus, the success of any state intervention relies much on how cohesive the society is, (...) how trusting the people are, and how trustworthy the government is. Social cohesion begets trust, and trust engenders obedience and calm. The absence of social cohesion produces social unrest and social erosion, lack or absence of social trust creates risk societies, disobedience. When these conditions exist, the spread of a virus is inevitable. Furthermore, they create a pandemic of confusion and fear, of stigmatization and discrimination. The ways that nations respond to the pandemic today and how the society responds to state actions will principally determine their lots and destinies in the next decades or even in the next elections. The pandemic reveals the quality of leaders and people a nation has. Governments that are successful at controlling the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and minimizing fatalities of COVID-19 will enjoy even more social cohesion and public trust, while those that deferred vigorous interventions to control its spread will see greater social stress and distrust, resulting in the paralyzation of the public’s faith in leaders and government institutions. (shrink)

This article examines shifts in educational and social governance taking place in Queensland, Australia, through Education Queensland's Industry School Engagement Strategy and Gateway Schools program. This significant educational initiative is set within the context of Queensland's social investment agenda first articulated in its education policy framework, Queensland State Education-2010. The article traces the historic extension of this overarching governmental strategy through establishment of the Gateway Schools concept, brokering state-wide industry-school partnerships with key global players in the Queensland (...) economy. Industry sectors that have formed partnerships in Gateway projects include Minerals and Energy, Aerospace, Wine Tourism, Agribusiness, Manufacturing and Engineering, Building and Construction and ICT, with more industries and schools forecast to join the program. It is argued that this ‘post-bureaucratic’ model of schooling represents a new social settlement of neoliberal governance, which seeks to align educational outcomes with economic objectives, thereby framing the conditions for community self-governance in Queensland. (shrink)

This article examines shifts in educational and social governance taking place in Queensland, Australia, through Education Queensland's Industry School Engagement Strategy and Gateway Schools program. This significant educational initiative is set within the context of Queensland's social investment agenda first articulated in its education policy framework, Queensland State Education‐2010. The article traces the historic extension of this overarching governmental strategy through establishment of the Gateway Schools concept, brokering state‐wide industry‐school partnerships with key global players in the Queensland (...) economy. Industry sectors that have formed partnerships in Gateway projects include Minerals and Energy, Aerospace, Wine Tourism, Agribusiness, Manufacturing and Engineering, Building and Construction and ICT, with more industries and schools forecast to join the program. It is argued that this ‘post‐bureaucratic’ model of schooling represents a new social settlement of neoliberal governance, which seeks to align educational outcomes with economic objectives, thereby framing the conditions for community self‐governance in Queensland. (shrink)

This book deals with the role of international standards for corporate governance in the context of corporate social responsibility. Based on the fundamentals of moral theory, the book examines governance and CSR in general, addressing questions such as: Is "good governance" not affected by moral concerns? How do the principles and practices of CSR standards adhere to or conflict with insights from business ethics and moral theory? To what extent do the standards and governance models (...) provide normative guidance? Do the standards and governance guidelines provide an adequate means of benchmarking and auditing? Are these standards a help or a hindrance to stakeholder engagement and transparency? The book provides insightful and thought-provoking answers to these and many other important questions concerning CSR standards, and offers a valuable resource for practitioners, academics and students at business schools and other institutions. (shrink)

The aim of the paper is to investigate the effects of the corporate governance model on social and environmental disclosure (SED). We analyze the disclosures of the 100 U.S. Best Corporate Citizens in the period 2005–2007, and we posit a series of simultaneous relationships between different attributes of the governance system and a multidimensional construct of corporate social performance (CSP). We consider both the extent and the quality of SED, with the purpose of identifying increasing levels (...) of corporate commitment to stakeholders and shedding some light on whether SED is used as a signal or rather as a legitimacy tool. Our empirical evidence shows that the stakeholders’ orientation of corporate governance is positively associated with CSP and SED. On the other hand, we do not find support for the monitoring intensity of corporate governance being negatively associated with social performance. We also find that CSP in the “product” dimension is positively associated with the extent and quality of SED whilst CSP in the “people” dimension is negatively associated with the extent and quality of SED. At a time when shareholders and stakeholders share more common aspects in their relationships with firms, this is a significant area to explore and this research fills an important lacuna in this respect. (shrink)

This article examines shifts in educational and social governance taking place in Queensland, Australia, through Education Queensland's Industry School Engagement Strategy and Gateway Schools program. This significant educational initiative is set within the context of Queensland's social investment agenda first articulated in its education policy framework, Queensland State Education‐2010. The article traces the historic extension of this overarching governmental strategy through establishment of the Gateway Schools concept, brokering state‐wide industry‐school partnerships with key global players in the Queensland (...) economy. Industry sectors that have formed partnerships in Gateway projects include Minerals and Energy, Aerospace, Wine Tourism, Agribusiness, Manufacturing and Engineering, Building and Construction and ICT, with more industries and schools forecast to join the program. It is argued that this ‘post‐bureaucratic’ model of schooling represents a new social settlement of neoliberal governance, which seeks to align educational outcomes with economic objectives, thereby framing the conditions for community self‐governance in Queensland. (shrink)

This special theme brings together reflections and deliberations regarding the design, implementation, and development of data governance. By addressing “social data governance” as the keyword of the special theme, we aim to further the discussion on a contextual understanding of both the governing foundations and effects of data, dataism, and datafication in different societies. Such a discussion reminds us to pay particular attention to—and thus account for—the social dynamics that underpin and contextualize the design, operation, and (...) promotion of quantified governing mechanisms in which information on social behaviors is collected, datafied, manipulated, and represented. Essentially, the social dynamics of data governance have existed for a long time and in many forms, ranging from credit bureaus’ scrutiny, evaluation, and labeling of their customers to internet-enabled massive data collection and scoring systems used by governments, and to automated contact tracing techniques as a centerpiece of dataveillance and infection control amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, scholarly work from a wide range of disciplines like law, mathematics, and business and with diverse geographical foci has not yet been comparatively and reflectively articulated. Being rich and diverse, the special theme advances such a requisite understanding of the status and relevance of social dynamics of data governance mechanisms based on a wide range of empirical cases around the globe. To scrutinize the social dynamics helps illuminate and contrast divergent manifestations of data governance and their underlying mechanisms. (shrink)

Nanotechnology presents significant challenges in terms of developing a regulatory framework. This is due to a lack of scientific knowledge about the behaviour of the technology in its interactions with biological and ecological processes, the environment and other technologies. Crucially, there is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the potential environmental and human health and safety impacts of NT. Consequently, the development of NT is a potential test case for framing new models of ‘soft law’ voluntary governance as a (...) substitute for traditional command and control type regulation. Driven by ‘new science governance,’ an approach based on a combination of ideas in anticipatory ethics, future-oriented responsibility, upstream public engagement and deliberation and theories of justice may offer a solution. The uniqueness of the approach can be found in the incorporation of anticipatory approaches via public participation and deliberation as the input into procedural justice approaches with distributional justice as the output. The overarching objective of this work is to contribute to the discussion in relation to the internalisation of responsibility and the building of intellectual and societal capacity to anticipate negative consequences before they arise in the hope that such an approach could be the antithesis of the retrospective imposition of responsibility and liability after the harm is done, which is the outcome of traditional regulatory and ethical approaches. Ultimately, the purpose is to contribute to the long-term sustainability of NT. (shrink)

The new science of Complexity explains that limited knowledge prevents societies from predicting and controlling their developments. But Complexity further suggests that nature uses the limits of knowledge to evolve, which turns an apparent obstacle into an opportunity to reevaluate governmental institutions. As in nature, the limits of knowledge lead social systems to evolve by individuating, liberating, and empowering their members. Societies individuate and liberate their members to probe environments and exploit opportunities. Societies empower individuals to globalize their findings (...) which requires constitutionally constraining governmental powers. Societies that respect human rights thus gain selective advantage. Showing that what nature is models what societies ought to be, Complexity may finesse the "naturalistic fallacy" of Hume and Moore. (shrink)

"Using cutting-edge philosophical analyses, this book highlights Nigerian literature's contributions to moral imagination, ethical discourse, postcolonial studies, and emancipatory politics"--.

The government concern towards preservation of Economic, Social and cultural rights of citizens of a country can be clearly visible through the fiscal policy changes and the trends in public finance. This article intends to decompose and analyse the trends of government expenditure of Sri Lanka over the past years and to investigate whether the public expenditure has been allocated for productive sectors which truely facilitate public welfare and uplift the Ecoomic,Social and cultural rights of the citizens.The considered (...) period for the data analysis is 2010 to 2018 and also a special emphasis has been given on 2019 budget as the latest. The trends of Public expenditure on education, health and main welfare programs and recent taxation policies have been taken into account as a proxy of the attention towards ESCR by the government. The study has illustrated a significant decline in the public expenditure on education, health and welfare with heavy burden generated by indirect taxes that can draw harmful impacts on economy’s future productive potential as well as on the obligation of protecting ESCR. (shrink)

Fragile states have been raising increasing concern among donors since the mid-2000s. The policies of the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis have not excluded fragile states, and this source has provided financing for these countries according to standardized procedures. They represent interesting cases for exploring the meaning and role of measurement in a globalized context. Measurement in the field of HIV/AIDS and its treatment has given rise to a private outsourcing of expertise and auditing, thereby creating a (...) new form of value based on the social process of registration and the creation of realities produced by the intervention itself. These “scriptural economies” must be questioned in terms of the production of knowledge, but also in terms of social justice. Governing HIV/AIDS treatments by numbers in a fragile state is explored in this article through the experience of the Central African Republic in terms of epidemiology and access to antiretroviral drugs. The unexpected effects of performance-based programs in this context underline the need for global health governance to be re-embedded into a social justice framework. (shrink)

Consumers play an important role as one of the main actors in food safety social co-governance. To create a pattern of food safety social co-governance, the active and effective participation of consumers is critical. To encourage consumers to participate in food safety social co-governance voluntarily and positively, we attempted to develop and preliminarily validate a multidimensional questionnaire on consumer psychological capital that could be used to measure the degree of consumer participation in food safety (...) social co-governance. The aim of the initial sample and test sample 2 was to investigate the factor structure of a preliminary measure of consumer psychological capital. A 4-factor model with 23 items explained 61.05% of the total variance in item scores. The aim of test sample 3 was to measure the retest reliability. Test sample 4 was randomly allocated to the modeling sample and validation sample to verify questionnaire reliability and validity. Convergent validity, discriminant validity, and the internal inconsistency coefficients of the questionnaire were assessed in the modeling sample. While processing CFA, we deleted 9 items with small standardized factor loadings. The remaining 14 items in the final revised 4-factor model included self-efficacy, resilience, hope, and optimism. The fit indices of the revised four-factor model and second-order factor model in the modeling sample revealed an acceptable model fit. The convergent validity and discriminant validity of the revised model were good and acceptable, respectively. A cross-validation procedure confirmed the appropriateness of the revised four-factor model and second-order factor model in the validation sample. The cross-validation results confirmed that the fit indices of the revised four-factor model fitted the data well and the second-order factor model in the validation sample reached acceptable values. We concluded that the questionnaire developed in this study had good reliability and stable and acceptable construct validity. It could provide a theoretical basis for measuring psychological capital in food safety co-governance. (shrink)

The research analyzes the process of formation of the ethics committee as a new institution in the system of regulation of genetic research. The external factors of this process are the increasing digitalization of medical and research practices, as well as the special situation that is developing in the field of genomic research and the use of genetic technologies, where issues of philosophy, jurisprudence and administration have generated many fundamentally new, and sometimes unexpected contexts. The author shows the similarity and (...) difference of approaches to the inclusion of the ethics committee in the national regulatory systems of different countries and determines the prospects for further integration of the new institution into normative and administrative-regulatory and law enforcement practices. The research applies all the main methods of system analysis and structural and functional analysis, as well as the comparative legal method. At the stage of generalization of empirical material, the author turns to the means and methods of philosophical phenomenology and phenomenological sociology. The study revealed that the ethics committee may have different institutional and regulatory functions in a variety of management and legal systems. Being hybrid in nature, the ethics committee performs various functions, and in various state legal systems and traditions it can combine elements of legislative, executive and judicial power. At times, the ethics committee may go beyond the scope of both a purely administrative and exclusively legal regulator. All this indicates that the integration of this institution into the legal system and into a variety of social practices is far from being completed. (shrink)

This collection focuses on virtue theory and the ethics of social science research. A moral philosophy that has been relatively neglected in the domain of research ethics, virtue ethics has much to offer those who wish to go beyond the difficulties generated by the biomedical model of research ethics and positively engage with the ethics of social scientific research. As the chapters contained in this volume show, the perspective provided by virtue ethics also exhibits a certain affinity with (...) the emerging discourse regarding research integrity. Contributors develop various facets of virtue ethics in order to illuminate a range of issues in the practice and governance of social science, including integrity, the ethics of ethical review, ethics education, and the notion of phrónēsis (wisdom). (shrink)