While prior studies have investigated the impact of corporate governance mechanisms on corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitment, researchers have scantly studied the potentially important relationship between board gender diversity and corporate social responsibility and irresponsibilityseparately. Drawing on the social role theory and feminist ethics, we hypothesizethat board gender diversity is positively associated with CSR and negatively associated with corporate social irresponsibility (CSI).Here, we relied on a sample of French non-financial companies listed on the SBF 120 index between 2011 and 2016. Our results provide evidence on the positive impact of board gender diversity on CSR and the negative one on CSI. We show that women have a stronger impact on reducing CSI than on enhancing CSR. Our findings were robust to the different estimation methods.

This paper examines the influence of informal competition on SME innovation in the Eastern European transition economies. Using the BEEPS VI, which covers the period from 2018–2020, we investigated the conditional mediation of credit constraints moderated by business plan elaboration. Looking at SMEs’ product innovation, process innovation, radical innovation, and green innovation, we find that informal competition’s direct effect enhances all the innovation proxies. Besides, the informal sector increases SMEs’ credit constraints, which indirectly leads to less corporate innovation. The negative indirect effect is alleviated by the business strategy development. Finally, using bootstrap resampling, we confirm the significant conditional mediation effect of credit constraints on the informal competition and the innovation proxies.

The present work aimed to examine the association between Corporate Social performance (CSP) and corporate financial performance (CFP) taking into account corporate social irresponsibility. Here, we used a sample of French non-financial firms listed on SBF 120 between 2011 and 2016. Our findings provided evidence that corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) exert opposite effects on the CFP. Using an estimation of the vector autoregressive (VAR) model for panel data, we showed that the CSI has a greater and more lasting impact on CFP than CSR.

Cette étude examine l’effet médiateur de l’innovation dans la relation entre la diversité de genre et la performance de l’entreprise. Utilisant des données panel des firmes françaises de l’indice SBF120 (2013-2017), les régressions de la méthode des moments généralisés (GMM) révèlent que la présence de femmes au conseil d’administration et au comité exécutif influence positivement et significativement l’innovation et la performance de l’entreprise, et l’innovation joue un rôle médiateur entre la diversité de genre et la performance. Nous concluons que la diversité de genre aux niveaux stratégiques améliore le processus de prise de décision de l’entreprise, facilitant l’initiative d’innover.

Objective: The study investigates the relationship between CSR and corporate reputation, given the trend of companies integrating CSR to meet stakeholders’ expectations and enhance reputation. Theoretical Framework: The study employs stakeholder theory to emphasize positive stakeholder relationships' impact on corporate reputation, the institutional approach advocating strategic societal engagement, signal theory highlighting CSR's role in signaling commitment to stakeholders, and legitimacy theory emphasizing active CSR participation to maintain societal legitimacy. Method: We use a panel data model on a sample of the world's most admired companies between 2015 and 2019. The proxy considered for corporate reputation includes eight firms’ attributes. Results and Discussion: Findings provide the positive relationship between CSR and corporate reputation firstly the stakeholders’ theory which suggests that companies engage in CSR in order to improve their image and meet stakeholders’ expectations suggesting that ethical CSR practices can create a belief that the organization upholds ethical standards and cares about the well-being of society, which, therefore, positively influences corporate reputation. Research Implications: The study has direct implications for academia and business, emphasizing CSR’s importance in enhancing corporate reputation, urging transparent implementation of CSR initiatives, and highlighting competitive advantages associated with responsible business practices. Originality/Value: The study provides novel insights into the relationship between CSR commitment and corporate reputation by employing a comprehensive corporate reputation proxy and a panel data model analysis of globally renowned companies across various industries. It offers new insights into CEO motivations for CSR adoption.