Many studies have examined the relationships between board attributes (board independence, CEO duality, board size, and women on boards) and corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) as a means to improve a firm’s reputation. This research was performed in various international settings and uneven outcomes were obtained. We therefore meta-analyzed 88 studies to summarize scattered evidence and found that CEO duality had a significantly negative relationship with CSRD, while board independence, board size and women representation had a significantly positive relationship with CSRD. These relationships were more significant in countries with low levels of commitment to sustainable goals. Thus, our study revealed differences in the relationship between board attributes and CSRD, and that these differences were conditioned by the institutional contexts in which firms operate. Our research has practical implications for practitioners and policy makers alike as we offer guidelines on the most suitable corporate governance mechanisms to achieve lower capital costs and better access to finance.

Purpose: – The purpose of this paper is to study the influence that balanced scorecard (BSC) adoption has on organizational climate, employees’ commitment, job satisfaction and job dedication.Design/methodology/approach: – Data were collected using a questionnaire sent to the employees working in a retail sector firm, at two different moments in time, between the years 2009 and 2010. A total of 494 questionnaires were correctly returned. The response rates were 55.6 and 60.2 percent respectively. Tests (ANOVA) were carried out related to the constructs which make up the model studied, before and after the BSC implementation.Findings: – The results indicate a clear relationship with the satisfaction of employees within the organization; it shows that the BSC implementation is significantly related to positive employees’ affective reactions.Originality/value: – The outcomes of the study are relevant both to the literature on strategic change and business management, since they determine that the correct implementation of the BSC causes a significant change in the employees’ behavior and attitudes toward the firm's strategic objectives.

This study examines the alignment of managers’ mental models with the strategy map provided by the balanced scorecard (BSC). By applying the cognitive maps technique to the managers of a printing firm, this work uses the distance ratio method to analyse managers’ different perceptions of the firm's resources and capabilities, as defined in the BSC. The results show a high degree of alignment between the individual manager’s mental models and of these mental models with the strategy map. The results also suggest that the strategy map act as a reference point for the convergence of mental models, highlighting the role of alignment. In conclusion, we can deduce that implementing the BSC strategy map help to reduce managers’ causal ambiguity with regard to the objectives they need to pursue in order to improve a firm's competitive position.

This paper explores the effect that the monitoring and the provision of resources board roles have on the relationship between ownership concentration and firm performance. The sample of this study is made up of 579 European firms registered on the STOXX Europe 600 index during the period 2002–2011. The results of this study show that the monitoring provided by the board positively influences the effect that ownership concentration has on performance. The results also highlight that the moderating effect of the provision of resources role has a positive influence on firm performance concerning almost all levels of ownership concentration, diminishing and having slightly negative effects when the concentration levels are extremely high.

Purpose: Using a contingency approach, the purpose of this paper is to study how organizational factors (such as the organizational life cycle, firm size, firm ownership concentration and firm technology) determine the relative importance of the monitoring and provision of resources roles provided by board members.Design/methodology/approach: This paper highlights the importance of contingency factors in carrying out board’s roles using a sample of 579 European firms registered in the STOXX Europe 600 index. The authors used a longitudinal analysis for the period from 2002 through to 2011.Findings: The results show that the monitoring role is more relevant for companies that are large, are operating at the mature and stagnant stages, have a dispersed ownership and are low-technology. However, the provision of resources role is more relevant for companies that are in the growth and stagnant stages, and have a concentrated ownership.Originality/value: The traditional analysis that relates the board’s structure and composition to the board’s roles focuses on determining what board should be the best. It plays little attention to analyzing which organizational factors affect the importance and presence of monitoring or resource dependence roles. In this regard, this work adds significant insights to agency theory and resource dependence theory as, with a contingency framework, the research aims to find what functions the board needs to develop in order to get better firm performance.