Recently, there has been growing recognition of the significance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in assessing a company’s performance and worth. Previous research has failed to take into account the significant impact of technological innovation in their empirical investigations. This study fills the gap by investigating the moderating impact of technological innovation on ESG performance and company value in developing and least-developed countries. The study utilized secondary data from 78 pharmaceutical companies from 2009 to 2022. For the investigation, we used the pooled mean group (PMG) and generalized methods of moments (GMM) estimators. The findings reveal that environmental and social performance influence firms’ value; however, governance performance does not influence firms’ value. Additionally, technological innovation acts as a catalyst, strengthening the favorable influence of ESG performance on firm value. The findings affirm the need to incorporate technological innovation, as it enables pharmaceutical firms to implement more efficient and sustainable practices.

This paper investigates the impact of board characteristics (such as board size, board independence, CEO Duality, board meetings, and committee) on corporate sustainability reporting (CSR) in China. Unlike previous studies, we examine this relationship in light of the three pillars of corporate sustainability reporting: economic, environmental, and social. Using both the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square (FMOLS) and Dynamics Ordinary Least Square (DOLS) empirical models, our data, which comprises 9842 firm-year observations from both the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges covering the 2006–2019 fiscal periods, reveals that board independence, a larger board size, and a board sustainability committee promote CSR in the three CSR pillars. However, the study shows that CEO duality is more likely to impede CSR. While the current study seems to provide some understanding regarding the relationship between board characteristics and corporate sustainability reporting to corporate boards, regulators, and practitioners interested in advancing the course of CSR, some significant knowledge gaps still need to be explored in future studies. Future research may consider other board characteristics as well as explore other CSR indices like integrated reporting and triple-bottom-line approaches.

The study investigated the effects of banking system stability on economic sustainability from the perspective of 37 developing economies for the period 2000-2016. The study applied panel data models precisely fixed effects and random effects models. Hausman test of endogeneity revealed fixed effects model as the most appropriate in all estimations. Our empirical analysis revealed the following key findings: First, the study revealed that banking system z-scores has positive effect on economic sustainability of developing economies while banking system regulatory capital and bank credit have negative effects on economic sustainability among selected developing economies. Second, while banking system z-scores, bank liquid assets and bank credit have positive effects on economic sustainability of BRICS economies, bank liquid assets and bank credit have negative effects on economic sustainability of non-BRICS economies except banking system zscores, which has a positive effect. In addition, banking system z-scores has positive effect on economic sustainability of Asian and non-Asian economies. However, non-performing loans and bank credit has negative effects on economic sustainability of Asian economies while banking system regulatory capital has negative effect on economic sustainability of non-Asian economies. We conclude that banking system stability play a role in economic sustainability developing economies. However, banking system stability has differing effects on economic sustainability of BRICS and non-BRICS economies; and Asian and non-Asian economies.

This study analyzes corporate ownership as a corporate governance mechanism and its role in creating firm value. Previous research shows that there is no convergence on the firm-value corporate ownership relationship. Most research in this area takes a cross national approach ignoring the uniqueness of each institutional setting particularly those of emerging nations. Using a unique firm level dataset, we investigate how corporate control nature and ownership concentration affect the value of Chinese listed firms. First, non-state owned control is associated with a higher Tobin’s Q while a negative premium is found for state owned. Using the hybrid and the correlated random effects model we confirm a U-shaped non-linear relationship between ownership concentration and Tobin’s Q, implying that firm value first decreases and then increases as block holders own more shares. Further investigation reveals that the negative effect of ownership concentration is weaker when a firm equity nature is non-state owned enterprises (non-SOEs) compared to state-owned enterprises (SOEs). While ownership concentration appears to be an efficient mechanism for corporate governance its effect is weaker for SOEs compared to non-SOEs. The results support privatization of SOEs, sound reforms such as the split share structure reform as crucial for the development of China’s stock market.

This aim of this research is to examine the role of Corporate Governance and Corporate Reputation (CR) in the disclosure of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSRD) and firm performance. A moderating – mediation model addresses this research objective based on 3588 observations from 833 firms from 31 countries between 2005 and 2011. Significant effect of CSRD on CR was observed, especially contributing to firm performance. The results verified a moderate effect of “corporate governance” on “CSRD” and CR. The study also demonstrated how CEO integrity, ownership concentration, and CR contribute to fostering CSRD and firm performance. This paper also discusses about the theoretical contributions and practical implications of the study.