Purpose: This study aims to provide a valuable contribution by exploring the moderating effect of women directors on the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate tax avoidance of Malaysian listed companies.Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on a sample consisting of 78 Malaysian firms over the 2010–2017 period. A moderation model that specifies the interaction between CSR, women directors and corporate tax avoidance motivates this study.Findings: The results show that a high level of CSR is negatively associated with corporate tax avoidance in firms with a higher percentage of women on the board.Practical implications: The findings may be of interest to the academic researchers, investors and regulators. For academic researchers, it is interested in discovering the dynamic relation between CSR, woman on the board and tax avoidance. For investors, the results show that the existence of female directors on the board reduces the corporate tax avoidance. For regulators, the results advise the worldwide policy maker to give the importance of female roles to improve the engagement firms in CSR reporting.Originality/value: This paper extends the existing literature by examining the moderating effect of women directors on the relationship between CSR and corporate tax avoidance in the Malaysian context.

Purpose: To help inform the debate over whether socio-demographic characteristics are related to the use of digital technologies, the authors investigated the effects of age, gender, education, income and being in the workforce on changes in using financial digital services using panel data collected in the MENA countries during 2017.Design/methodology/approach: This study aims to identify the impact of government policy on the determinants of financial inclusion and digital payment services in the MENA region. The authors use microdata from the 2017 Global Findex database on MENA countries to perform probit estimations. The paper focuses on the role of technology adoption by government authorities in extending financial inclusion and digital payment around different people.Findings: The authors find that poorer people (and, by association, less educated people) and the young (but less so the elderly) are disproportionately excluded from the financial system. Results confirm that better collaboration between the government and the financial sector can help to develop digital financial inclusion through the technology adoption channels. The study confirms the significant impact of the government cashless policy in advancing financial inclusion in the MENA countries, with potentially wider applicability to other developed economies.Practical implications: Policies to advance mobile money innovations could stimulate financial inclusion by promoting digital transaction services. The role of government authorities is imperative to harness the beneficial and sustainable gains from digitizing remittances and transfers to promote a cashless economy.Originality/value: Financial inclusion promotes equality through a broadening of the system and government cashless policy can be a major catalyst for greater financial inclusion. It helps in the overall economic development of the underprivileged population and contributes to poverty reduction.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether and how corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance contributes to shape firms’ payout policy. In particular, it examines the influence of CSR performance on payout level and payout channel choice (dividend payment or share repurchases). Additionally, it examines the moderating role of CSR performance in the relationship between dividends and share repurchases.Design/methodology/approach: Using 397 European companies listed in the STOXX Europe 600 over the period from 2009 to 2014, the authors employ regression analysis to explore the link between CSR performance and payout policy.Findings: The first result shows that firms with high CSR performance engage more in payout policy. Second, when choosing between paying dividends and repurchasing stocks, firms with high CSR performance tend to prefer share repurchases. Finally, CSR performance plays an important role in determining the relationship between dividends and repurchases. Specifically, dividends and share repurchases seem to be more substitutable among socially responsible firms.Practical implications: Firms that are able to develop successful CSR strategies can generate tangible benefits for their shareholders in the form of high payout levels. An increase in CSR expenditure does not lead to cut or minimize the cash flow paid out to shareholders. In addition, government and regulators have to oblige or at least encourage socially responsible firms to use executive stock option that are dividend protected, in order to reduce distortions in dividend policy.Originality/value: This is the first attempt to investigate the association between CSR performance and share repurchase activities.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effect of sustainability committee (SC) characteristics (size, independence, the number of meetings, and expertise) on corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance in the Indian context.Design/methodology/approach: This research measures the CSR performance of 60 Indian non-financial firms listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) over the period 2014 to 2019 using the ASSET4 environmental, social, and governance database. The authors resorted to fixed-effect panel regressions to capture the individual effect present in the data.Findings: The results show that CSR performance is positively and significantly influenced by SC independence, size, and expertise. However, the number of SC meetings does not affect CSR performance. The results also demonstrate that CSR performance is positively and significantly associated with board independence.Research limitations/implications: This paper adds to the existing literature by examining the effect of SC characteristics on the firms' CSR performance in India as one of the oldest stock markets in the world, which would help test the validity of the agency and stakeholder theories in an old and big emerging market context.Practical implications: The findings allow managers to understand the mechanisms affecting CSR performance and how the characteristics of the SC can participate in its growth and development. Moreover, this study has implications for researchers, suggesting that future CSR studies should take into account the SC characteristics as potential determinants that explain CSR, such as CSR activities and CSR practices and strategies.Originality/value: The present research contributes to the literature by investigating the effect of SC characteristics on the firms' CSR performance, thereby providing additional evidence on the issue. Several previous studies have examined the link between corporate governance and CSR performance with a focus on external oversight mechanisms, namely institutional ownership or analyst coverage or internal oversight mechanisms, such as board gender composition, board independence, separation of board Chairperson and CEO roles, and the existence of SC on the board, but these studies did not examine the SC characteristics. The present research fills the gap.

Purpose: Unlike previous crisis where investors tend to put their assets in safe havens like gold, the recent coronavirus pandemic is characterised by an increase in the Bitcoin purchasing described as risk heaven. This paper aims to analyse the Bitcoin dynamics and the investor response by focusing on herd biases. Therefore, the main objective of this work is to study the degree of efficiency through multifractal analysis in order to detect herd behaviour leading to build the best predictions and strategies.Design/methodology/approach: This paper develops a novel methodology that detects the presence of herding biases and assesses the inefficiency of Bitcoin through an inefficiency index (MLM) by using statistical indicators defined by measures of persistence. This study, also, investigates the nonlinear dynamical properties of Bitcoin by estimating the Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (MFDFA) leading to deduce the effect of COVID-19 on the Bitcoin performance. Besides, this work performs an event study to capture abnormal changes created by COVID-19 related events capable to analyse the Bitcoin market response.Findings: The empirical results of the generalized Hurst exponent GHE estimation indicates that Bitcoin is multifractal before this pandemic and becomes less fractal after the outbreak. Using an efficiency index (MLM), Bitcoin is found to be more efficient after the pandemic. Based on the Hausdorff topology, the authors showed that this pandemic has reduced the herd bias.Research limitations/implications: The uncertainty of COVID-19 disease and the lasting of its duration make it difficult to make the best prediction.Practical implications: The main contribution of this study is the evaluation of the Bitcoin value after the COVID19 outbreak. This work has practical implications as it provides new insights on trading opportunities and social reactions.Originality/value: To the authors’ knowledge, this work represents the first study that analyses the Bitcoin response to different events related to COVID-19 and detects the presence of herding behaviour in such a crisis.