Corporate sustainability has emerged as a critical imperative for firms navigating volatile markets and ecological constraints, yet the mechanisms linking organizational practices to sustainability outcomes remain underexplored, particularly in developing economies. Drawing on the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities theory, this paper examines how transformational leadership and knowledge sharing synergistically enhance innovation capability, which in turn fosters environmental dynamism and corporate sustainability performance. Using a structured questionnaire within a cross-sectional design to gather data from 140 Moroccan SMEs, data were collected via an online questionnaire from 140 Moroccan SME owners and managers, with hypotheses tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results show that knowledge sharing, and transformational leadership significantly strengthen innovation capability. Innovation capability further drives environmental dynamism, which positively impacts sustainability performance. These findings advance theory by integrating knowledge-based, leadership, and dynamic capability perspectives into a novel pathway for achieving sustainability goals. The study underscores the necessity for SMEs in developing nations to cultivate leadership that inspires knowledge exchange and adaptive innovation, enabling resilience amid ecological and market shifts. By highlighting these internal drivers, the research offers actionable insights for SMEs and policymakers seeking to align business innovation strategies with sustainability objectives and pro-environmental transformation in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The aim of this paper is to examine whether or not the structure of the board of directors and, in particular, board size, independence and remuneration have an impact on firm performance. The sample examined is UK FTSE 100 non-financial companies using data from the period 2012 to 2015. A regression analysis has been used concluding a significant positive correlation between board remuneration and firm performance, namely Return on Assets and Tobin’s Q. The study also concluded a positive correlation between board size and ROA, and between board independence and Tobin’s Q. Additionally, a significant negative correlation between the control variables (i.e. company size and industry) and Return on Assets.

This study investigates the effect of audit committee characteristics on the level of tax aggressiveness. Drawing on a sample of 72 French listed firms from the SBF120 index for the period from 2015 to 2022, this study measures the level of tax aggressiveness through the effective tax rate (cash ETR). The descriptive statistics, correlation matrix, variance inflation factor (VIF), and feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) regression were used for analysis of panel data. The findings reveal that measures of the independence of the audit committee, expertise of the audit committee, and audit committee size are significantly linked to tax aggressiveness. The findings also highlighted that the frequency of audit committee meetings is weakly linked to tax aggressiveness. The effectiveness of audit committee members can send a strong signal to the tax authorities, the shareholders, regulators, and the investors who are concerned about the risk of tax aggressiveness. This study contributes to the existing literature aimed at exploring the effect of audit committee characteristics on tax aggressiveness in a French context. This study has several implications for regulators, policymakers, and academia. It helps the policymakers and regulators in policy reforms who aim at combating aggressive tax practices in France, which is one of the primary objectives within the European Union (EU) framework.

Corporate governance (CG) is often split among rule and principle-based methods to regulation in distinctive institutional contexts. Relying on an alternative theoretical framework (i.e. institutional theory), rather than the dominant agency theory, this study conceptualizes corporate governance practices and structures as institutionally resolute and directed and explores the key institutional determinants of good CG practices in an emerging economy. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative methods, this study conducted semi-structured interviews from eight CG professionals, followed by a survey questionnaire (N=105) from PSX listed firms. The study explores the extent to which certain underlying formal and informal institutional determinants, such as the auditing, political, legal, board, shareholders awareness, voting, culture, and values play a determining role in corporate governance. Using exploratory factor analysis, this study identified five major barriers, i.e. firm-level barriers, external barriers, social barriers, education and training barriers and legal barriers which restrain good CG practices in Pakistan. In addition, this study identified four major drivers, i.e. internal drivers, regulatory drivers, motivational drivers and collaborative drivers which can promote good CG practices in Pakistan. The findings of multiple hierarchical regression analysis revealed that the CGI score has a significant positive relationship with both return on assets and return on equity. This study emphasizes the necessity to revisit the foundation of institutional and agency theories in the environment of developing countries.

This paper aims to examine the consequences of board diversity. The objectives are to measure the impact of gender, age, national diversity on earnings management (EM). This research study raises the following questions: Does board diversity affect earnings management and firm performance? Has the 2013 Kuwait Corporate Governance Code impacted on board diversity on earnings management, beside firm performance? The research uses data from 103 non-financial Kuwaiti listed companies in the period from 2010 to 2017. The data is collected from the companies’ data from secondary sources such as their annual reports. The data analysis methods are correlation, multi-regression and robust regression. Earnings management was measured using the model modified by Jones (1995) and Kothari et al. (2005). Firm performance measured by ROA, ROE, Tobin’s Q and total shareholder return. The independent variables are gender diversity, age diversity, nationality diversity, board size, board independent and role duality. Control variables are firm size, industry type, total debt, total revenue, oil price, percentage change oil price, gold price, the percentage change of gold price and, ROA