Corporate sustainability and financial performance of Chinese banks

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 358-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olaf Weber

Purpose This paper analyzes the connection between the sustainability performance of Chinese banks and their financial indicators to explore whether sustainability regulations can be implemented without decreasing the financial performance of the banking sector. Design/methodology/approach The study examined reports and websites of Chinese banks, categorized different corporate sustainability aspects and conducted panel regression and Granger causality to analyze cause and effect variables. Findings The environmental and social performance of Chinese banks increased significantly between 2009 and 2013. Furthermore, a bi-directional causality between financial performance and sustainability performance of Chinese banks has been found. Based on institutional theory, this interaction may be influenced by the Chinese Green Credit Policy. Research limitations/implications The findings suggest that corporate sustainability performance and financial performance are not a trade-off but correlate positively. Further research is needed to analyze the effect of financial regulations, such as the Chinese Green Credit Policy. Practical implications According to the good management theory by Waddock and Graves (1997) that claims a positive impact of corporate social performance on financial performance, Chinese banks can invest in corporate sustainability to increase their financial success and re-invest parts of the additional returns – also called slack resources – in sustainability activities. Social implications Chinese banks are able to influence the economy to become greener and less polluting without sacrificing financial returns. Originality/value This is the first study to explore the sustainability performance of Chinese banks, including their products and services.

2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 641-655 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chi-Jui Huang

AbstractPrevious research has analyzed and debated corporate governance (CG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) independently. This paper aims to empirically explore the interrelationship between CG, CSR, financial performance (FP) and Corporate Social Performance (CSP) using a sample of 297 electronics companies operating in Taiwan, a newly industrialized Asian economy. The results show that a CG model which includes independent outside directors and which has specific ownership characteristics has a significantly positive impact on both FP and CSP, whereas FP itself does not influence CSP. The presence of independent outside directors in the firm has the greatest impact on the social performance of the firm's worker, customer, supplier, community and society dimensions. Government shareholders enhance a firm's social performance extraordinarily because government shareholders will be more likely to request that companies fulfill their social responsibilities. Only government shareholders positively and significantly relate to a firm's environmental performance. Furthermore, foreign institutional stockholders help to increase worker and supplier performance by paying more attention to employee policies and supply chain relationships. Finally, independent outside directors, foreign institutional stockholders and domestic financial institutional stockholders are shown to improve financial performance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seungwha (Andy) Chung ◽  
Hyunsang Pyo ◽  
Andres Guiral

As stakeholder relations vary depending on firm characteristics, the associations among corporate financial performance (CFP), corporate giving, and corporate social performance (CSP) are complex. In this paper, we contribute to the literature by exploring CFP as a predictor of CSP by differentiating the stakeholder groups that firms interact with; that is, primary versus secondary stakeholder relations. Our study also extends the existing literature by examining who the beneficiaries of corporate philanthropy are, and the role played on the CFP/CSP association. By extracting a sample of 52 firms and 312 firm-year observations from the Korea Economic Justice Institute database, we find that while CFP has a positive effect only on primary stakeholder relations, corporate philanthropy has a positive impact on both primary and secondary stakeholder relations. Furthermore, we observe an overall influence of CFP on stakeholder relations when corporate philanthropy is high. Our findings suggest that differentiating multiple stakeholder groups together with the role played by corporate philanthropy provides a more valuable and meaningful analysis of the antecedents of CSP.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 672-686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anni Tuppura ◽  
Heli Arminen ◽  
Satu Pätäri ◽  
Ari Jantunen

Purpose The purpose of the paper is to examine empirically Granger causality relationships between corporate social performance (CSP) and corporate financial performance (CFP) in four different industries. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses the Granger causality test to analyse the causality relationships between CSP and CFP in clothing, energy, food and forest industries in the USA. The panel data used combined CSP and CFP measures over the years 1991-2009. CSP strengths and concerns are handled as distinct constructs. Findings There is some evidence of bidirectional causality between CSP and CFP in the clothing, energy and forest industries; but in the food industry, CSP appears not to Granger-cause CFP. The results encourage accounting for the industry in empirical analyses, as well as the use of more than one measure for CFP in the analyses. Originality/value The direction of causality between CSP and CFP has been specifically addressed in only a few studies. Because the causality relationship may, in addition, be concealed when multi-industry data are used, this paper contributes to the literature by examining the Granger causality between CSP and CFP in four different industry contexts using two different measures of CFP.


2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 641-655 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chi-Jui Huang

AbstractPrevious research has analyzed and debated corporate governance (CG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) independently. This paper aims to empirically explore the interrelationship between CG, CSR, financial performance (FP) and Corporate Social Performance (CSP) using a sample of 297 electronics companies operating in Taiwan, a newly industrialized Asian economy. The results show that a CG model which includes independent outside directors and which has specific ownership characteristics has a significantly positive impact on both FP and CSP, whereas FP itself does not influence CSP. The presence of independent outside directors in the firm has the greatest impact on the social performance of the firm's worker, customer, supplier, community and society dimensions. Government shareholders enhance a firm's social performance extraordinarily because government shareholders will be more likely to request that companies fulfill their social responsibilities. Only government shareholders positively and significantly relate to a firm's environmental performance. Furthermore, foreign institutional stockholders help to increase worker and supplier performance by paying more attention to employee policies and supply chain relationships. Finally, independent outside directors, foreign institutional stockholders and domestic financial institutional stockholders are shown to improve financial performance.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 348-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megumi Suto ◽  
Hitoshi Takehara

Purpose Managers sometimes hide their level of corporate social performance (CSP) from investors, intentionally or unintentionally. The purpose of this study is to estimate such “hidden CSP” of firms. Design/methodology/approach In this study, it is assumed that Japanese public firms can be classified into two groups based on the difference in corporate social responsibility (CSR) awareness. Thus, the respondents to the CSR questionnaire survey are classified as the CSR-aware group, and the non-respondents are treated as the CSR-unaware group. It is further assumed that a significant relationship exists between CSP and a firm’s attributes, including financial performance and stock ownership. Under these assumptions, a model to estimate the CSP of non-respondents is constructed using the relationship between CSP and a firm’s observable attributes. Findings There is a significant latent gap between the CSP of respondents and the hidden CSP of non-respondents because of differences in firm size, foreign dependency of business and reputation and trust in the financial markets, rather than because of differences in financial performance. Insider-oriented ownership structures are negatively associated with CSP. Research limitations/implications The estimation model developed in this study depends on a set of assumptions. In particular, a stable relationship between CSP and firm-specific variables, i.e. there is no structural change during the observation period, is assumed. Despite these limitations, this study extends the CSR research perspective, as it makes it possible to estimate the hidden CSP of public firms. Practical implications In practice, the findings of this study surface a part of the missing CSR that investors need and that could alert non-respondent firms to the importance of CSR strategy and related disclosures to adapt to rapidly changing social and environmental business settings. Originality/value This study is the result of academic interest in examining the missing information related to CSR activities to obtain an overall picture of the CSP distribution of Japanese listed firms as a whole.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ritu Pareek ◽  
Tarak Nath Sahu ◽  
Arindam Gupta

Purpose This study aims to attempt to evaluate and establish the relationship between gender diversity (GD) on the board and corporate sustainability performance. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 212 non-financial companies listed on the National Stock Exchange has been considered for a period of 2013–2014 to 2018–2019. For the purpose of the analysis, this study has conducted the static panel data model analysis and also some diagnostics tests to arrive at robust results. Findings This study, from its analysis, interprets that GD or the proportion of women directors in the company plays a significant role in the decisions related to the sustainability performance of the company. Alongside GD, the profitability of the company, measured in terms of Tobin’s Q, and firm size are also seen to have a positive impact on the sustainability performance of the company. Practical implications This study from its findings contributes to the existing works of literature by highlighting the impact of GD on the sustainability performance of the firm. This study thus recommends the recruitment of an ample number of females in the top-notch positions of the board to create a gender-diverse management team to reap the benefits of leadership styles of both genders. Originality/value Very few studies have been conducted on the dynamics of women’s directorship, especially in an emerging economy like India. This study thus tries to fill this important gap in the literature by examining the relationship between board GD and sustainability performance of Indian firms.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 55
Author(s):  
Anggita Langgeng

<span>This paper discusses the relation of corporate social performance with financial performance. This paper is a literature review of research types. With reference to the stakeholder theory, firm with good social performance is expected to be able to accommodate the interests of the stakeholders, so as to have a good relationship from the external environment. With a good relationship with its stakeholders expect corporate managers are able to manage the company more efficiently, have the convenience of the source of funding, have low business risk and have a good appreciation of the market value. From the study of literature to some previous studies it can be concluded that corporate social performance will have a positive impact on the financial performance of the company.</span>


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sibel Yildiz Çankaya ◽  
Bulent Sezen

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of eight dimensions of green supply chain management (GSCM) on economic, environmental and social performance, which are the three dimensions of corporate sustainability. The eight dimensions covered in this study are: green purchasing, green manufacturing, green distribution, green packaging, green marketing, environmental education, internal environmental management and investment recovery.Design/methodology/approachThe relationships between dimensions of GSCM and sustainability performance are tested by using a plant-level survey. A proposed research model and hypotheses are tested by using cross-sectional face-to-face and e-mail survey data collected from manufacturing firms in Turkey. Structural equation modeling is used to test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsExcept for green purchasing, all GSCM dimensions are found to be related with at least one of the performance dimensions.Practical implicationsThe results are important in highlighting the importance of GSCM in improving sustainability performance.Originality/valueThis paper enhances the understanding of the relationship between different dimensions of GSCM and the three sustainability performance factors. While there are very few studies examining the relationship between GSCM and corporate sustainability, this study is important in terms of exploring the effects of dimensions of GSCM applications on economic, environmental and social performance one by one, by examining these applications in the form of eight dimensions.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ismail Ben Douissa ◽  
Tawfik Azrak

Purpose Causality between corporate financial performance (CFP) and corporate social performance (CSP) has been extensively debated in previous research works; however, little research has been done to investigate the long-run dynamics between these two constructs. The purpose of this paper is to enrich the CFP–CSP literature by estimating the long-run equilibrium relationship between financial performance and social performance in the banking sector in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries over the period 2009–2019. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts an approach that is primarily used in financial economics: first, the authors perform panel long-run Granger causality following Canning and Pedroni’s procedure to indicate the direction of the causal relationship. Second, the authors estimate an error correction model using Chudik and Pesaran’s (2015) dynamic common correlated effects mean group estimator to determine the sign of the relationship. Findings The present research findings prove the existence of a long-run equilibrium relationship between CFP and CSP, while indicating at the same time that panel Granger causality runs positively from CSP to CFP, which means that changes in CSP produce lasting changes in CFP. Practical implications The findings of the paper would guide strategists to build fit for purpose corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies in their firms and establish a continuous investment in CSR activities in the long run rather than harshly investing in CSR activities in the short run. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first one to address heterogeneity in long-run Granger causality tests to estimate the relationship between CSP and CFP.


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