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CEO ability and sustainability disclosures: The mediating effect of corporate social responsibility performance
Author(s) -
GarcíaSánchez IsabelMaría,
AibarGuzmán Beatriz,
AibarGuzmán Cristina,
Azevedo TâniaCristina
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
corporate social responsibility and environmental management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.519
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1535-3966
pISSN - 1535-3958
DOI - 10.1002/csr.1905
Subject(s) - corporate social responsibility , business , accounting , sustainability reporting , sustainability , stakeholder engagement , stakeholder , transparency (behavior) , stakeholder theory , relevance (law) , sample (material) , public relations , political science , ecology , biology , chemistry , chromatography , law
Combining the postulates of the upper echelons theory and the economic theories of information disclosure, one might expect that the effect of chief executive officers' (CEOs') managerial ability on their firms' disclosure policies has both a direct and indirect nature. The latter would be associated with the mediating role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance on the relationship between CEOs' ability and corporate transparency. Using a sample of 956 international firms over the period 2006–2014 (6,442 firm‐year observations), we examine the role that the CEO ability plays in determining the relevance of CSR disclosures and whether this role is mediated by CSR performance. By proposing several regression models, we document that more able CEOs are more willing to disclose comparable and useful CSR information that favours stakeholder engagement. This relationship is mediated by the impact that CEO's ability has over the implementation of sustainability strategies that improve CSR performance.