This study aims to examine the potential effect that corporate social responsibility practices (CSR) have on financial performance in ESG firms, using the moderating role of board characteristics. To test the moderating effect of the board characteristics in the relationship between CSR...

How do board characteristics influence the risk of bankruptcy? We study this question by estimating classic Z-Score models using panel data comprising 2519 listed non-financial firms from 29 European countries over the 2012-2020 period. We found that board independence is associated with lower...

We examine the corporate criminal records of 18,187 firms operating in 17 European emerging markets and empirically analyze the effects of board composition and national institutions on crime deterrence. Our analysis reveals that 872 firms (about 5% of the sample) committed 1,734 crimes over...

We investigate the influence of boardroom gender diversity on earnings management. Drawing on a sample of European firms over the 2010-2023 period, we document an inverted U-shaped nexus between boardroom gender heterogeneity and earnings manipulation. Moreover, we also find that the Democracy...

Recently, advocacy for gender diversity in corporate governance has intensified, following the hypothesis that heterogeneous boards can optimize management processes and improve financial performance. Existing literature primarily focuses on the banking or financial industry, with limited...