Exploiting a distinctive measure of corporate culture based on advanced machine learning, we investigate the effect of board gender diversity on corporate culture. Our results demonstrate that greater board gender diversity considerably strengthens positive corporate culture. The findings...

Purpose: Taking advantage of a novel measure of innovative culture generated by advanced machine learning, we investigate how a culture of innovation is influenced by a crucial aspect of the board of directors, i.e., board size. Our data on corporate culture of innovation are based on a textual...

Motivated by the debate on gender inequality, we study CEO gender and CEO age. Because women face significantly more obstacles in advancing their careers, it may take them longer to reach the top position, i.e. the chief executive officer (CEO). If this is the case, female CEOs should be older...

Motivated by the literature on corporate life cycles, we explore the effect of firm maturity on corporate social responsibility (CSR). Our results based on over 26,000 observations across 21 years reveal that more mature firms invest significantly more in CSR. Furthermore, we find that the...

Motivated by agency theory, we investigate the effect of managerial ownership on CSR engagement. Exploiting Lewbel's (2012) heteroskedastic identification and using a large U.S. sample of over 14,000 observations across 18 years, we find that higher managerial ownership diminishes CSR engagement...

We investigate the effect of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT)-supportive corporate policies on credit ratings. To the extent that LGBT-friendly policies are beneficial to the firm and therefore improve its expected cash flows, credit rating agencies should assign more favorable...

We explore the role of female directors in mitigating CEO luck. CEOs are “lucky” when they receive stock option grants on days when the stock price is the lowest in the month of the grant, implying opportunistic timing. Our results show that board gender diversity significantly deters the...

We explore the effect of religious piety on corporate social responsibility (CSR). Prior research links religion to honesty and risk aversion. Accordingly, religion induces managers to be more honest and likely view as opportunistic and unethical an exploitation of other stakeholders. Risk...

This study investigates the performance of socially controversial companies during a financial crisis. Companies are usually considered controversial if they are involved in controversial businesses such as alcohol, tobacco, firearms, nuclear etc. The results show that controversial firms...

We exploit the Great Recession of 2008 to study how firms view corporate social responsibility (CSR). When confronted with an adverse exogenous shock, firms are forced to prioritize. Our results show that, during the Great Recession, firms do not lessen their overall CSR investments, suggesting...