Browsing by Author "Bolourian, Soudabeh"

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    Analysing the impact of corporate governance on corporate sustainability at board level.
    (Cranfield University, 2021-06) Bolourian, Soudabeh; Angus, Andrew; Alinaghian, Leila
    Stakeholders are increasingly holding companies accountable for their environmental and social conduct. Organisations are engaging in, and incorporating, social and environmental issues in their business models, organisational structures and processes. The board of directors are responsible for the overall achievement and oversight of the organisation’s aims and objectives. However, there is little detail on the board’s role in monitoring and overseeing social and environmental issues in the corporate governance realm. This thesis addresses this void in several ways. First a systematic literature review provides a comprehensive synthesis of the extant literature investigating the board of director’s role as a core element of corporate governance in corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance. Critical assessment of a sample of 67 studies from 18 highly regarded scholarly journals published between 1992 and 2020 uncovers similarities and inconsistencies regarding the effects of various board attributes on CSR-performance. The review reveals these attributes do not work in isolation, but interact with each other and the context in which they are embedded in shaping CSR-performance. Second, empirical analysis of a cross-industry sample of 2891 firm-year observations from 789 FTSE350 and S&P500 listed companies during a 4-year period (2013-2016) investigates the role of the board attributes in driving CSR-performance. The influence of the board-level CSR-committee – a board attribute that despite the increased prevalence of such committees on the board is largely understudied – in driving CSR-performance is explored. This contributes to the growing literature on CSR-committees by investigating their presence, composition and interactive effects with various board attributes in driving CSR-performance. Additionally, contributing to the recent call for investigating interactions among board attributes and their impact on CSR-performance. Finally a configurational approach is used to further explore board attribute interactions and combined impacts on CSR- performance. The results of a Qualitative Comparative Analysis reveals nine board configurations leading to high CSR-performance. This contributes to the argument that “one-size” does not fit all, and different boards can achieve the same results via unique configurations of attributes.
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    Analysing the Impact of Corporate Governance on Corporate Sustainability at Board-level
    (Cranfield University, 2018-10-22 10:39) Bolourian, Soudabeh
    3 Minute Thesis presented at the Cranfield Doctoral Network Annual Event 2018.The relationship between Corporate Governance (CG) and sustainability is of critical importance because it addresses stakeholders’ social, environmental, economic and ethical needs. Corporate Sustainability (CS) has been noted as a development of good governance. Companies with better governance are inclined to be more socially responsible. Also, core to the CG system are the board of directors’ (BOD) responsibilities. They are responsible for overseeing, advising and ensuring management is moving in line with organisational goals. Thus, BOD will likely be responsible for environmental and social matters in organisations that consider such matters fundamental for their existence. However, according to some researchers, in the CG realm there is not much on the board’s role in monitoring corporate responsibility and sustainability Therefore, I find the idea of bridging the gap between CG and CS, or as I like to call it “aligning the mind and the heart” in an organisation fascinating and vital. The mind referring to CG that for me represents principle, order and logic. The heart being CS since I believe it consists of elements more emotionally based. Considering that corporations are currently facing two pressing issues: Board diversity and CS, prior studies have focused on various attributes of BOD and its effects on sustainability performance. Additionally, referring to individuals and committees, it has been suggested that more research needs to be done on the impact of other entities on organisational performance besides the board as a whole. However, few have examined how board-level committee attributes, particularly ones dedicated to CS issues, will affect the sustainability performance of a company. Therefore, this research aims to investigate the various underlying theories and challenges of the CG and CS relationship with a view to measuring and defining the impact and interaction of a sustainability committee at board-level and its attributes on sustainability performance.
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    Exploring the role of board-level corporate social responsibility committees in corporate social responsibility performance: a configurational approach
    (Elsevier, 2023-09-22) Bolourian, Soudabeh; Alinaghian, Leila; Angus, Andrew
    Board attributes interrelate with one another and the environment in which they are embedded in forming corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance, resulting in configurations of board attributes. By embracing a configurational approach, this study aims to investigate how the CSR-committee as a board structure interacts within different configurations of director characteristics (female-directors, director’s age, tenure, and experience) and other board structures (non-executive directors, CEO-duality, board-size) in shaping CSR-performance. The results of a fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) of 789 FTSE350 and S&P500 listed companies during a 4-year period (2013–2016) reveals nine board configurations leading to high CSR-performance, six containing the CSR-committee. Three board archetypes were identified. Their formation is shaped on main differences seen amongst them, leading to distinct archetypes: committee-boards, experience-boards, and hybrid-boards. The result of the configurational approach agrees with the argument “one-size” does not fit all, and different boards can achieve the same results via unique configurations.
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    ItemOpen Access
    The impact of corporate governance on corporate social responsibility at the board-level: a critical assessment
    (Elsevier, 2020-12-30) Bolourian, Soudabeh; Angus, Andrew; Alinaghian, Leila
    The purpose of this research is to synthesise and critically evaluate the extant literature investigating the role of board of directors as a core element of corporate governance in corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance. Adopting a systematic review approach, a sample of 67 studies from 18 highly regarded scholarly journals published between 1992 and 2020 is examined. Distinguishing between two board attributes of director characteristics and board structures, our study uncovers similarities and inconsistencies regarding the effects of various board characteristics and board structures on CSR performance. First, our study reveals that these attributes do not work in isolation but interact with each other and the context in which they are embedded in shaping CSR performance. Additionally, our review identifies substantial variation in conceptualisations, theoretical frameworks, the use of measurements and the contexts across studies providing a basis to offer a comprehensive synthesis of dominant scholarly discourses and an organising lens for future scholarship.