Do Titans deliver the promise? Societal Recognition and Responsible Corporate Decisions

Updated:2023-04-07



主讲人

Prof. Hisham Farag

邀请人

王峣鹏

讲座时间

20234 1115:00-16:00;本学期第 九 周

讲座地点

第四教学楼215教室

讲座题目

Do Titans deliver the promise? Societal Recognition and Responsible Corporate Decisions

主讲人简介


Professor Hisham Farag joins University of Birmingham in 2007, his research interests cover multi aspects, including corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, corporate innovation and efficiency countermeasures. His research has been published in many high-quality journals including Journal of Corporate FinanceJournal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, British Journal of Management, Journal of Business Ethics. Meanwhile, he is the editor in chief of Journal of Sustainable Finance and Investments and associate editor of European Journal of Finance, International Review of Economics & Finance. He works closely with Siemens and Lloyds Bank.

讲座摘要

Distinguished societal recognition can influence the behavior of corporate decision-makers to act responsibly. We exploit this unique sociological attribute of board members of UK firms and examine the impact of the titles of honor on firms’ environment, social, and governance (ESG) performance. Using the peerage and honorific titles of board members of the UK public firms from 2002 to 2020, we show that firms, where board members have a title of honor, are associated with higher ESG scores, consistent with the confluence of social identity, social influence, and peer-effects theories. We also document a contagion effect of titleholders on other board members, which contributes to firms’ ESG performance. Further, the effect of titleholders on ESG also propagates through the supply chain and industry pay gap. Our findings highlight that distinguished societal recognition helps corporate managers to act responsibly and advance our understanding of the importance of social identity, social influence, and peer-effects in sustainability.