Corporate governance, corporate social responsibility reporting and firm performance in ASEAN-4 countries / Sahar E-Vahdati

The growing interest of association between corporate governance (CG) and firm performance has been apparent with most of the research focus on the direct relationship between them. Paying attention to corporate social responsibility reporting (CSRR) from the perspective of developed and developing countries cause some ambiguity about the direct relationship of CG-firm performance. The reason might be due to the indirect effect of CSRR on this association. This study advances the previous research by considering the mediating role of CSRR through investigating CG mechanisms association namely CEO duality, board diversity, and institutional ownership with firm performance in four ASEAN countries; Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines. Due to the probably different influence of CSRR for CG-firm performance in each of these four ASEAN countries, the current research also contributes a literature through investigating moderating effect of the country for the mediating role of CSRR in the CG-firm performance association. To achieve these, the researcher conducts a pooled data sample based on 264 ASEAN firms. The examination of the longitudinal data involves firms using GRI (global reporting initiatives), as CSR international initiatives, for their CSR reporting during 2011 to 2013. Results from SEM analysis through SPSS AMOS 21 show only institutional ownership as CG dimensions that affects firm performance. Total CG, deriving of summed up CG mechanisms, also has a positive effect on firm performance. In addition, the findings of path data analysis show that the existence of CEO and chairman as the same person and also total CG increases CSRR. It is also found that CSRR has a direct positive effect on short-term firm performance and direct negative influence on long-term firm performance. The presence of CSRR as a mediator indicates that there is no effect of CSRR as a mediator for CG dimensions and financial performance. However, there is a mediation effect of CSRR, when total CG is taken as one variable with firm performance link. Moreover, According to the findings of multi group analysis in explaining the moderating effect of the country on the relationship between CG mechanisms and firm performance with CSRR as a mediator, there is a significant difference with the presence of country variable as a moderator for the mediation effects of these countries. Findings from this study may serve as guidance for authorities in enhancing the existing regulation and enforcement on corporate governance, CSRR. The findings could also be beneficial for multinational companies working in developing countries to further conceptualize the importance of CSRR insights when looking into corporate governance determinants in relation to firm performance. Overall, the current research contributes to the extended legitimacy and institutional theories by using new institutional theory in the context of Asian countries that possesses different legitimation and religions in applying corporate governance and CSRR unlike that of the western developed countries