Research Briefs

Corporate citizenship performance is a boon to firms during mergers and acquisitions. Firms with high ESG performance had higher announcement returns, better long-term operating performance, and more mergers and acquisitions successfully completed.

The way in which employees are compensated (hourly vs. salaried) may affect their engagement in corporate citizenship. For higher levels of engagement, make sure the employees see direct benefit to themselves.

Companies in more concentrated/less competitive industries, such as power utilities, may gain a competitive advantage by transparently disclosing financial information, as firms in these industries tend to operate in a low-disclosure climate.

Firms that create a positive work environment through efforts like diversity and inclusion programs and/or formal GLBT nondiscrimination policies may increase their stock prices.

Firms are more likely to disclose GHGEs when they are guided by a gender-diverse board and are headquartered in a country that values corporate citizenship.

U.S. investors are laggards in supporting alternative energy—even in the wake of environmental/industrial disasters.

The regulatory environments and societal expectations of the countries in which multinational enterprises (MNEs) operate affect their likelihood of adopting corporate citizenship practices. MNEs are more likely to practice corporate citizenship when the countries in which they operate and/or to which they have strong financial ties require or expect CSR behavior.

Informing your stakeholders about socially responsible behavior of which they were previously unaware can bring a boost to your company’s reputation. Companies can do good for the cause to which they are committed and enhance their reputation even further by using their corporate philanthropy communications to recruit additional support for the cause.

By creating and implementing formal HR policies and procedures to encourage age diversity and inclusion, companies can foster a positive age diversity climate, which in turn increases their employees’ investment in the firm—leading to better performance and lower turnover intentions.

Companies working to create products that improve the living conditions of bottom of the pyramid consumers should consider the distribution and pricing strategies of their products. People are more likely to continue to use a product in the long-term if they’ve paid something for it.

Firms with a higher percentage of independent directors on their boards are more likely to transparently disclose information.

Potential employees are attracted to companies with good corporate citizenship performance in part because they anticipate pride in working for that organization, expect that their values would be aligned, and believe that the company treats its employees well.