While existing management literature has recognized the complex relationship between board gender diversity, national culture, and environmental performance, the unprecedented context of the COVID-19 pandemic provides a fresh lens to examine these dynamics. Our study advances the discourse by exploring how certain cultural traits may hinder environmental performance during times of crisis and the role of board gender diversity (BGD) in mitigating this adverse relationship. Using a sample of 269 international pharmaceutical companies and Heckman's two-stage model, the findings reveal a positive impact of BGD on changes in environmental performance amidst the pandemic. Additionally, cultures with high individualism and short-term orientation are linked to a diminished rate of improvement in environmental performance during the pandemic. However, companies with greater BGD can buffer these negative effects, reducing the negative impacts of these cultural traits on environmental performance during a crisis. The findings enrich our understanding of the interplay between national culture, board gender composition, and corporate environmental performance, ultimately offering actionable insights for fostering resilient green governance amid global crises.

This paper offers a qualitative multiple case study investigating social enterprises founded by immigrants and natives facilitating labour market integration in the UK. The findings of the study shed light on the motivations of immigrants to engage in social entrepreneurship, the similarities and differences between immigrant and natives’ social enterprises to attract resources, and finally map the legitimacy challenges faced by both groups. We contribute to the literature by adding to the social entrepreneurship literature on motivations and resource acquisition. Moreover, we provide a contribute to the literature on social entrepreneurship internal and external legitimacy.

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) play a key role in advancing the United Nations Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Previous studies have examined MNEs’ SDG engagement, by either focusing on the 17 SDGs as a whole or only targeting a specific SDG. In this study, MNEs’ SDG engagement is measured using text mining. With the energy-intensive industry of mining sector as the subject which has direct impact to the recent focus of global climate change, analysis of annual reports starting from the SDG announcement in 2015 up to the available data of 2021 shows that all the industries continuously emphasise responsible consumption through energy saving and other methods. Our results showed that MNEs adopted SDGs practice that complemented their core business while they focused less on those that did not. This study highlights the characteristics of MNEs’ SDG long-term practices and advances the understanding of the factors that drive the implementation of the global agenda.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the changes that have taken place in the “intellectual structure” of research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the multinational enterprise over time. To advance scholarly progress and move the field forward, in our research we review the literature on this particular research front trying to decipher such changes. Overall, our review of the literature depicts an academic field in need of significant advances, where empirical research based on primary data is conspicuous by its absence and puts us on the track of researchers “thinking inside the box.” In the main, we also found that most research has been opportunistic rather than programmatic. Most articles examined CSR “idiosyncratically,” giving little attention to building systematically on earlier research.

In the digital era, specific digital MNEs are emerging with the role of digital platforms. They are often more able than traditional MNEs to compete internationally in the new scenario due to their uniqueness. However, little do we know how they might promote sustainability of and beyond their value chains in the digital age. Thus, this study strives to answer two research questions: (1) how digital MNEs as lead firms can promote sustainability of other actors? (2) are they doing differently from conventional MNEs?

A qualitative comparative case study on two representative digital MNEs, Amazon and Alibaba, is adopted. The qualitative study is then supplemented by a quantitative analysis of empirical data. Based on the theoretical insights and empirical evidence, we built a theoretical framework to illustrate how digital MNEs as transaction planforms can leverage 4 platform-specific instruments we identified to promote sustainability of the two sides of the market. The framework also identifies the central role of a sustainability label system and explains the interrelationships among key constructs. We further discussed implications of the two different label systems employed by the two cases on our key findings. Our theoretical and empirical contributions are concluded at the end.

This paper aims to identify the determinants and impact of foreign-invested firms’ (FIFs) choice of bribery in corrupt contexts. An analytical framework is built based on an interaction of institutional and resource-based constructs, and tested using firm-level data from 2210 FIFs operating in Africa. Controlling for FIFs’ self-selection to bribe, our findings, based on the Tobit, OLS and IV regression results, indicate that the heterogeneity of FIF resources and perceived corrupt pressures lead to differing bribery strategies in response to host country corruption, and these two variables then interactively moderate the impact of bribery on FIF performance. We find that FIFs’ perceived level of host country corruption produces a positive effect on their choice of bribery. But FIFs’ home-country anti-corruption levels, and their holding of internationally recognized quality certification (IQC) reduce FIFs’ willingness to pay bribes. A more interesting finding is that, after controlling for FIFs’ perceived pressures of corruption in host countries, FIFs’ home-country anti-corruption levels and FIFs’ holding of IQC negatively moderate bribery’s effectiveness on performance.

This study investigates the drivers behind ESG reporting among Swiss firms, distinguishing between three broad categories of factors: resource availability, internal drivers, and external pressures. Using a logit model on data from the Swiss Managers Survey 2024, we find that, alongside available resources, internal factors such the motivation of top management significantly predict reporting preparedness. External influences, including regulatory requirements, market demand, and investor pressures, also shape corporate reporting behaviors. The research particularly highlights how exposure to the European Union’s stringent ESG standards significantly impacts Swiss firms, especially multinational enterprises (MNEs) with entities within the EU. This indicates that international standards, due to regulatory spillovers, exert more influence than local legislation on firms' reporting practices.