Abstract

Policymakers are increasingly concerned with enabling sustainable corporate behavior as part of the transition toward a more sustainable society. Yet, it remains unclear to what extent a country’s governance quality impacts on the sustainable behavior of firms. Drawing on the good governance literature, we hypothesize that the quality of different governance dimensions at the nation-level affects corporate social performance (CSP). This reasoning is tested using a longitudinal data set that combines nation-level and firm-level observations. Different model specifications confirm that countries with a better governance quality have higher CSP. In particular, higher levels of voice and accountability, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption are positively associated with CSP across model specifications. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for research and practice.

摘要

作为向更可持续社会过渡的一部分，政策制定者越来越关注实现可持续的企业行为。然而，尚不清楚一个国家的治理质量在多大程度上影响公司的可持续行为。借鉴善治文献，我们假设国家层面不同治理维度的质量会影响企业社会绩效 (CSP)。使用结合国家级和公司级观察的纵向数据集来测试这种推理。不同的模型规范证实了治理质量更好的国家拥有更高的 CSP。特别是，更高水平的发言权和问责制、监管质量、法治和腐败控制与跨模型规范的 CSP 正相关。