It’s who you know that counts: Board connectedness and CSR performance

Highlights: We examine whether and how board connections affect the firm\u27s corporate social responsibilities (CSR). We find that board connectedness is positively associated with CSR performance. Our findings suggest firms that operate in a complex business environment or require more advising benefit more from a well-networked board. Firms that are poorly governed, have high stock return volatility, low market capitalization, or low institutional ownership tend to benefit more from the well-connected board when the cost of acquiring information is higher. In addition, we show that independent directors’ abilities to gather information and resources from their networks can facilitate the transmission of information. Overall, our study documents the informational advantage of a network as the predominant channel that allows a well-connected board to improve a firm’s CSR performance

Does employee welfare affect corporate debt maturity?

International audienc