The role of gender in the aggressive questioning of CEOs during earnings conference calls

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the American Accounting Association via the DOI in this record We investigate the role of gender on the aggressiveness of sell-side analysts’ questions during earnings conference calls. Our tests reveal that the verbal aggressiveness of analysts’ questions is significantly associated with both the gender of the analyst asking the question and the gender of the CEO fielding the question. First, we find that male analysts are more verbally aggressive than female analysts. Specifically, male analysts’ questions are more direct and more likely to be followed with further questions, to have a preface statement, and to be negative, all of which are consistent with verbal aggressiveness. Second, male analysts’ questions to female CEOs are more aggressive than their questions to male CEOs. Gender-based verbal aggressiveness appears to be associated with analysts’ career trajectories: Female analysts who ask aggressive questions have a higher likelihood of becoming “star” analysts, whereas we fail to find such evidence for male analysts

The moderating role of CEO sustainability reporting style in the relationship between sustainability performance, sustainability reporting, and cost of equity

This is the final version. Available from Springer via the DOI in this record. This paper explores the role of individual managers in the relationship between sustainability performance, sustainability reporting, and cost of equity. Based on prior research showing that both sustainability performance and reporting reduce the risk premium, this paper contributes to the literature by acknowledging that the true motives behind a manager’s corporate sustainability engagement are not apparent to investors. Thus, investors need to rely on further information to assess the relationship between sustainability performance and risk. We argue that CEOs’ values and preferences drive their decisions regarding sustainability activities. Thus, their fixed effect on sustainability reporting conveys a signal to investors about the motives behind corporate sustainability engagement and the extent of reporting. In the first step of our empirical analysis, we document that a CEO’s specific reporting style indeed has significant statistical power in explaining a company’s level of sustainability reporting. In the second step, we find that improved sustainability performance is associated with increased cost of equity when the CEO exerts a strong personal influence on sustainability reporting. However, cost of equity declines if the CEO’s influence on the reporting of improved sustainability performance is low. Our results are consistent with the argument that investors interpret CEO’s fixed-effect on sustainability reporting as a signal. That is, for a high CEO fixed-effect, increases in sustainability engagement are conflated with the CEO's self-interested values. In further tests, we show that the signal seems to be particularly important for normative sustainability activities (vs. legal sustainability activities)

Political affinity and investors' response to the acquisition premium in cross‐border M&A transactions — A moderation analysis

This is the final version. Available on open access from Wiley via the DOI in this recordData availability statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from WRDS/SDC Platinum/Datastream. Restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for this study. Data are available via WRDS/SDC Platinum/Datastream.This article investigates the moderating effect of political affinity between countries on investors' reactions to the premium in cross-border acquisitions (CBAs). Based on a sample of 1,183 CBAs between 1999 and 2018, we find that political affinity positively moderates the relationship between the acquisition premium and the acquiring and target firms' stock market return. We argue that investors use political affinity to assess the reliability of the premium (i.e., management's overall perception of a given deal's synergistic potential). This is in line with prior literature reasoning that, unlike strong political affinity, weak political affinity increases the likelihood of government intervention, decreases the likelihood of deal completion, and results in higher premiums to mitigate the previous effects, thus potentially increasing the likelihood of value destruction

Financial and corporate social performance in the UK listed firms: the relevance of non-linearity and lag effects

Using environmental, social and governance scores compiled by Reuters Datastream for each company’s corporate social performance (CSP), we examine the relationship between CSP and corporate financial performance (CFP) of 314 UK listed companies over the period 2002–2015. We further evaluate the relationship between prior and subsequent CFP and prior and subsequent CSP. Based on the system-GMM estimation method, we provide direct evidence that suggests that while CFP and CSP can be linked linearly; however, when we examine the impact of CSP on CFP, the association is more non-linear (cubic) than linear. Our results suggest that firms periodically adjust their level of commitment to society, in order to meet their target CSP. The primary contributions of this paper are testing (1) the non-monotonous relationship between CSP and CFP, (2) the lagged relationship between the two and the optimality of CSP levels, and (3) the presence of a virtuous circle. Our results further suggest that CSP contributes to CFP better during post-crisis years. Our findings are robust to year-on-year changes in CFP and CSP, financial versus non-financial firms, and the intensity of corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement across industries

Abnormal CSR and financial performance

This is the final version. Available from Routledge via the DOI in this record. Data Availability Statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from public sources as described in the manuscript. Restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for this studyThis study develops a corporate social responsibility (CSR) measure for abnormal CSR. Based on a microeconomic framework, we argue and show that firm-level variables determine a firm-specific, normal (expected) level of CSR performance, where the marginal costs of CSR equal its marginal benefits. Any deviation from these equilibrium points is a proxy for abnormal CSR, which is negatively related to a firm’s short-term financial performance (i.e., profitability). Hereby, larger values result in proportionally larger decreases in financial performance (inverted U-shape). We conduct our empirical analyses using cross-sectional CSR performance data for U.S. listed companies from 1991 to 2013. Further analyses reveal that this negative effect of abnormal CSR exists for both positive and negative abnormal CSR. Our results hold for alternative measures of firm and CSR performance, an instrumental variable regression, and propensity score matching. Our model could serve as a first indicator for abnormal CSR for investors and other stakeholder

Using the learning in future environments (LiFE) index to assess James Cook University's progress in supporting and embedding sustainability

Increasingly, higher education institutions (HEIs) are seeking to assess and report on their sustainability performance. One of the more widely known assessment tools is STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System). Developed in 2007, STARS has been criticised because of its pressuring characteristic i.e. it has been designed to support external performance reporting. The LiFE (Learning in Future Environments) index is a non-committal assessment tool that allows HEIs to monitor their progress in supporting and embedding sustainability without the need to reveal their performance externally. LiFE has been adopted by members of the Environmental Association of Universities and Colleges (EAUC) and Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability (ACTS). This paper presents findings from a study of James Cook University’s experiences with LiFE since 2013. Scores suggest JCU has had an inconsistent response to sustainability over the last five years. The paper describes and discusses some of the factors that have influenced JCU’s scores and highlights some of the factors that emerged to support or interfere with the University’s sustainability aspirations. The paper will be of interest to any HEI using or considering using the LiFE index or anyone who is interested or involved with embedding sustainability in HEIs

A macro-level analysis of the economic and social impact of microfinance in sub-Saharan Africa

Despite a few decades of research on the topic, the economic and social impact of microfinance remains open to question. While in some cases microfinance has had the desired results, in many others it has not lived up to the expectations of the development community. In addition, macro-level effects of microfinance have not been analyzed thoroughly and there are only a limited number of empirical cross-national studies on the relationship between microfinance and development. Through a quantitative macro-level approach on the topic, our research investigates the role of microfinance in economic and social development in sub-Saharan Africa. Employing a sample of nearly 40 sub-Saharan African countries from 1999 to 2014, we find robust empirical evidence for a positive, albeit relatively weak, overall effect of microfinance on GDP/capita and human capital