Board characteristics, corporate social responsibility and corporate performance

Abstract

The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of board characteristics, corporate social responsibility (CSR) on corporate performance. The study was conducted on a sample of 151 manufacturing companies listed on the Vietnamese stock exchange, with data collected over three years from 2020 to 2022, creating the balanced data. To process the panel data sample, three models: pooled OLS, fixed effects model (FEM) and random effects model (REM) were compared to determine the most suitable model. In this study, corporate performance was measured through the return on assets (ROA), CSR was measured based on the 2016 Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards, and board characteristics included board size, board independence, chairman-CEO duality, and board gender diversity. The results of the study indicate that CSR and board size positively affect corporate performance. In contrast, board independence, chairman-CEO duality, and board gender diversity do not affect corporate performance. Based on the results of this study, some related recommendations have been proposed and it is hoped that they will provide useful references for those interested in corporate performance such as businesses, governments, investors, creditors, etc. to improve corporate performance and provide useful information to users.