Abstract
This research explores the relationship between Hofstede’s femininity cultural dimension of quality of life and the masculinity cultural dimension of drive for success manifested by materialistic wealth by investigating the market value of the publicly traded firms appearing on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSIs). The firms added to the DJSIs between the years 2010–2019 in countries with the femininity cultural dimension indicated by scores of ≤42, were selected for the first part of this study. In addition, France, with a masculinity score of 43 and Japan, with the highest masculinity score of 92, were chosen for comparison with the results from the countries with the femininity cultural dimension. The findings of this study indicate that companies in developed and emerging countries with the femininity cultural dimension show significant positive impact on their market values when added to the DJSIs. The publicly traded firms in France show a significant negative impact on their market values when added to the DJSIs. On the other hand, Japanese companies on the addition lists of DJSIs show a significant positive impact on their market values, despite Japan having the highest Hofstede masculinity score, a potential sign of cultural change in Japan.
Highlights
The Dow Jones sustainability indices (DJSIs) that report the engagement of corporations in sustainability practices along the social, economic, and environmental dimensions started more than twenty years ago
In order to investigate the impact of the addition to the DJSI lists for the countries with the femininity cultural dimensions, event study was utilized
Within windows starting at most 10 days before and ending at most 10 days after the event, were investigated to evaluate the cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) for firms in the countries with Hofstede masculinity score of ≤42
Summary
The Dow Jones sustainability indices (DJSIs) that report the engagement of corporations in sustainability practices along the social, economic, and environmental dimensions started more than twenty years ago. Our research is novel in this area by utilizing Hofstede’s femininity and masculinity cultural dimensions to explore the relationship between the market values of the publicly traded firms when adopting socially responsible sustainability strategies manifested by appearance on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
