Independent directors' annual duty report format and corporate benefit entrenchment: evidence from a behavioural theory perspective

ABSTRACT This study reviews scientific papers on benefit corporations to analyse the current literature concerning these organisations. It aims to evaluate the extent to which this model has been studied, identify existing gaps, and suggest directions for future research. To address the research questions and meet the research aims, a Systematic Literature Review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. Multiple databases were used to select 91 articles published between 2012 and 2024. The analysis shows that benefit corporations are gradually expanding across countries and gaining increasing legal recognition. However, existing gaps (particularly in impact and reporting practices, stakeholder engagement approaches, performance, and governance structures) require further investigation and leave scope for future research. This study provides a clear overview of current knowledge on benefit corporations and offers practical implications for both benefit corporations and policymakers.

This study examines the differences between Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and large corporations in utilizing e-commerce platforms for digital promotion, particularly through collaborations with influencers. The rapid development of digital technology has reshaped business competition and created unequal access to market opportunities, where corporations benefit from strong financial capacity, formal contractual structures, and comprehensive legal compliance, while MSMEs often struggle with limited resources, inconsistent product legality, and informal promotional arrangements. This research aims to analyze comparative practices in digital promotion between the two business scales and evaluate how regulatory frameworks support digital fairness for MSMEs within Indonesia’s e-commerce ecosystem. Using a qualitative method that combines literature review and in-depth interviews with three influencers, the study reveals significant distinctions in collaboration patterns, compensation systems, marketing flexibility, and legal assurance. The findings indicate that MSMEs exhibit higher adaptability and openness toward emerging creators, whereas corporations demonstrate stronger professionalism but lower responsiveness due to bureaucratic structures. The research further highlights persistent digital inequality shaped by differences in legal awareness, operational capacity, and marketing strategy. These findings imply the importance of enhancing MSME digital literacy, strengthening contractual governance, and improving regulatory responsiveness to ensure equitable participation in the digital market. Strengthening cooperative efforts between government, digital platforms, and influencer communities is essential for building a fairer and more inclusive e-commerce environment.

ABSTRACT This study examines why Italian for‐profit firms convert to Benefit Corporation status and how they navigate the ensuing hybridization. Survey data from 118 companies are interpreted through a pragmatic and moral legitimacy lens. Results show that the main trigger is pragmatic legitimacy: managers seek to strengthen trust with internal and external stakeholders' categories. Conversion to the Benefit status then feeds a ‘collective level legitimacy’ as firms identify themselves as members of a reputational business community promoting the ‘common good’. As a barrier to the adoption, the bylaw amendment represents the largest cost, while the Impact‐Officer role is usually internalized. Impact disclosure, however, remains uneven, raising doubts on possible ‘benefit washing’ concerns regarding the Impact Report credibility and tolerating potential ‘cherry picking’ opportunistic approaches. The paper calls for the adoption of harmonized metrics, tighter oversight and sanctions schemes to safeguard ‘collective level legitimacy’ and realize the systemic potential of European Benefit Corporations.

ABSTRACT Sustainable practices and shareholder value often come into conflict, yet Benefit Corporations (BCs) and B‐Corps combine these goals into a single core mission. While previous literature reviews exist, this study offers a current, cross‐disciplinary perspective, highlighting the strengths and critical aspects of BCs and B‐Corps through bibliometric and manual content analyses. A dataset of 114 peer‐reviewed articles from the Scopus and Web of Science databases, published between 2006 and 2024, was identified. The bibliometric analysis revealed that research is geographically concentrated, with the United States and Italy leading due to their first‐mover status in the BC legislation and B‐Corp movements. This, in turn, has concentrated authorship and affiliations within these two countries. Content analysis identified four main themes related to BCs and B‐Corps: (i) mission, governance, and financial performance; (ii) stakeholder engagement; (iii) sustainable business models versus greenwashing; (iv) contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals. By synthesizing fragmented insights into a validated framework, this research advances understanding in this niche area and exposes the main gaps in existing literature. It also suggests clear directions for future research and offers practical guidance for BC and B‐Corp leaders, investors, and policymakers on governance, transparency, and performance metrics that promote both profit and positive societal impact.

Against the backdrop of the theory of sustainable development and the dramatic increase in global carbon emissions, China has put forward a "dual carbon" goal (Carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals) in 2020, aiming to reduce carbon emissions. This paper analyzes the corporate decision-making and performance of enterprise in power sector under the policies of carbon reduction by selecting Huaneng International as a case study. This research finds that the carbon reduction policy can promote enterprise to limit carbon emission and deepen energy reform in the power industry. Further analysis shows that a positive response to carbon reduction can enrich the energy structure of the company and increase revenues in other ways, thus improving the net operating profit of the company. At the same time, enriching the ESG performance of enterprises is conducive to improving corporate reputation and financing. The case study in this paper not only can inspire Huaneng International to pay attention to weighing corporate benefits while responding to carbon emission reduction, but also for the regulator to strengthen the supervision of carbon emission reduction support financial tools and other support policies to avoid loophole behavior. In the meanwhile, it can also provide relevant reference and inspiration for the power or other industries.

The corruption cases involving sugar importation in Indonesia reveal the role of corporations as beneficiaries of abuses of power that cause state financial losses. This condition highlights the necessity of re-examining the legal construction of corporate criminal liability, particularly the relevance of the “corporate benefit” clause as a basis for prosecution. The research applies a normative juridical approach supported by empirical analysis of relevant court decisions. Findings indicate that the clause serves as a preliminary indicator of corporate fault, linking individual actions to corporate interests. The application of identification, vicarious liability, and aggregation theories reinforces the legal foundation for holding corporations criminally liable when proven to have gained from acts of corruption. Ensuring consistent enforcement of these legal principles is essential to advancing justice and enhancing the effectiveness of anti-corruption efforts in Indonesia.

Social risks, intensifying due to high income differentiation of the population and uneven territorial development of Russia, increase the relevance of research aimed at finding ways to involve companies in solving social problems in their regions of operation, clarifying theoretical provisions and developing methodological tools for social investment. The article proposes, for the first time, an approach to assessing the social inclusiveness/exclusiveness of companies. The purpose of the work is to justify an approach to measuring the social orientation of investments as a trend in the development of Russian companies. This study confirms the need to address the problem of aligning two groups of benefits when implementing socially responsible investments: corporate benefits, which characterize the company’s exclusiveness, and social benefits, which characterize its inclusiveness and arise from the use of its financial resources to implement social development projects in its region of operation. The article shows that the meaning of the term “socially responsible investment” is not clearly defined and quantitative studies are limited by the availability of data for assessment. The possibilities of using data on securities issuance and companies’ investments in socially oriented projects are considered. A company’s position in the ESG rating is used as an indirect indicator of socially responsible investments. An approach to assessing a company’s social inclusiveness, which occurs when investments are directed toward developing the region of operation and its social exclusiveness, corresponding to its orientation toward using the financial resources to solve its own social problems, is proposed. Testing of the approach showed the heterogeneity and instability in assessments and determined the direction of further research, i.e. identifying industry and regional characteristics of social inclusiveness/exclusiveness.

Purpose This study explores the relationship between firms' corporate social responsibility (CSR) expenditure towards poverty alleviation and the implied cost of equity for Indian firms, aiming to contribute valuable insights to the discourse on CSR’s financial implications for inclusion. Design/methodology/approach We construct a panel of 484 firms contributing to poverty alleviation under Section 135, Schedule VII(1) of the Companies Act, 2013, for the period 2014–2020. The study examines the link between CSR spending on poverty reduction and implied cost of equity (COE), where COE is computed using the Ohlson and Juettner-Nauroth (OJ) model. The analysis employs a two-step system GMM, supplemented by pooled OLS, random effects and generalized least squares (GLS) models. A sectoral sub-sample analysis is also conducted to compare results across manufacturing and service firms. Findings Our findings reveal a positive relationship between CSR towards poverty alleviation and implied COE, indicating that mandated spending dampens the corporate benefits for the firms, thus reducing investor optimism and increasing the cost of equity. These results remain robust across alternate model specifications, including pooled OLS, random effects, and GLS estimations. Further, different results are observed for the service industry, where current year spending on CSR towards poverty alleviation reduces the cost of equity for these firms. Practical implications Socially responsible investors typically consider compliance-based CSR a liability. Therefore, companies should align their CSR strategies with their core business practices to convey a genuine signal to investors and capitalize on the COE benefits that voluntary CSR towards poverty reduction can provide in a regulated environment. Social implications Firms are encouraged to integrate CSR strategies with their core business practices, fostering genuine engagement rather than mere compliance. This alignment will enhance the firm’s reputation while helping India achieve Sustainable Development Goal 1 (SDG 1) of poverty alleviation. If implemented with correct intentions, it will help the living standards of those living below the poverty line in India. Originality/value To the best of our knowledge, there is a dearth of studies focussing on CSR activities targeted towards specific goals. Most previous studies have explored CSR as a whole. Also, a dearth of research exists on mandated CSR and its impact on the implied cost of equity.

This study intends to provide insights and challenges for the shape of the B movement, an emerging paradigm that fosters cross-sectoral partnerships and encourages ethical business practices through so-called purpose-driven businesses. Focusing on Italy, the first European country to adopt this managerial model, the research investigates Italian Benefit Corporations, known as Società Benefit (SB), and their most appealing sustainability claims from a consumer perspective. The analysis intends to inform theory development by assuming the cultural and creative industry (CCI) as a field of interest, utilizing a within-subjects experimental design to analyze data from a diverse consumer sample across various contexts. The results indicate that messaging centered on economic sustainability emerged as the most effective in generating positive consumer responses, highlighting a prevailing inclination toward pragmatic factors such as affordability, economic accessibility, and tangible benefits rather than social issues. While sustainable behaviors are not yet widespread, latent ethical sensitivity for authentic, value-driven businesses suggests that economic and ethical dimensions can be strategically synthesized to enhance consumer engagement. This insight highlights the role of BCs in catalyzing a shift in consumption patterns within ethical-based and creative-driven sectors.

Purpose: This study explores the effectiveness of employee development strategies in enhancing workforce skills and motivation, particularly in the context of digital transformation and evolving work environments. It integrates training methodologies, career development initiatives, and motivation theories to provide a holistic framework for sustainable workforce growth. The study also identifies differences in strategy implementation between large corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), addressing key challenges and opportunities in employee development. Research Method: This research employs a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) approach, synthesizing peer-reviewed journal articles and scholarly sources from Elsevier, Emerald, Wiley, and Springer published after 2018. The methodology involves structured data extraction, thematic categorization, and critical analysis to assess trends in training effectiveness, motivation, and career development strategies. By systematically reviewing recent empirical and theoretical studies, this research presents a comprehensive synthesis of the latest insights on employee development. Results and Discussion: The findings highlight that technology-driven training, mentoring, and structured learning initiatives have a significant impact on improving employee competence and motivation. A balance between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is essential for sustaining engagement and retention. The study also underscores the impact of digitalization, necessitating adaptive workforce training models. Differences in strategy implementation between large firms and SMEs reveal that while large corporations benefit from structured development programs, SMEs can leverage alternative strategies such as community-based training and collaborative skill-building initiatives. Implications: This research provides practical insights for business leaders and HR practitioners, emphasizing the importance of data-driven, flexible, and technology-integrated employee development strategies. It also offers policy recommendations for supporting workforce upskilling in response to rapid industry changes. Future research should explore sector-specific workforce development models and empirically validate these strategies in diverse organizational settings.

To avoid negative social and ecological consequences associated with growth-based economics, businesses with a post-growth orientation intentionally forgo scaling for profit maximization and instead seek to scale positive socio-ecological impacts. This study investigates 35 small and medium-sized businesses (33 private and 2 cooperatives) with a post-growth orientation to examine how they strive to scale their positive socio-ecological impact. Our findings reveal four distinct scaling approaches: Enhancement, Expansion, Bridging, and Collaboration. We provide a typology of these four approaches and explain how they can be interlinked to create synergy. Our study shows how private businesses can participate in creating a post-growth economy, thus broadening the scope of previous post-growth research that has focused on other organizational forms such as social enterprises, benefit corporations, and cooperatives.

Abstract While a few corporations benefit from the widespread use of plastics, the rest of society is, ironically, left holding the (plastic) bag. In many cases, the communities most affected by plastic pollution are left out of decisions that directly impact them. This article offers the first analysis of the potential contributions of litigation to environmental justice in the context of plastic pollution. It draws on a comparative review of plastic litigation cases from different jurisdictions across the world to contribute to our understanding of the nexus between litigation, plastic pollution and environmental justice. The article argues that the contributions of plastic litigation to environmental justice are threefold. Firstly, litigation can be used as a tool of procedural justice to empower communities to prevent polluting activities from happening in the first place. Secondly, it can enable the formal recognition of the rights of affected communities and the wrongdoings of polluters. Finally, litigation can be used to further distributive justice by making the plastic industry internalise the social costs of its activities through the remedies awarded by courts. Nonetheless, the article also acknowledges the limitations of litigation and the need for a broader multimodal strategy to effectively address the plastic pollution crisis.

In this article, the author analyses the tax treatment of benefit corporations, focusing on the Italian model (the first in Europe to address this issue). The article examines the ordinary tax regime and its contradictions, particularly regarding the principle applicable to the deductibility of expenses linked to altruistic purposes. An expanded interpretation of this principle is proposed to capture the hybrid nature of these entities. The article ends with a comparative review of the French and Spanish models, highlighting their weak points and future development perspectives.

The debate over corporate purpose – whether corporations ought to exist solely to maximise shareholder value, serve broader societal interests or pursue both – has persisted throughout the history of corporate law. Despite its significance, the United States legal framework offers little clarity. The United States Constitution is silent on corporations, corporate law is primarily state-based and case law on corporate purpose remains limited. Despite this debate and the lack of clarity on what corporations ought to do, as a practical matter, the business judgement rule grants corporate directors and officers broad discretion to adopt a prosocial or stakeholder-oriented corporate purpose. Still, the mechanisms for implementing such an approach remain unclear. This article shifts focus from the normative to the practical and asks: what corporate governance tools and strategies can companies use to operationalise a prosocial corporate purpose? It examines a range of strategies, including voluntary statements; private ordering mechanisms such as shareholder proposals; governance reforms like public interest board members and stakeholder-driven executive compensation; and legal structures such as public benefit corporations (PBCs). These tools vary in both enforceability and impact. Voluntary commitments often lack accountability but can catalyse more substantive reforms. The Delaware PBC provides a legally enforceable mandate to balance stakeholder interests, though only shareholders may enforce it. Board composition and incentive structures remain underutilised and debated. While no single reform is a panacea or appropriate for all corporations, they represent a flexible and evolving toolkit for embedding prosocial goals into corporate governance.

This research investigates consumer segments based on their attitudes, knowledge, and intentions of purchasing Benefit Corporation Certified goods and services. Surveys of 1040 consumers in the United States reported low recognition of the certification (12.69%) and its logo (29.71%). Cluster analysis revealed four stable consumer segments with significantly different environmental attitudes, knowledge of the certification, and role of social impact as criteria for their purchasing decisions. These groups represent distinct opportunities for promoting the certification based on demographics, knowledge, interest, and purchasing criteria. For all four segments, reported familiarity of the certification did not increase ability to identify certified companies. Additionally, geographic location was not significantly different between clusters. A general strategy of associating Benefit Corporation Certification with durability and quality to increase consumer interest is recommended. Strategies for promoting Benefit Corporation Certified goods and services for each consumer segment are discussed.

Several multinational corporations engaged in the trading of agricultural commodities have been active in Romania for several decades. To explain this situation, international business studies put the emphasis on transaction costs and a series of variables that guide location choices. This line of reasoning fails to take proper account of local power relations. The notion of “field”, as conceived by Pierre Bourdieu, offers an alternative. In Romania, multinational corporations contribute to the formation of an entrepreneurial field in which the issue at stake is the exercise of local symbolic power. Their ability to collect and store grain in the long term depends at the same time on this structural organisation. To account for this situation, we need to examine successive decollectivization measures and the resulting benefits for multinational corporations. After the fall of the Communist regime, agricultural entrepreneurs first took advantage of the restitution and redistribution of land to cultivate cereals and oilseeds over vast areas. All of them aim to export their products. However, they have difficulty in controlling this choice due to limited storage capacity. As a matter of fact, multinational corporations engaged in agricultural commodity trading took advantage of a second reform package and now control the main silos. Entrepreneurs looking to sell their crops have to deal with these constraints. Their approach depends on the capital they have at their disposal. This led to internal conflicts, the developments of which we have examined between 2010 and 2017.

ABSTRACTBenefit corporations are businesses characterised by a dual purpose: profit and the common good. While these businesses are expected to pursue a high level of transparency, some studies have noted ambiguous and inconsistent behaviour in the quality of their reports and communication with stakeholders. The literature proposed reporting quality indexes and identified explanatory factors, although specific research on disclosure quality among benefit corporations is lacking. This study aimed to fill this gap by proposing a methodology to assess the quality of sustainability disclosure in benefit corporations. Drawing from a sample of their sustainability reporting in Italy, the study applies qualitative content analysis to create the disclosure quality index and uses a regression model to test potential antecedents. The findings indicate a generally low level of disclosure quality and limited impact of third‐party certification and control mechanisms. These results raise questions on the accountability of benefit corporations and the limitations of their mandatory reporting.

This study explores the multidimensional paths of digital transformation in Fujian’s manufacturing sector, focusing on two contrasting case studies: Zhangzhou Sanbao Group, a traditional heavy industry player, and ABB Xiamen Industrial Center, a leader in automation and electrification. The research investigates the interplay of technological, organizational, and policy factors that shape digital transformation processes. The sudy dicusses the technological advancements, organizational changes, and policy frameworks influencing these firms, to identify key enablers and barriers to digital adoption. The findings suggest that while large corporations benefit from advanced technologies and supportive policies, SMEs face significant challenges due to high adoption costs and limited access to cutting-edge solutions. The study provides insights for policymakers and business leaders on how to create a conducive environment for digital transformation, emphasizing the need for a holistic, integrated approach to overcoming barriers and fostering sustainable growth.

ABSTRACT This study examines how benefit corporations (BCs)—a type of sustainability‐oriented hybrid business dedicated to corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals—are associated with earnings management (EM). Two theoretical perspectives—long‐term strategy and managerial opportunism—shape the hypotheses on the association between BC adoption and EM practices. An empirical analysis is conducted on a panel dataset of 2449 Italian firms (354 BCs and 2095 non‐BCs) from 2014 to 2021. Using Stubben's (2010) conditional earnings model and propensity score matching, the findings suggest that adopting the BC model is linked to a higher likelihood of managerial engagement in EM. Although the BC model emphasizes transparency and accountability, it might unintentionally enable opportunistic behavior, calling into question the assumption that CSR‐oriented business models inherently limit financial manipulation. These findings shed light on the impact of legal frameworks for hybrid organizations like BCs on corporate behavior, offering valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners working to foster ethical business practices.