Board Attributes and Corporate Social Responsibility: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Research Perspectives

Abstract

The relationship between board attributes and corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained considerable attention from academicians and researchers in the past few decades. This systematic literature review paper aims to analyse empirical evidence on the impact of board characteristics on CSR. A content analysis of 159 articles extracted systematically from the Scopus and WOS databases revealed a significant upsurge in the area in the last decade mainly in the past three years. It was found that a large majority of the existing works were single-country studies mainly from the developed nations; though cross-country works and research from developing countries have gained momentum in recent years. The study highlighted important trends in publication in the area, the most researched as well as less analysed board attributes, various measures of CSR variables, the type of sample organisations considered, and commonly used research techniques. The study makes a useful contribution to the extant literature by providing insight into the existing works and indicating knowledge gaps and future research perspectives. The findings of the study would also be useful for the policy makers and regulators in further strengthening the corporate governance codes and regulations, so as to help organisations in improving their social performance.