Social pillar score and the CSR Committee: An empirical analysis of corporate governance mechanisms

This is empirical research on corporate governance mechanisms. Specifically, this study addresses the potential impact ofthe corporate social responsibility committee (CSRc) on the social pillar score (SP). Based on a sample of 457 listed European companies from the Refinitiv Thomson-Eikon database over a one-year period (2021), this paper examines the effect of the existence of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) committee and the moderating effect of gender diversity on the social pillar score. From our analysis, we show that the more firms have CSR committees, the more likely they are to adopt “socially responsible policies and practices”. In addition, the presence of female directors on the board positively moderates the previous relationship. Therefore, this research stresses that gender diversity in conjunction with CSR committees is a significant predictor of a firm's social initiatives. Thus, our findings show that CSR committees and gender diversity are socially sensitive variables. Finally, the analysis also demonstrates that there is a positive relation between the variables of firm size, board size, role duality and board independence and the social pillar score.