Emerging Markets Finance and Trade

Recent advances in corporate ESG and CSR engagement: The role and perspectives of sustainable finance

Environment, social, and governance (ESG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) awareness has become the focus of global attention. Firms engage in ESG and CSR activities in responding to stakeholders’ demand, as a business strategy, and perform their duties as a societal citizen. In contrast to the traditional concept of focusing only on financial performance, ESG/CSR extends the boundaries of corporate governance to all social activities of a company. According to Gillan et al. influential paper, “Interest in ESG/CSR from the corporate perspective is indicated by the Governance & Accountability Institute which, in 2018, reported that 86% of S&P 500 firms released sustainability or corporate responsibility reports compared with just under 20% in 2011.”

 

While a voluminous body of literature study ESG/CSR from corporate finance perspectives, the literature does not provide a systematic examination for the role and perspectives of emerging market governments in ESG/CSR. An important stakeholder of a firm, governments, especially those in emerging markets, can directly or indirectly impact corporate engagement in ESG/CSR through taxes, subsidies, regulations, or other government policies and interventions. In particular, emerging markets are generally characterized as having capital market impediments, heavily rely on informal institutions, poor corporate governance, and most importantly the dominant role of government in corporate activities. In the special issue, we sincerely invite scholars to submit their works towards the goals of exploring the role and perspectives of emerging market governments on corporate ESG/CSR engagement. We are particularly interested (but not limited) to the following topics:

 

• Evaluate the effectiveness of taxes, subsidies, regulations, or other government policies and interventions on corporate ESG/CSR performance in a long-term and systematic manner;
• Examine how corporate ESG/CSR disclosure impacts the extent of government taxes, subsidies, regulations, or other government policies and interventions;
• Advances in new government policy to promote corporate ESG/CSR engagement;
• Advances in governmental response to corporate green washing activities;
• The impact of government budget on taxes, subsidies, regulations, or other government policies and interventions in corporate ESG/CSR engagement;
• The moderating effect of corporate digital transformation for the impact of government on corporate ESG/CSR engagement;
• Government regulatory improvement, such as ESG/CSR enforcement, on corporate ESG/CSR engagement;
• Corporate finance, Corporate governance, and Sustainable finance;

 

CONFERENCE VENUE

2024 The SBS International Conference for Finance (SBSICF)

Conference Theme: “New Developments in Sustainable Finance”

 

June 21 – June 22, 2024, Onsite at Shanghai Business School (SBS), Shanghai, China

No.2271 West Zhongshan Road, Shanghai, China

Hosted by the Research Center of Finance, Shanghai Business School, Shanghai, China

 

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:

TBC

 

Conference Chair: Johnny Chan, Shanghai Business School, China

Conference Co-Chair: Yuan-Teng Hsu, Shanghai Business School, China

PAPER SUBMISSIONS:

The deadline for conference paper submission is May 31, 2024 (early submission is highly encouraged). Please submit two PDF files: one with title page including author information (including emails) and one without title page to [email protected]. Please use “Submission to 2024 SBSICF” as the title of your email. There is no submission fee. We only consider papers in English. Submitted manuscripts will be peer-reviewed by the program committee. The authors will be notified of the review committee’s decision by June 7, 2024.

 

PUBLICATION OPPORTUNITIES

A subset of papers will be invited to submit to the special issues of the Emerging Markets Finance and Trade. Special Issue Editors (Johnny Chan, and Yuan-Teng Hsu) will expedite the review process of invited papers by using the regular paper submission standards at these journals. We expect the special issues will appear in early 2025. While presenting a paper at the conference is not a prerequisite to be included in a special issue, we give preference to those presented papers.

 

Submission to the special issue:

The Emerging Markets Finance and Trade’s submission system will be open for submissions to our Special Issue starting August 1, 2024. Please select the article type “VSI: 2024 SBSICF.” Please submit your manuscript before December 1, 2024.

Submission portal closes: December 1, 2024

Expected dates for publication: June 2025

 

CONFERENCE CONTACT:

For additional information, please feel free to contact us via email.

Yuan-Teng Hsu

Research Center of Finance, Shanghai Business School

No.2271 West Zhongshan Road, Shanghai, China

[email protected]

Instructions for Authors