Consideration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors can contribute to the environmental and economic performance of organizations in terms of investment and sustainability. This article thoroughly reviews the following factors influencing decisions regarding ESG policy by businesses: economic performance, environmental sustainability, pollution and waste, corporate social responsibility, gender, and governance structure. Moreover, we review the impact of these factors considering ESG disclosure, the global pandemic, religion, governing board and size, national interest, and technological advancements. The literature reports that ESG disclosures of environmental, economic, and social sustainability performance can strengthen business sustainability and performance. Religion-based businesses demonstrated better socio-environmental performance but not governance. An independent governing board has a positive impact; however, dual-gender boards negatively impact ESG disclosure. Significant diversification potential in ESG investments was observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adopting an ESG policy enhances the innovation capacity, innovative activities, value creation, and financial performance of businesses. Overall, the social and environmental performance demonstrated a significantly positive relationship with business sustainability, indicating that business economy and creating value for society are mutually dependent. The literature summary presented in this review will help future research on ESG factors that influence business investments and sustainability.
ABSTRACT This paper aimed to assess the impact of the changing business cycles on the CSR–Financial Performance relation of Indian firms. For this purpose, a panel data set of 70 Indian firms listed in NIFTY‐100 for a period of 10 years, that is, 2010–2019, was employed. CSR data for this study was collected from the published reports of the firms under study. The electronic database “Capitaline” was used as the data source for the financial variables. The paper used panel data modeling to study the effect of CSR on financial performance. Also, robustness analysis was conducted to check the results across alternate specifications. The results revealed that CSR has a significant negative impact on financial performance in the expansion phases. In contrast, no significant impact was observed in the recession phases of business cycles.
ABSTRACTThe reasons underlying the inconsistency in corporate social responsibility (CSR) behaviors have been a topic of ongoing controversy, especially in emerging markets characterized by substantial government intervention, where the issue is further complicated. An empirical examination of private listed companies in China from 2010 to 2019 investigates the factors contributing to the inconsistency in CSR behaviors under political intervention, assessing the impact of political connections on different types of CSR and the moderating role of institutional environments. Additionally, it analyzes the economic consequences of various CSR types under political connections. The findings indicate that: (1) political connections facilitate external CSR while inhibiting internal CSR practices; (2) economic and legal environments play a moderating role in the relationship between political connections and CSR behaviors. Specifically, the financial environment can mitigate both the negative impact of political connections on internal CSR and the positive impact on external CSR. However, the legal environment only reduces the negative effect on internal CSR without influencing the suppression of external CSR; (3) for firms with political connections, external CSR has a negative impact on corporate value, whereas internal CSR contributes to the long‐term growth of corporate value. These insights enrich the understanding of CSR behaviors in emerging markets and offer practical guidance for managers and policymakers in crafting CSR strategies that align with institutional contexts.
Michael D. Ekstrand, Afsaneh Razi, Aleksandra Sarcevic
et al.
Recommender systems are usually designed by engineers, researchers, designers, and other members of development teams. These systems are then evaluated based on goals set by the aforementioned teams and other business units of the platforms operating the recommender systems. This design approach emphasizes the designers' vision for how the system can best serve the interests of users, providers, businesses, and other stakeholders. Although designers may be well-informed about user needs through user experience and market research, they are still the arbiters of the system's design and evaluation, with other stakeholders' interests less emphasized in user-centered design and evaluation. When extended to recommender systems for social good, this approach results in systems that reflect the social objectives as envisioned by the designers and evaluated as the designers understand them. Instead, social goals and operationalizations should be developed through participatory and democratic processes that are accountable to their stakeholders. We argue that recommender systems aimed at improving social good should be designed *by* and *with*, not just *for*, the people who will experience their benefits and harms. That is, they should be designed in collaboration with their users, creators, and other stakeholders as full co-designers, not only as user study participants.
The spread of toxic content on online platforms presents complex challenges that call for both theoretical insight and practical tools to test intervention strategies. In this novel research paper, we introduce a simulation-based framework that extends the classical SEIZ (Susceptible-Exposed-Infected-Skeptic) epidemic model to capture the dynamics of toxic message propagation. Our simulator incorporates active moderation mechanisms through two distinct variants: a basic moderator, which implements uniform, non-personalized interventions, and smart moderator, which leverages user-specific psychological profiles based on Dark Triad traits to apply personalized, threshold-driven moderation. By varying parameter configurations, the simulator allows for systematic exploration of how different moderation strategies influence user state transitions over time. Simulation results demonstrate that while generic interventions can curb toxicity under certain conditions, profile-aware moderation proves significantly more effective in limiting both the spread and persistence of toxic behavior. This simulation framework offers a flexible and extensible tool for studying and designing adaptive moderation strategies in complex online social systems.
ABSTRAK
Industri batubara Indonesia berada di bawah tekanan yang semakin besar dari publik, investor, dan regulator untuk meningkatkan praktik keberlanjutan karena kontribusinya terhadap degradasi lingkungan dan emisi karbon. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) diposisikan sebagai strategi bisnis yang krusial dalam menjaga legitimasi dan reputasi perusahaan sesuai dengan tuntutan environmental, social, and governance (ESG). Efektivitas CSR dalam membangun reputasi perusahaan masih menimbulkan perdebatan, khususnya pada kondisi ketika kinerja keuangan mengalami ketidakstabilan dan penerapan Green Technology Innovation (GTI) belum berjalan secara optimal. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis pengaruh CSR terhadap reputasi perusahaan, dengan mempertimbangkan peran moderasi kinerja keuangan dan Green Technology Innovation (GTI). Pendekatan yang digunakan adalah kuantitatif dengan metode Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Populasi penelitian mencakup 74 perusahaan sektor energi, dengan sampel sebanyak 14 perusahaan batubara yang terdaftar di Bursa Efek Indonesia (BEI) selama periode 2022 2023 dengan menggunakan teknik purposive sampling. Variabel CSR diukur berdasarkan indikator Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), reputasi perusahaan berdasarkan indeks media dan persepsi publik, kinerja keuangan melalui Return on Assets (ROA), dan GTI diukur dari proporsi pengungkapan teknologi hijau dalam laporan perusahaan. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa CSR berpengaruh positif dan signifikan terhadap reputasi perusahaan. Kinerja keuangan memperkuat hubungan tersebut secara signifikan, sedangkan GTI berperan sebagai pemoderasi negatif.
ABSTRACT
The Indonesian coal industry faces increasing pressure from the public, investors, and regulators to enhance sustainability practices due to its contribution to environmental degradation and carbon emissions. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is positioned as a crucial business strategy to maintain corporate legitimacy and reputation in line with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) demands. The effectiveness of CSR in building corporate reputation remains debated, particularly when financial performance is unstable and the implementation of Green Technology Innovation (GTI) is not yet optimal. This study aims to analyze the effect of CSR on corporate reputation by considering the moderating roles of financial performance and GTI. A quantitative approach with Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed. The research population consisted of 74 energy companies, with a sample of 14 coal companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) during the 2022–2023 period, selected through purposive sampling. CSR was measured using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicators, corporate reputation was assessed through media indexes and public perception, financial performance was proxied by Return on Assets (ROA), and GTI was measured by the proportion of green technology disclosures in company reports. The findings indicate that CSR has a positive and significant effect on corporate reputation. Financial performance significantly strengthens this relationship, while GTI acts as a negative moderator
The article examines the genesis of corporate sustainability reporting, which arose from the concept of corporate social responsibility. The analysis of historical aspects covers the main periods of origin and formation of the concept of sustainability reporting. The prerequisites for the emergence of the concept of «sustainable development» and its impact on the reporting process are considered, with special attention paid to the scientific works that became the prerequisites for the formation of this concept. The key international initiatives and standardization processes are characterized. The role of GRI standards, the implementation of EU directives and the practice of creating common international standards IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 are analyzed. The modern challenges of reporting are outlined, including the need to ensure transparency, unification of approaches and integration of environmental, social and economic aspects into the activities of the enterprise. The author characterizes the change in focus from financial indicators to a comprehensive reflection of environmental, social and governance aspects of companies’ activities. Particular attention is paid to the standardization process and its impact on corporate reporting practices. It is determined that non-financial reporting contributes to increased transparency, stakeholder trust and more informed management decisions. The main advantages of reporting standardization are also outlined, including increased investor confidence, comparability of reports and increased efficiency. The challenges accompanying the implementation of standards are also discussed, including the need to adapt business models and improve reporting mechanisms. The study emphasizes the need for further development of regulatory approaches and integration of sustainable development practices into corporate strategy.
The analysis of social media information has undergone significant evolution in the last decade due to advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). This paper provides an overview of the state-of-the-art techniques in social media mining, with a practical application in analyzing trends in the 2024 French legislative elections. We leverage natural language processing (NLP) tools to gauge public opinion by extracting and analyzing comments and reactions from the AgoraVox platform. The study reveals that the National Rally party, led by Marine Le Pen, maintains a high level of engagement on social media, outperforming traditional parties. This trend is corroborated by user interactions, indicating a strong digital presence. The results highlight the utility of advanced AI models, such as transformers and large language models (LLMs), in capturing nuanced public sentiments and predicting political leanings, demonstrating their potential in real-time reputation management and crisis response.
To observe how individual behavior shapes a larger community's actions, agent-based modeling and simulation (ABMS) has been widely adopted by researchers in social sciences, economics, and epidemiology. While simulations can be run on general-purpose ABMS frameworks, these tools are not specifically designed for social networks and, therefore, provide limited features, increasing the effort required for complex simulations. In this paper, we introduce Crowd, a social network simulator that adopts the agent-based modeling methodology to model real-world phenomena within a network environment. Designed to facilitate easy and quick modeling, Crowd supports simulation setup through YAML configuration and enables further customization with user-defined methods. Other features include no-code simulations for diffusion tasks, interactive visualizations, data aggregation, and chart drawing facilities. Designed in Python, Crowd also supports generative agents and connects easily with Python's libraries for data analysis and machine learning. Finally, we include three case studies to illustrate the use of the framework, including generative agents in epidemics, influence maximization, and networked trust games.
Ismail Hossain, Md Jahangir Alam, Sai Puppala
et al.
Social media platforms are extensively used for sharing personal emotions, daily activities, and various life events, keeping people updated with the latest happenings. From the moment a user creates an account, they continually expand their network of friends or followers, freely interacting with others by posting, commenting, and sharing content. Over time, user behavior evolves based on demographic attributes and the networks they establish. In this research, we propose a predictive method to understand how a user evolves on social media throughout their life and to forecast the next stage of their evolution. We fine-tune a GPT-like decoder-only model (we named it E-GPT: Evolution-GPT) to predict the future stages of a user's evolution in online social media. We evaluate the performance of these models and demonstrate how user attributes influence changes within their network by predicting future connections and shifts in user activities on social media, which also addresses other social media challenges such as recommendation systems.
Abstract This study is to examine the translation of a reputable brand into equity and how consumers’ perceptions can trigger value creation from commitment and pursuit of CSR by an organization and adopting the same as a brand, lifestyle, and culture, while pointing attention to the stakeholder’s theory as well as pointing to brand interactions from consumer perceptions based on a mixed methods research approach from quantitative and qualitative analyses as presented with a sampling survey of 205 observations and respondents from Roma and neighbourhood. A CSR-based business model tied to the cultural and lifestyles of the people in brand context, while deciphering and delineating consumer behavior, even pointing significantly to the “black box models and rational choices,” would foster effectiveness and efficiency in the operational modules as well as impact on financial performance as unveiled from the qualitative data analysis and inferential statistics, thus emphasizing the significance of brand from the consumer side. It can be inferred that culture and traditional behavior play significant roles in brand perception considering the complexes, unpredictable trends, or patterns associated with consumers’ expressions and behavior in the context of a black box, rational and complex mixes, even justified by the result of the hypothesis testing of the composite attributes and evident from the ‘inference statistics and results, which gave a p–value exceeding 0.05. Conclusively, a CSR–based business model and structure can enhance change transitions from short– term to long– term goals, drive to sustainability, localized stabilization, and sustainable domains. Even brand interactions can be significantly enhanced by CSR, as ascertained by the relatively high R– squared value of 0.8826 and the justification of statistical significance from the factors as indicated by the ‘SEM results and analyses. Organizations can essentially adopt and apply the concept of bran translating to equity from CSR and consumer perceptions when embedded in their business model as a strategic tool in enhancing their performances and finances.
Social responsibility of business, Business ethics
Purpose: The objective of this paper is to examine the effect of Shari’ah and corporate governance on the performance of the Islamic banks in Pakistan.
Design/methodology/approach: This research uses a hand-gathered data on Shari’ah and corporate governance of the major Islamic banks in Pakistan for the period of 2018 to 2023. The selection of index uses the Islamic Corporate Governance (ICG) where various necessary attributes of Shari’ah board (SB) is considered. By way of data analysis, basic measures such as mean, mode, and standard deviation used, as well as correlation coefficient and panel REM regression.
Findings: The conclusion of the study establishes that Shari’ah governance factors especially the functioning of Shari’ah boards have bigger impact toward financial performance of Islamic banks than corporate governance factors. Further, capital adequacy has a positive effect (Equity to Total Assets, EQTA) on the performance but loan provision has a negative effect on the performance (Net Loans to Total Assets, NLTA). Preposterously, Shari’ah Board Education (SBE) takes negative signs, stating that excessive education on the Shari’ah board may cause such board to make extra conservative decisions no longer brought about by way of profitability but through compliance.
Research limitations/implications: Strong, autonomous Shari’ah boards positioned to focus solely on the supervisory contexts can improve stakeholder confidence and performance of Islamic banks. The results presented in this study can be beneficial for Pakistan’s policymakers and those authorities that regulate IFIs.
Originality/value: This research enhances the stock of knowledge on Shari’ah governance, corporate governance and their effects on financial performance in the context of Pakistan’s Islamic banking sector.
Small and medium businesses play a crucial role in national economic affairs, requiring contributions from various factors to support their performance. In Indonesia, SMEs encounter varying levels of environmental dynamics based on industry characteristics, directly impacting resource acquisition, marketing strategies, and overall performance. Additionally, SMEs require an entrepreneurial orientation fostering innovation and risk-taking to ensure business success. Thus, this research aims to analyze and explore the impact of entrepreneurial orientation on SME performance, with a focus on assisting and promoting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Furthermore, the study seeks to examine whether environmental dynamics and access to capital moderate the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and performance. The sample for this research comprises 139 small and medium businesses affiliated with Bank Indonesia and PT. Bank Rakyat Indonesia in Yogyakarta, with assistance provided by both companies. A mixed-method approach was employed, utilizing PLS analysis to test hypotheses. Results indicate that entrepreneurial orientation significantly influences SME performance within Bank Indonesia and PT Bank BRI. Conversely, environmental dynamics and capital access do not significantly moderate the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and SME performance. However, qualitative analysis suggests that SMEs still require assistance, particularly in continuing CSR programs to enhance performance..
Abstract This study investigates whether and how the intensity of social distancing from the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic influences the corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure index. An empirical examination is carried out based on data from the Shanghai Stock Exchange from 2020 to 2022. CSR disclosure index is measured by the percentage of CSR‐related press releases from the total press releases published on a certain day. The intensity of the COVID‐19 pandemic is measured by the daily confirmed cases among the population in China. This research uses the two‐stage least squares regression model to alleviate the endogeneity issues. Findings reveal a reverse correlation between the intensity of the COVID‐19 pandemic and the CSR disclosure. The results are consistent and robust to endogeneity tests and sensitivity analyses. Findings support the stakeholder–agency theory and indicate that Chinese managers tend to satisfy the shareholders' interests rather than those of other broad stakeholders. Moreover, Chinese managers tend to choose short‐term survival rather than long‐term development in times of social distancing.