Digital Commons Network^™

Sustainable Investing: Navigating The Inefficiencies Of An Inefficient Market, Dale Herndon

Business Administration Dissertations

Over the past decade, sustainable investing, also known as socially responsible investing, ethical investing, or responsible investing, has experienced heightened popularity worldwide. This popularity reflects the increasing awareness of investors of social, environmental, ethical, and corporate governance issues. However, while retail investors' interest has increased, their actual participation has been nominal. This paper explores the question: How do individual investors incorporate sustainability-related experiences, information, learning, or a combination of these in deciding to invest in sustainable investments? This study aims to identify the barriers and enablers that may inhibit or facilitate participation in sustainable investments.

The study follows a grounded …

The Esg Behaviors Of Multinational Enterprises: An Exploration Of Emerging And Developed Market Norms, Julie A. Anderson

Business Administration Dissertations

This paper examines how, when, and where environmental, social, and governance (ESG) behavior varies globally. I build on existing research that proposes country-of-origin constructs, such as regulatory and cultural foundations, influence ESG behavior of firms. Specifically, I propose that perceived differences in ESG standards for developed and emerging markets incentivize multinational enterprises (MNEs) to exhibit different levels of Corporate Social Irresponsibility (CSI) when operating abroad versus at home. My findings show that developed market-headquartered MNEs behave more irresponsibly in emerging markets than they do at home, while emerging market MNEs behave better when operating in developed markets. Importantly, the abroad-versus-home …

Corporate Sustainability: The Impact Of Corporate Leadership Gender On Year-Over-Year Performance, Jennoa R. Graham

Business Administration Dissertations

Women continue to be underrepresented in corporate leadership positions in the global market. There has been limited research on the impact of female leaders’ influence on corporate sustainability over time. This paper contributes to the literature addressing leaders’ gender, corporate sustainability, and business ethics. Previous scholars have suggested the long-term effectiveness of corporate sustainability improves when females are in corporate leadership positions because of gender differences in business strategy and ethical considerations influenced by social roles. In this quantitative study, the relationships between corporate leaders’ gender and their companies’ financial, environmental, social, and governance performance over 4 years were examined. …