Global Finance Journal, Call for Papers

Guest Editor: Hoje Jo, Santa Clara University

In corporate finance and investment practices, corporate social responsibility (CSR), socially responsible investing (SRI), and business ethics have become a crucial part of managerial concerns for firms around the world because the issues of social responsibility, business ethics, sustainability, socially responsible investing, employee relations, workforce diversity, climate change, and the environment have emerged as some of the most important factors for managerial decision making in recent years. However, there has been considerable debate over whether CSR activities can be beneficial for shareholder value.

There are two competing explanations: agency theory and stakeholder value maximization theory. Traditional views assume that a corporation’s goal should be to generate profits, and thus society friendly programs are thought to deplete shareholders, with negative long-term effects on their value. Principal-agent theory, in particular, argues that managers have an interest in overinvesting in CSR if doing so provides model managers with the private benefits of reputation building, at a cost to shareholders. In contrast, proponents of stakeholder value maximization theory believe that corporations with stakeholder-friendly programs attract socially responsible consumers and public, improving their reputations, which then positively affect future financial performance and lead to an increase in shareholder wealth. Although these studies have enhanced our understanding of the interactions between firms’ stakeholder relationships and corporate decisions, they only do so from the stakeholder-friendly initiatives-financial performance perspective, with almost no attention to the influence of CSR and business ethics on financial markets. This lack of evidence is surprising, given that firms’ CSR and ethical concerns are increasingly being viewed as one of the most important factors for competitive success in financial markets nowadays.

This special issue of the Global Finance Journals aims to address the theoretical and empirical issues related to recent developments of CSR, SRI, and business ethics in financial markets. Topics considered include, among others, but not limited to: CSR and corporate governance across countries; the impact of investment and financing of CSR in financial markets; CSR and agency problems across countries; CSR and firm risk across countries; CSR, religion, and finance; Corporate environmental responsibility (CER) and financial performance across countries; CER and firm risk across countries; Employee relations and firm risk; Causes and consequences of microfinance; Microfinance and regulation across countries; Socially responsible banking; Ethics in corporate finance; Ethics and globalization; Ethics in financial markets; The role of the CEO in designing an ethical organization; Socially responsible investing across countries; Opportunities for doing well by doing good; Social entrepreneurship; Value creation and stakeholder management.
Interested authors should submit through the journal’s website and designate the submission for the Special Issue on “Ethics in financial markets” in their cover letter.

Submission Deadline: January 31, 2017

Author Notification Date: April 30, 2017