How corporate social responsibility mediates the relationship between corporate governance and sustainability performance in UK: a multiple mediator analysis

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the direct and indirect links between corporate governance and sustainability performance using corporate social responsibility. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on a sample consisting of 300 UK firms over the 2005–2017 period. This study applied structural equations models that specify both a direct and an indirect link between corporate governance and sustainability performance. Findings The authors find that corporate governance has a positive effect on sustainability performance. In addition, this study shows that corporate social responsibility fully mediates the relationship between corporate governance and sustainability performance in UK firms. Practical implications This study shows that firms are invited to engage more in sustainability performance and corporate social responsibility activities, which reduces agency conflicts between managers and shareholders. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, no research studies examined empirically the direct and indirect relationship between corporate governance and sustainability performance. Therefore, the main contribution of this research is to show how corporate governance effectiveness leads to higher corporate social responsibility level and sustainability performance using two analyses methods (mediator analysis and multiple mediator analysis).