Corporate social responsibility committee and other germane governance mechanisms: impacts on corporate social responsibility performance

Abstract This study aims to investigate how the existence of corporate social responsibility committees and other pertinent governance mechanisms impacts corporate social responsibility performance among companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Employing a panel dataset, the research assesses various board characteristics, such as size, independence, gender diversity, and meeting frequency, alongside the presence and attributes of corporate social responsibility committees. The study utilises Generalised Least Squares regression to analyse the data while addressing heteroskedasticity and serial correlation. The findings indicate that board size, independence, and meeting frequency positively influence corporate social responsibility performance, while the existence of corporate social responsibility committees is associated with a negative impact on corporate social responsibility performance. This research contributes to the literature by being the first to apply a multi-centric approach to measure corporate social responsibility performance, and to use more board characteristics to provide empirical evidence on the determinants of corporate social responsibility performance within the unique socio-economic context of South Africa, highlighting the complexities of governance in emerging markets.