Legal Systems, Internationalization and Corporate Sustainability: An empirical analysis of the influence of national and international authorities
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In: Corporate Governance, Vol. 17, No. 5, 2017, p. 861 - 875.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Legal Systems, Internationalization and Corporate Sustainability
T2 - An empirical analysis of the influence of national and international authorities
AU - Hörisch, Jacob
AU - Burritt, Roger
AU - Christ, Katherine
AU - Schaltegger, Stefan
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Purpose: This paper aims to compare the influence of different legal systems on corporate sustainability management practices. Against the background of growing internationalization of business activities, it additionally considers whether internationalization allows companies to circumvent the influence of national authorities. Design/methodology/approach: Three legal systems are compared using regression analyses of more than 200 large corporations in five countries: common law (USA and Australia), German code law (Germany) and French code law (France and Spain). Findings: The impact of national and international authorities is found to be strongest in French code law countries. In addition, the influence of international authorities is stronger for corporations with higher shares of international sales. For both national and international authorities, the degree of internationalization is found to moderate the influence of the legal system on corporate sustainability practices. Practical implications: The legal system in place influences the relative effectiveness of national and international authorities over company sustainability practices and needs to be taken into account in policymaking. To be effective, international authorities need to work with or substitute for national authorities in promoting corporate sustainability practices in countries depending on their legal systems. Originality/value: This research applies and quantitatively tests La Porta’s (1998) framework on legal systems in the new context of corporate sustainability. © 2017, © Emerald Publishing Limited
AB - Purpose: This paper aims to compare the influence of different legal systems on corporate sustainability management practices. Against the background of growing internationalization of business activities, it additionally considers whether internationalization allows companies to circumvent the influence of national authorities. Design/methodology/approach: Three legal systems are compared using regression analyses of more than 200 large corporations in five countries: common law (USA and Australia), German code law (Germany) and French code law (France and Spain). Findings: The impact of national and international authorities is found to be strongest in French code law countries. In addition, the influence of international authorities is stronger for corporations with higher shares of international sales. For both national and international authorities, the degree of internationalization is found to moderate the influence of the legal system on corporate sustainability practices. Practical implications: The legal system in place influences the relative effectiveness of national and international authorities over company sustainability practices and needs to be taken into account in policymaking. To be effective, international authorities need to work with or substitute for national authorities in promoting corporate sustainability practices in countries depending on their legal systems. Originality/value: This research applies and quantitatively tests La Porta’s (1998) framework on legal systems in the new context of corporate sustainability. © 2017, © Emerald Publishing Limited
KW - Sustainability sciences, Management & Economics
KW - internationalization
KW - corporate sustainability
KW - Sustainability management
KW - Code law
KW - Common law
KW - Legal system
KW - Internationalization
KW - Corporate Sustainability
KW - Sustainability Managament
KW - Code law
KW - Common law
KW - Legal system
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85029519956&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1108/CG-08-2016-0169
DO - 10.1108/CG-08-2016-0169
M3 - Journal articles
VL - 17
SP - 861
EP - 875
JO - Corporate Governance
JF - Corporate Governance
SN - 1472-0701
IS - 5
ER -