Towards a Sustainable Future: The Interaction of Corporate Governance and Sustainable Policies with Corporate Social Responsibility

Abstract

This study explores how the characteristics of a company’s board and audit committee, as well as their implementation of environmental and social policies, affect their corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance. The sample for this analysis comprises Nifty 500 listed non-financial companies in India. The study draws secondary data from the Bloomberg database and annual reports of the sample firms and utilises panel data analysis to determine the impact of these factors on CSR performance. The results show that board size and implementation of environmental and social policies have a positive impact on CSR, whereas audit committee size and independence have a negative effect. Interestingly, board independence and gender diversity did not have a significant association with CSR performance.