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This study aims to systematically consolidate and quantitatively integrate the mixed empirical results on the association between ownership mechanisms and voluntary carbon disclosure using meta-analysis and further propose potential country-level moderators of this relationship.

The authors apply meta-analytic procedures on 55 empirical studies conducted during 2008–2022, covering 13 countries, 85 effect sizes and 226,473 firm-year observations. To gauge the significance of the estimated mean effect size, a random-effects Hedges and Olkin meta-analysis procedure is adopted, followed by a restricted maximum likelihood based meta-regression, to test the effect of possible moderators.

Aligned with agency and stakeholder theories, the results highlight institutional and state ownership (SO) as having a significant positive impact on voluntary carbon disclosure. On the other hand, ownership concentration, managerial and foreign ownership have an insignificant effect on voluntary carbon disclosure. Based on institutional theory perspectives, the authors confirm the impact of institutional ownership on voluntary carbon disclosure to be more prominent in civil law countries and those countries that have implemented an emission trading scheme (ETS).

The finding that institutional and SO in firms can translate into higher voluntary disclosures deems investors and the government as crucial stakeholders in achieving carbon neutrality. Furthermore, the finding that the effect of institutional investors on carbon disclosure is heightened in ETS-implemented countries provides evidence to the regulatory authorities in favour of this scheme.

The positive impact of institutional and government ownership on voluntary carbon disclosure highlights that these ownership structures not only have the potential to transform corporate decisions but also have implications for the wider society. As firms owned by institutional investors disclose their carbon information, it provides access to critical information about their environmental practices to the public. This fosters an environment of transparency and trust between the firm and its stakeholders (the community), leading to an overall well-informed society.

While prior meta-reviews studied the impact of corporate governance on voluntary disclosures, the meta-literature, as of 2024, has yet to address its influence specifically on carbon disclosures, which are pertinent amidst the ongoing global climate change crisis. The findings inform policymakers about the pivotal institutional factors that can amplify the impact of effective ownership structures on voluntary carbon disclosure. Future scope exists for investigating the effects of ownership mechanisms on firm-level sustainable investments. Furthermore, future empirical analysis could consider the moderating influence of “culture” and “ease of doing business” on the ownership-carbon disclosure relationship.

With the growing concern of various sectors of society regarding environmental issues and the promotion of sustainable development, green technology innovation is generally considered to be conducive to the long-term development of enterprises. However, because of the existence of agency problems, managers may have shortsighted behaviors. Then how will managers' shortsighted behaviors affect enterprises' green technology innovation?

This paper uses machine learning-based text analysis methods to construct a manager myopia index based on the data from A-share listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2015 to 2020. We examine the impact of manager myopia on green technology innovation in companies.

Our study finds that manager myopia significantly inhibits green technology innovation in companies. However, when multiple large shareholders coexist and the proportion of institutional investors' holdings is high, it can alleviate the inhibitory effect of manager myopia on green innovation. Heterogeneity tests show that the impact of manager myopia on green technology innovation is relatively significant in non-state-owned and manufacturing companies, as well as in the electricity industry. Robustness tests demonstrate that our conclusions remain valid after using propensity score matching to eliminate endogeneity problems.

From the perspective of corporate governance, this paper incorporates managers' shortsightedness, multiple large shareholders and institutional investors' shareholding ratios into the same logical framework, analyzes their internal mechanisms, helps improve corporate governance, enhances green innovation capabilities and has strong implications for the implementation of national innovation-driven development strategies and the achievement of “carbon peak” and “carbon neutrality” targets.

The authors examine whether internal corporate governance mechanisms are effective in curbing cash flow manipulation through real activities, misclassification, and timing.

The sample comprises of firms from an emerging market, India with data for years 2004 through 2015. The authors use the methodology given in Roychowdhury (2006).

The authors find that corporate boards in India play an active role in curbing cash flow manipulation through real activities but fail to control cash flow manipulation through misclassification and timing.

The study suggests that corporate boards should pay more attention to the reported cash flow numbers. Regulators can reduce the opportunities available for cash flow misclassification by fixing relevant accounting and governance norms. Auditors can also help by critically focusing on the cash flow classifications presented by management.

This study, to the authors’ knowledge, is the first study that talks about the role of internal governance in a trade-off between different cash flow manipulation techniques.

This paper examines whether the adoption of Japan’s Stewardship Code by institutional investors influences their preference for investee companies' governance quality. The Code, introduced by the Financial Services Agency in 2014, promotes constructive engagement between institutional investors and investee companies. Engagement with investees should improve institutional investors' ability to assess governance quality across their portfolios. The paper examines if this results in a positive relationship between the levels of Code-compliant institutional shareholding and investee governance quality.

The association between Code-compliant institutional shareholding levels and a governance quality score is examined for Nikkei 500 companies.

A positive association is observed between shareholdings by Code-compliant institutional investors and investee governance, with board independence playing a key role. Analysis shows that the association between institutional shareholding and governance is stronger for the Code-compliant shareholding than for overall institutional shareholdings. In addition, no significant relationship is found between the levels of shareholding by non-Code-compliant institutional investors and the governance quality score of investee companies. Taken together, the results suggest that Code adoption strengthens institutional investors' preference for high-quality investee governance.

Despite the introduction of stewardship regulation worldwide, there is a scarcity of empirical research that examines its operation. The study contributes to the existing literature by providing insights into how compliance with stewardship regulation influences institutional investor decision-making.

This study investigates the economic outcomes of the strategic deviation (SD), the fundamental and crucial question in institutional theory and strategic management. Previous studies have yielded contradictory findings. This study reconciles conflicting results by distinguishing the effects of the SD on financial and market performance, examining the mechanism of financing constraints and the boundary condition of institutional investor heterogeneity.

This research collected data from Chinese A-shares listed manufacturing firms from 2009 to 2021 from the CSMAR and Wind databases. This study conducted empirical tests using OLS models with Stata 15.

Empirical results demonstrate that the SD has different impacts on different dimensions of performance. The SD negatively impacts financial performance while positively impacts market performance. Financing constraints mediate the main effects. Moreover, transactional institutional investors positively moderate the negative effect of the SD on financial performance, whereas stable institutional investors negatively moderate the positive effect of the SD on market performance.

By systematically revealing how the SD has different effects on financial and market performance, this study reconciles the debate on the SD between institutional theorists and strategy scholars. This research makes contributions to the research stream by providing reasonable explanations for conflicting conclusions. Furthermore, by introducing the overlooked perspective of financing constraints, this research identifies crucial mediating mechanisms and highlights the double-edged effect of financing constraints, enriching our understanding of financing constraints. Finally, this study investigates the moderating effects of institutional investor heterogeneity, thereby making valuable contributions to the comprehension of boundary conditions.

The purpose of this paper is to study how CEO power impact corporate tax avoidance. In particular, this paper aims to empirically examine the moderating impact of institutional ownership on the relationship between CEO power and corporate tax avoidance.

The multivariate regression model is used for hypothesis testing using a sample of 308 firm-year observations of Tunisian listed companies during the 2013-2019 period.

The results show that CEO power is negatively associated with corporate tax avoidance and that institutional ownership significantly accentuates the CEO power’s effect on corporate tax avoidance. This implies that CEOs, when monitored by institutional investors, behave less opportunistically resulting in less tax avoidance.

Our findings have significant implications for managers, legislators, tax authorities and shareholders. They showed that CEO duality, tenure and ownership can mitigate the corporate tax avoidance in Tunisian companies. These findings can, hence, guide the development of future regulations and policies. Moreover, our results provide evidence that owning of shares by institutional investors is beneficial for reducing corporate tax avoidance. Thus, policymakers and regulatory bodies should consider adding regulations to the structure of corporate ownership to promote institutional ownership and consequently control corporate tax avoidance in Tunisian companies.

This study differs from prior studies in several ways. First, it addressed the emerging market, namely the Tunisian one. Knowing the notable differences in institutional setting and corporate governance structure between developed and emerging markets, this study will shed additional light in this area. Second, it proposes the establishment of a moderated relationship between CEO power and corporate tax avoidance around institutional ownership. Unlike prior studies that only examined the simple relationship between CEO power and corporate tax avoidance, this study went further to investigate how institutional ownership potentially moderates this relationship.

The current research strives to shed light on how ownership structure can impact carbon emission disclosure.

The present study is based on S&P BSE 500 Indian firms. Using manual content analysis, carbon emission disclosure data were collected from a final sample of 318 nonfinancial Indian firms over seven years, i.e. from 2016–17 to 2022–23, having 2,226 firm-year observations. The panel regression has been employed to examine the association between ownership structure and carbon emissions disclosure.

The results of the study suggest that ownership structure variables, such as institutional and foreign ownership, exert a positive and significant influence on carbon emission disclosure. Conversely, block-holder ownership is negatively associated with carbon emission disclosure.

This study enriches the emerging literature on environmental disclosure, climate change, carbon emission disclosure and ownership structure.

The present research work provides treasured acumens to corporate managers, investors, regulators and policymakers as the study corroborates that ownership structure has an imperative role in firms' carbon emission disclosure.

Existing literature has determined the impact of ownership structure on environmental disclosure. In contrast, the current research extends the climate change literature by providing novel insights into how ownership structure can influence firms’ carbon emission disclosure. Moreover, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the present study is the first to scrutinize the relationship between ownership structure and carbon emission disclosure in the Indian context.

The present study aims to investigate the impact of corporate governance proxies by ownership structure and firm-specific characteristics, i.e. firm size, leverage, growth opportunities, previous year dividend, firm risk, profitability, and liquidity on dividend behavior of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) listed firms.

Final sample of the study consists of 140 PSX-listed firms. The study covers a period of six years, starting from 2015 to 2020. Dividend payout dummy, dividend payout ratio, and dividend yield were used to assess the dividend behavior of the sample firms. The appropriate regression procedures (logistic, probit, ordinary least square (OLS), and fixed effect regression) are used to test the study hypothesis. To check the robustness of the result, a system GMM estimation technique is also used in the present study.

The study reveals that institutional ownership, foreign ownership, and individual ownership have a significant positive whereas managerial ownership has a significant negative impact on the dividend decision of sample firms. Among firm-specific characteristics, it was found that liquidity, profitability, and the previous year's dividend were significantly positive, while growth opportunities were significantly inversely associated with dividend payout decisions of PSX-listed firms.

This study sheds light on the relationship between dividend policy, ownership structure, and firm-specific factors in the context of an emerging market like Pakistan. The study's findings have important implications for managers, minority shareholders, lawmakers, and investors looking for guidance on the dividend policy of publicly-traded non-financial firms.

The literature lacks studies that together analyze the ownership characteristics and firm-specific variables on dividend decisions, particularly in the context of developing economies. The current study aims to fill this gap.

This study aims to investigate the effect of overconfident chief executive officers (CEOs) on corporate tax avoidance and whether this relationship is affected by institutional and family ownership.

Using a sample of French-listed firms from 2009 to 2021, the authors find that firms managed by overconfident CEOs engage in more tax avoidance practice.

The authors further find that institutions and families are likely to discourage tax avoidance practices, paying close attention to their long-term horizons and reputational concerns. Overall, the authors' findings shed light on the monitoring role of institutional and family shareholders in restraining the effect of CEO behavioral bias on companies' tax avoidance.

To the authors' knowledge, no study has investigated the impact of managerial overconfidence on the tax behavior of French firms. The authors also extend the growing literature regarding managerial effects by providing new evidence that French firms held by concentrated institutional and family ownership curtail CEO overconfidence behavior toward corporate tax avoidance practices.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between chief executive officer (CEO) power and the level of tax avoidance of Tunisian listed companies. It also examines the moderating role of institutional ownership in this association.

The sample comprises 306 firm-year observations of companies listed on the Tunis Stock Exchange during the 2013–2020 period.

The results indicate that CEO power reduces tax avoidance levels. Moreover, the relationship between CEO power and tax avoidance is more pronounced in the presence of institutional ownership, suggesting that CEOs act less opportunistically when monitored by institutional investors, which results in a reduction in tax avoidance.

This study suggests that CEO power and institutional shareholders’ influence are important factors in determining firms’ avoidance behavior. This study has significant implications for shareholders and regulatory bodies. Indeed, shareholders apprehend the impact of appointing a powerful CEO on tax avoidance practices. This study may also provide regulators with new insights into the influence of CEO power dimensions and institutional ownership on tax aggressiveness.

This study fills the gap in the accounting literature by investigating how CEO power may impact tax avoidance behavior and provides empirical evidence on the moderating impact of institutional ownership on this relationship in an emerging economy context characterized by a weakly protected investor setting.