Table 1 Description of the variables... | Emerald Publishing

Table 1

Description of the variables

Variable	Code	Description
Dependent variable
Social score	soc_score	“The social pillar measures a company’s capacity to generate trust and loyalty with its workforce, customers and society, through its use of best management practices. It is a reflection of the company’s reputation and the health of its license to operate, which are key factors in determining its ability to generate long-term shareholder value. The score is a number between 0 and 100 showing how the company performs compared to the entire ASSET4 universe based on the «Value» in the related indicator” (source: ASSET4 ESG Content Datastream, 2011)”
Independent variables related to the corporate governance practices
CSR committee	csr_committee	A dummy variable equal to 1 whether the firm set up the CSR committee and zero otherwise
CSR sustainability reporting	csr_sustainability_reporting	A dummy variable equal to 1 whether the firm adopted a CSR sustainability reporting and zero otherwise
Internal audit department reporting	internal_audit_department_reporting	A dummy variable equal to 1 whether the firm set up internal audit department reporting and zero otherwise
Stakeholder engagement	stk_engag_score	The score measures the firm’s attitude in explaining “(…) how it engages with its stakeholders. The score is a number between 0 and 100 showing how the company performs compared to the entire ASSET4 universe based on the «Value» in the related indicator” (source: ASSET4 ESG Content Datastream, 2011)
Independent variables related to the following firm performance: profitability, value creation process and corporate risk level
Return on assets	roa_lag1	The ratio of net income to total assets with a lag of one year
Book value per share	bookvaluepershare_lag1	The ratio of total common stockholder’s equity to number of common shares with a lag of one year
Gearing	gearing_lag1	The ratio of total debt to total shareholders’ equity with a lag of one year
Moderating variables
stk_engag_score*csr_committee		Interaction between the stakeholder engagement and the presence of the CSR committee
stk_engag_score* (1-csr_committee)		Interaction between the stakeholder engagement and the absence of the CSR committee
Control variable
Economic performance of the nations	nations_ec_perf	It is one of the four “factors” used for the calculation of World Competitiveness. The score stems from the standardization of the statistics related to 83 criteria focused on the following scopes: domestic economy, international trade, international investment, employment and prices. It ranges from 0 to 100

Variable	Code	Description
Dependent variable
Social score	soc_score	“The social pillar measures a company’s capacity to generate trust and loyalty with its workforce, customers and society, through its use of best management practices. It is a reflection of the company’s reputation and the health of its license to operate, which are key factors in determining its ability to generate long-term shareholder value. The score is a number between 0 and 100 showing how the company performs compared to the entire ASSET4 universe based on the «Value» in the related indicator” (source: ASSET4 ESG Content Datastream, 2011)”
Independent variables related to the corporate governance practices
CSR committee	csr_committee	A dummy variable equal to 1 whether the firm set up the CSR committee and zero otherwise
CSR sustainability reporting	csr_sustainability_reporting	A dummy variable equal to 1 whether the firm adopted a CSR sustainability reporting and zero otherwise
Internal audit department reporting	internal_audit_department_reporting	A dummy variable equal to 1 whether the firm set up internal audit department reporting and zero otherwise
Stakeholder engagement	stk_engag_score	The score measures the firm’s attitude in explaining “(…) how it engages with its stakeholders. The score is a number between 0 and 100 showing how the company performs compared to the entire ASSET4 universe based on the «Value» in the related indicator” (source: ASSET4 ESG Content Datastream, 2011)
Independent variables related to the following firm performance: profitability, value creation process and corporate risk level
Return on assets	roa_lag1	The ratio of net income to total assets with a lag of one year
Book value per share	bookvaluepershare_lag1	The ratio of total common stockholder’s equity to number of common shares with a lag of one year
Gearing	gearing_lag1	The ratio of total debt to total shareholders’ equity with a lag of one year
Moderating variables
stk_engag_score*csr_committee		Interaction between the stakeholder engagement and the presence of the CSR committee
stk_engag_score*(1-csr_committee)		Interaction between the stakeholder engagement and the absence of the CSR committee
Control variable
Economic performance of the nations	nations_ec_perf	It is one of the four “factors” used for the calculation of World Competitiveness. The score stems from the standardization of the statistics related to 83 criteria focused on the following scopes: domestic economy, international trade, international investment, employment and prices. It ranges from 0 to 100