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The AI-policy-governance nexus: How regulation and AI shift corporate governance toward stakeholders

Author

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  • Cordeiro, Cheryl Marie
  • Adomaitis, Laurynas
  • Huang, Lei

Abstract

This study investigates how artificial intelligence (AI), when deployed under sustainability-oriented policy regimes (e.g., the EU AI Act, CSRD, and the U.S. SEC climate disclosure rule), is catalyzing a shift in corporate governance toward stakeholder accountability. Using a curated corpus of seven open-access regulatory and policy texts, we apply a triangulated approach, corpus linguistics (AntConc) and semantic network analysis (InfraNodus), to map how disclosure, risk, assurance, and stakeholder terms structure the discourse. Robustness checks across three stopword specifications (Spec A/B/C) and phrase-level evidence (N-grams/KWIC) corroborate the centrality of disclosure/report/assurance and the conditional peripherality of transparency/accountability. We propose the AI-Policy-Governance Nexus, a conceptual model explaining how regulatory pressure and AI integration reconfigure governance practices beyond compliance. The findings inform strategy, policy design, and future empirical work on AI-enabled ESG systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Cordeiro, Cheryl Marie & Adomaitis, Laurynas & Huang, Lei, 2026. "The AI-policy-governance nexus: How regulation and AI shift corporate governance toward stakeholders," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:84:y:2026:i:c:s0160791x25003070
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2025.103117
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