IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibn/resjnl/v17y2026i2p108.html

Corporate Social Responsibility and Asymmetric Cost Behavior Under the Influence of Corporate Governance

Author

Listed:
  • Anastasia Filiou
  • Apostolos Ballas
  • Christos Tzovas

Abstract

A sample of European firms engaging in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities is investigated in this study with regard the occurrence of asymmetric cost behavior in their operating expenses under the umbrella of corporate governance structures. The empirical findings of the paper provide evidence that operating expenses exhibit cost stickiness in the case of firms with stronger engagement in CSR activities. The firms with high intensity of CSR engagement seem to exhibit less operating cost stickiness under stronger corporate governance mechanisms. The findings of this study suggest that in addition to economic factors, managers’ choices regarding adjusting costs may be influenced by corporate social responsibility engagement and governance mechanisms which could thus help explain operating costs’ behavior of European firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Anastasia Filiou & Apostolos Ballas & Christos Tzovas, 2026. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Asymmetric Cost Behavior Under the Influence of Corporate Governance," Review of European Studies, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 17(2), pages 108-108, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibn:resjnl:v:17:y:2026:i:2:p:108
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/res/article/download/0/0/52686/57404
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/res/article/view/0/52686
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sandra A. Waddock & Samuel B. Graves, 1997. "The Corporate Social Performance–Financial Performance Link," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(4), pages 303-319, April.
    2. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    3. Mark C. Anderson & Rajiv D. Banker & Surya N. Janakiraman, 2003. "Are Selling, General, and Administrative Costs “Sticky”?," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(1), pages 47-63, March.
    4. María Inés Stimolo & Marcela Porporato, 2020. "How different cost behaviour is in emerging economies? Evidence from Argentina," Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 10(1), pages 21-47, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Oh, Seungbin & Choi, Ahrum, 2025. "How does divergence of control and cash-flow rights influence cost stickiness?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(3).
    2. Surroca Aguilar, Jorge & Tribo Gine, José Antonio, 2009. "Is managerial entrenchment always bad? : a CSR approach," IC3JM - Estudios = Working Papers id-09-01, Instituto Mixto Carlos III - Juan March de Ciencias Sociales (IC3JM).
    3. Cyndi Man Zhang & Helen Wei Hu & Toru Yoshikawa, 2025. "Shareholder Satisfaction or Societal Benefit? Coalition Support and Goal Prioritization," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 202(2), pages 307-334, November.
    4. Christian Engelen, 2015. "The effects of managerial discretion on moral hazard related behaviour: German evidence on agency costs," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 19(4), pages 927-960, November.
    5. Won-Yong Oh & Jongseok Cha & Young Kyun Chang, 2017. "Does Ownership Structure Matter? The Effects of Insider and Institutional Ownership on Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(1), pages 111-124, November.
    6. Amitava Roy, 2014. "Corporate Governance and Firm Performance: An Exploratory Analysis of Indian Listed Companies," Jindal Journal of Business Research, , vol. 3(1-2), pages 93-120, June.
    7. Luminita Enache & Khaled Hussainey, 2020. "The substitutive relation between voluntary disclosure and corporate governance in their effects on firm performance," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 413-445, February.
    8. M. A. Gulzar & Jacob Cherian & Jinsoo Hwang & Yushi Jiang & Muhammad Safdar Sial, 2019. "The Impact of Board Gender Diversity and Foreign Institutional Investors on the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Engagement of Chinese Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-19, January.
    9. Yaghoub Abdi & Xiaoni Li & Xavier Càmara‐Turull, 2022. "How financial performance influences investment in sustainable development initiatives in the airline industry: The moderation role of state‐ownership," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(5), pages 1252-1267, October.
    10. Othar Kordsachia & Maximilian Focke & Patrick Velte, 2022. "Do sustainable institutional investors contribute to firms’ environmental performance? Empirical evidence from Europe," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(5), pages 1409-1436, July.
    11. Jiyeon Lee & Jin-Ha Park & Jiwon Hyeon, 2019. "Co-CEOs and Asymmetric Cost Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-15, February.
    12. Juan Diego Alzate-G mez & Di genes Lagos Cort s & Percy Marquina Fieldman, 2020. "Corporate Social Responsibility Practices and Economic Performance in Colombia: The Moderating Effect of Family Control," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 10(1), pages 6-18.
    13. Yunyi Li & Charl de Villiers & Lina Zixuan Li & Leye Li, 2022. "The moderating effect of board gender diversity on the relation between corporate social responsibility and firm value," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 109-143, March.
    14. Alghafes, Rsha & Karim, Sitara & Aliani, Khaoula & Qureishi, Naila & Alkayed, Lama, 2024. "Influence of key ESG factors on Islamic banks’ financial performance: Evidence from GCC countries," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    15. Narsa Goud Neralla, 2022. "Can corporate governance structure effect on corporate performance: an empirical investigation from Indian companies," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(3), pages 282-300, September.
    16. Rey Đặng & Lubica Hikkerova & Michel Simioni & Jean-Michel Sahut, 2023. "How do women on corporate boards shape corporate social performance? Evidence drawn from semiparametric regression," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 330(1), pages 361-388, November.
    17. Hans B. Christensen & Luzi Hail & Christian Leuz, 2021. "Mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting: economic analysis and literature review," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 1176-1248, September.
    18. Huang, Yuxuan & Zhang, Qiancheng, 2025. "Patient capital and corporate ESG Performance: Empirical evidence from the Chinese stock market," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    19. Ballouk, Houssein & Serret, Vanessa & Khenissi, Mohamed, 2025. "The environmental and social performance of firms and the impact of different types of institutional ownership: A French perspective," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(PA).
    20. Xingqiang Du, 2014. "Does Religion Mitigate Tunneling? Evidence from Chinese Buddhism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 299-327, December.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ibn:resjnl:v:17:y:2026:i:2:p:108. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Canadian Center of Science and Education (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.