An Arc of Neoliberalism: Boards’ Responses to Explicitization of Governance in Europe

• In Event: 40860 - Section on Economic Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 3. Neoliberalism revisited

Abstract

This study examines how boards in the coordinated market economies select members upon the introduction of ESG scores. While implicit CSR emphasized social values, obligations, and consensus on the corporations’ roles, we argue that given the popularity of ESG scores in the capital market, an appointment of a director with a background of top ESG scores signals an orientation to engage in market competition when the market device was first introduced. We found that in an embedded structure, the traditional behavioral norm in coordinating social efforts deterred some boards from adopting such a competitive orientation. Moreover, the more the elite circle resembled a nested world, the stronger the communal norm on the boards.

Authors

• Eugene Yi Cheong Tung, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Toru Yoshikawa, Waseda University