Examinando por Autor "Aracil, Elisa"

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A purpose-action framework for Corporate Social Responsibility in times of shock
(Elsevier, 2021) Forcadell, Francisco Javier; Aracil, Elisa
Extreme events undermine progress towards social sustainability and urge an immediate and broad response from the private sector. Nevertheless, corporate interventions in the face of a shock differ from traditional Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) actions in some essential aspects not addressed by the literature. To solve this gap, we propose a purpose-action framework to examine and categorize 218 post-shock CSR interventions from 111 companies operating in Spain during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The framework allows assessing their heterogeneous social sustainability impact. We identify a set of firm dynamic sustainability capabilities -leadership, intentionality, prior stakeholder engagement, and partnership building-underpinning corporate purpose and action to develop an effective and efficient post-shock CSR. This exploratory study extends the literature on the company–society interface and provides a guide to foster social sustainability through CSR in times of shock.
Effects of environmental corporate social responsibility on innovativeness of Spanish industrial SMEs
(Elsevier, 2021) Forcadell, Francisco Javier; Úbeda, Fernando; Aracil, Elisa
This study analyzes how environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) strategies contribute to enhancing innovativeness among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by developing technological resources. We test our hypotheses over an eight-year period using a panel of 2,405 industrial SMEs in Spain. We empirically find that ECSR drives the building of firms’ technological resources, which results in an enhancement of their technological effort or R&D and outcomes in terms of product and process innovation. ECSR intensifies innovation for innovative firms and catalyzes the inception of innovation for previously non-innovating firms, and the resultant effects are sustained over time. We contribute to the literature by analyzing the effects of ECSR in promoting the innovation of firms beyond the well-known influence on green innovation. Further, we examine the neglected research area of the environmental strategies of SMEs. Our findings strengthen the instrumental innovative value of ECSR, specifically for SMEs.
How sustainable banking fosters the SDG 10 in weak institutional environments
(Elsevier, 2022) Ubeda, Fernando; Forcadell, Francisco Javier; Aracil, Elisa; Méndez, Alvaro
The role of the financial sector is central in reducing income inequality – the goal of SDG 10 – by facilitating economic opportunities. However, institutional weaknesses may also undermine this effect. We argue that sustainable banking generates bidirectional trust to overcome institutional weaknesses, particularly the weak rule of law. Empirical evidence from 46 countries aggregating data of 1060 banks over 2010–2017 shows that sustainable banking lessens income inequality in weak rule of law settings. The results are robust after including the effects of bank digitalisation. This study has important implications for sustainable banking expansion into weak institutional environments and demonstrates banks’ efforts in their commitment to reducing inequality.
Sustainable banking: A literature review and integrative framework
(Elsevier, 2021) Aracil, Elisa; Nájera-Sánchez, Juan-José; Forcadell, Francisco Javier
The literature on sustainable banking has been prolific since the beginning of the century. This context prompts the need to understand and categorize an increasingly heterogeneous body of sustainable banking literature. We perform a literature review using bibliometric techniques of 676 articles published between 1995 and 2019 in the Web of Science (WoS) database. Our results provide a perspective on the evolution of the sustainable banking literature over time and across academic categories and journals. An integrative framework emerges from the review, providing a comprehensive perspective of the nine clusters or thematic areas in sustainable banking literature embedded in three domains: Ethical Foundations, Sustainable Products, and Business-Case. The framework integrates the rich literature on sustainable banking, maps the predominant research areas, and highlights the primary research gaps. Finally, the literature review demonstrates a progressive convergence of the instrumental and ethical approaches to sustainable banking. This convergence highlights the importance of both the vivid societal debate around the role of banks in the advancement toward sustainability and the business rationale for banks to engage in sustainable strategies.
The firm under the spotlight: How stakeholder scrutiny shapes corporate social responsibility and its influence on performance
(Wiley, 2022) Forcadell, Francisco Javier; Lorena, Antonio; Aracil, Elisa
Since stakeholders cannot directly observe corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts, companies attempt to back up their increasing sustainability claims by sending CSR signals. The environment in which signaling takes place influences the credibility of the signals. Among the factors that make up the signaling environment, the overall exposure of the company to different stakeholders (i.e., stakeholder scrutiny) has been neglected by the literature. Using signaling and stakeholder theories, we argue how stakeholder scrutiny shapes CSR signals' credibility. We empirically analyze a sample of 5762 firms across several sectors from 23 developed countries from 2013 to 2017. Stakeholder scrutiny exercises a positive effect on the credibility of CSR signals through a mediated-moderated impact of CSR (across environmental, social, and governance dimensions) on firm performance.
The impact of corporate sustainability and digitalization on international banks’ performance
(Wiley, 2020) Forcadell, Francisco Javier; Aracil, Elisa; Ubeda, Fernando
We analyse the implications for international banks of two contemporary megatrends: corporate sustainability (CS) and digital-ization. The digital environment and the availability of massive data from customers generate asymmetric information forbanks to the detriment of customers, who experience individual vulnerabilities such as privacy rights. This can hinder the posi-tive influence of digitalization in banks’performance, with relevant managerial and political implications. In this context, thereputation generated by CS strategies can constitute a credence factor that reduces customers’fears of opportunistic behaviorand information asymmetries. We test andfind support for our hypothesis over a panel data of large international banks fromdeveloped countries. Ourfindings shed light on the mutual reinforcement of CS and digitalization strategies in enhancingbanks’market performance and efficiency
Using reputation for corporate sustainability to tackle banks digitalization challenges
(Wiley, 2020) Forcadell, Francisco Javier; Aracil, Elisa; Úbeda, Fernando
The new landscape in the financial sector, characterized by fierce competition and the entrance of new technological players, has forced banks to speed up their digital transformation. However, for banks, digitalization entails challenges that can hinder the potential benefits and compromise their survival. In this context, we argue that the reputation generated by corporate sustainability (RCS) may offset these digitalization drawbacks. In particular, we find that the combination of RCS and digitalization facilitates in transforming the organizational nature of banks by simultaneously narrowing their boundaries and expanding their scope. We empirically confirm our hypotheses by analyzing a panel of 110 multinational banks from developed countries.