Tone Management and Corporate Social Responsibility: The Moderating Role of Board Gender Diversity

Abstract

Financial markets have become sophisticated, and merely quantitative information no longer suffices to meet their needs. This has led to qualitative reports becoming a focal point for many financial market stakeholders, who now consider Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as part of a company's vision, alongside financial statements. Given the lack of a specific framework for textual disclosures, managers have the ability to manipulate the tone of reports by carefully selecting their words. The aim of this research is to investigate how board gender diversity moderates the relationship between abnormal tone (tone management) and corporate social responsibility, as well as the relationship between the tone of these reports and corporate social responsibility. The research sample consists of 784 observations from a total of 112 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange during the years 2015 to 2021. The results indicate that the presence of at least one woman on the board weakens the relationship between abnormal tone, abnormal tone from the previous year, and the tone of the board’s activity report with CSR reporting. Additionally, there is a significant negative relationship between the abnormal tone of the board's activity report from the previous year and CSR reporting.

Keywords

• corporate social responsibility
• tone management
• abnormal tone
• gender diversity