Purpose – This study aims to examine whether and how gender diversity on corporate boards is associated with voluntary nonfinancial disclosures, particularly water disclosures. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses corporate water information disclosure data from Chinese listed firms between 2010 and 2018 to conductregression analyses to examine the association between female directors and water information disclosure. Findings – Empirical results show that female directors have a significantly positive association with corporate water information disclosure. Additionally, internal industry water sensitivity of firms moderates this significant relationship. Originality/value – This study determined that female directors can promote not only water disclosure but also positive corporate water performance, reflecting the consistency of words and deeds of female directors in voluntary nonfinancial disclosures.

This study aims to examine the influence of Chinese immigrants on Canadian business culture and the role of Chinese business associations in shaping the Canadian business landscape. A qualitative research design was used to explore the topic, and semi-structured interviews were conducted as the primary method of data collection. 25 participants were selected for the study through purposive sampling, including Chinese immigrant business owners, employees of Chinese-owned businesses, and members of Chinese business associations in Canada. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data collected through the interviews and identify patterns and themes that emerged from the participants’ responses. The study found that Chinese immigrants have had a significant influence on Canadian business culture and that Chinese business associations play an important role in promoting business cooperation between different cultural groups. The results also suggest that embracing cultural diversity in the business environment has both benefits and challenges, and businesses must effectively manage cultural diversity in the workplace to promote cooperation between different cultural groups. This study provides valuable insights into the ways in which Chinese immigrants have shaped the Canadian business landscape and the importance of embracing cultural diversity in the business environment. [译]本研究旨在探讨华裔移民对加拿大商业文化的影响，以及华人商业协会在塑造加拿大商业格局中的作用。本研究采用定性研究设计，以半结构化访谈作为主要的数据收集方法。通过目标抽样选定了25名参与者，包括加拿大华裔移民企业主、华裔企业员工，以及加拿大华人商业协会的成员。本研究通过访谈收集数据，并使用主题分析法对参与者的回答进行模式和主题的识别与分析。研究发现，华裔移民对加拿大商业文化产生了显著影响，同时，华人商业协会在促进不同文化群体之间的商业合作中发挥着重要作用。研究结果还表明，在商业环境中拥抱文化多样性既带来了利益也带来了挑战，企业必须有效地管理工作场所中的文化多样性，以促进不同文化群体之间的合作。本研究为理解华裔移民如何塑造加拿大商业格局，以及商业环境中拥抱文化多样性的重要性提供了有价值的见解。

In today’s global business landscape, successful cross-cultural collaboration is not just an asset but a necessity. This article explores essential strategies for achieving effective collaboration between Chinese and Canadian business teams, emphasizing the critical role of cultural intelligence. We delve into understanding cultural differences, their impact on decision-making and communication, and the keys to building high-performing cross-cultural teams. Real-world case studies highlight success stories, and actionable strategies for bridging cultural gaps are provided. By embracing these insights, businesses can unlock the potential of cross-cultural cooperation, leading to better decision-making, enhanced communication, and stronger, more effective teams.

This article delves into the imperative shift from diversity to true equity in organizations, emphasizing the pivotal role of inclusive leadership. It traces the evolution of diversity and inclusion efforts, elucidates the essence of inclusive leadership, and underscores the compelling business case for achieving equity. The article elucidates the attributes and behaviors of inclusive leaders and provides strategies for overcoming challenges in implementing inclusive leadership. Additionally, it offers a structured framework for leaders to develop and refine their inclusive leadership skills. Case studies of organizations that have successfully embraced inclusive leadership are presented as inspirational exemplars. The conclusion highlights the transformative potential of inclusive leadership and urges readers to take actionable steps towards becoming inclusive leaders. Resources for further learning and development are provided, concluding with a powerful call to action, emphasizing the profound positive impact of inclusive leadership on individuals, organizations, and society as a whole.

This study investigates the relationship between directors’ foreign experience and corporate environmental disclosure in Chinese listed firms from 2009 to 2017. The research shows that directors with foreign experience have a positive and significant impact on corporate environmental disclosure. This effect is more pronounced in nonstate-owned enterprises, where directors have greater influence over managerial decisions. Additionally, the study suggests that in industries with high energy consumption, high pollution, or overcapacity, the positive effect can be further enhanced by having at least three directors with foreign experience or foreign experience members in the audit committee. The impact of experiential diversity on environmental disclosure is greater than that of board gender and independence diversity. The findings suggest that policymakers and firms prioritize the recruitment of directors with diverse experiences to improve their environmental disclosure practices.

This study examines whether firms’ financial fraudulent behavior varies when local firms are led by nonlocal CEOs. Building on the social identity theory, we argue that nonlocal CEOs, due to their different location-based social identities, are perceived as outgroup leaders and face intergroup bias from stakeholders within local firms. Therefore, nonlocal CEOs are more likely to conform to laws and regulations and reduce corporate financial fraud to enhance their legitimacy in leading local firms. Using panel data on Chinese listed firms from 2007 to 2020, we find a significantly negative correlation between nonlocal CEOs and the likelihood of corporate financial fraud. Furthermore, our moderating analysis indicate that the negative effect of nonlocal CEOs on corporate financial fraud is stronger (a) for CEOs who have neverwon awards, (b) in firms with poor financial performance and (c) in regions with tight cultures. Additional mechanism tests indicate that nonlocal CEOs’ outgroup identity is more prominent in regions with low regional dialect diversity and local private-owned enterprises. Overall, these findings suggest that choosing a nonlocal CEO warrants attention from the firm’s top management teams and stakeholders.

We show that attention constraints of decision makers create barriers to financial inclusion. Using administrative data on retail loan screening processes, we find that attention-constrained loan officers exert less effort reviewing applicants from lower social or economic status (SES) backgrounds and reject them more frequently. More importantly, when externally imposed increases in workload tighten attention constraints, loan officers are even more prone to quickly rejecting low SES applicants but quickly accepting very high SES applicants without careful review, further widening the approval rate gap between high and low SES applicants — a unique prediction of the attention-based mechanism. Our findings suggest that decision makers’ attention constraints could amplify taste-based and statistical discrimination, which further exacerbates financial inclusion gaps, and that financial technologies that reduce information-processing costs may promote more balanced financial access.

Does the ancient farming culture shape the risk-taking behavior of households today? Using a dataset covering over 130,000 households from a Chinese national survey, our study examines the relationship between the culture of rice cultivation and the financial behavior of modern households. We find that households in regions with a higher rate of historical rice cultivation are more likely to invest in the financial market and buy lottery, but less likely to purchase insurance. We also find that the rice area has more households with risk preferences consistent with prospect theory expectations. To account for omitted variable bias, we use average regional rainfall and downstream distance to ancient irrigation systems as instrumental variables for rice cultivation, and our results remain robust. We find that the rice effect cannot be explained by regional economic development, traditional Confucian values, or ethnic diversity. To explore potential mechanisms, we find that households in rice regions are more likely to borrow money from friends and relatives and have interest waived, and historical commercial development has also been influenced by the rice culture.

We show that attention constraints of decision makers function as barriers to financial inclusion. Using administrative data on retail loan screening processes, we find that loan officers exert less effort reviewing applicants from unattractive social or economic backgrounds and reject them more frequently than justified by credit quality. More importantly, when quasi-random workload variations tighten officer attention constraints, unattractive applicants receive even worse treatment—review-time halves and approval rates drop by approximately 40%—while attractive applicants are not affected. Our findings suggest that financial technologies that reduce information-processing costs may promote more balanced financial access.

This study investigates the relationship between gender diversity on the board and dividend payouts in China using a large sample over the period 2003–2017. Our results provide robust and strong evidence showing that gender diversity on the board is positively associated with cash payments of dividends. The empirical outcomes confirm that gender diversity on the board facilitates corporate governance and subsequently promotes dividend payouts. We demonstrate that gender diversity on the board has the greatest effect when the board has critical mass participation (three or more female directors) compared with only their token participation. However, independent female directors increase dividend payouts, while female executive directors do not have a significant impact. Furthermore, we extend the literature on the relationship between dividend payments and government ownership by providing evidence that gender diversity has a higher impact on dividend payouts for state-owned enterprises than non-state-owned enterprises. After controlling the endogeneity problems, our findings are reliable and robust.