The Relationship among Board Characteristics, Corporate Social Responsibility Performance and Financial Performance in Software and IT-Services Industry

The goal of this study is to identify whether there is a relationship between the board characteristics and the company's CSR performance, and to test whether the company's CSR performance improves the financial performance of the companies in the software and IT-service industry. The object of this research is 240 companies from Software and IT-services industry. The data for this research was collected from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database for IT firms listed there between 2015 and 2019. CSR performance were measured using the overall ESG scores and its three components: environmental, social, governance scores. Empirical results of study show, that presence of a CSR committee in the company has a positive effect on the company's CSR performance and CRS committees contribute to the development of the company's CSR activities in the software and IT-services industry. Also, according to the results obtained, the presence of an independent director on the board of directors does not improve the company's CSR performance. A statistically significant positive relationship was found between board gender diversity and CSR performance. Also, a positive relationship between board diligence and ESG performance, Governance performance was observed. During the research, no statistically significant relationship was found between CSR performance and financial performance. The main obtained findings in this research can be used by academics and practically implemented by specialist of IT industry. These findings help the professionals to develop CSR strategic development plans that have an impact on shareholders and stakeholders.