Essays on corporate social responsibility : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Finance, School of Accountancy, Economics and Finance, Massey University

Abstract

This thesis comprises three essays advancing the literature on workplace safety, an important component of corporate social responsibility. The first essay examines how generalist CEOs with transferable managerial skills enhance workplace safety. These executives improve safety by optimizing labor investments, reducing employee workloads, and ensuring higher information quality. The relation is more pronounced among firms facing financing constraints or intense market competition. The study also shows that workplace injuries and illnesses reduce innovation, productivity, and firm value. The second essay explores the impact of shareholder distraction on workplace safety. Distracted shareholders are linked to higher rates of work-related injuries, especially in firms with weak governance and high competition risks. Our findings suggest that reduced monitoring by distracted shareholders leads to lower safety investments, increased workloads, and greater earnings management, resulting in a poorer safety environment. The third essay investigates how the inclusion of general counsel in top management improves employee safety. Firms with general counsel in senior leadership are associated with lower injury and illness rates. The relation is more pronounced for firms with better information quality, more efficient labor investment, leadership by lawyer CEOs, weaker governance structures, and heightened agency problems. Overall, these essays provide new insights into how corporate leadership and governance influence workplace safety. The thesis offers contributions to the literature on workplace safety by addressing critical gaps in existing research. This work extends theoretical frameworks such as upper echelon theory by applying it to the domain of workplace safety. It also underscores the practical implications of aligning leadership capabilities and governance mechanisms to safeguard human capital, ultimately driving sustainable firm performance.