Corporate sustainability performance throughout the firm life cycle: Case of Egypt

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Abstract

The role of corporations in society is an age-old debate among practitioners and academics. The corporations’ primary goal is to excel, prosper, and expand financially is no longer suitable for the community. Unfortunately, the need for financial prosperity leads to hazardous workplaces, chemical exposure, and urban decay. Therefore, companies now view internal and external corporate responsibility as a critical business strategy for sustainable management. Thus, examining the impact of firm life cycle stages on business activities, notably sustainability programs and CSR investments, can shed light on a company’s CSR initiatives and sustainability choices. This study uses 420 firm-year data samples from 2013 till 2018 in examining the association between CSR proxied by corporate sustainability performance (CSP) index and firm life cycle for firms listed in the S&P/EGX ESG index. A thorough search of the relevant literature shows that this is the first study to demonstrate this association in Egypt empirically. Our findings show a significant relationship between CSP and firm life cycle stages. The results also show that the firm life cycle has greater explanatory power for CSP levels than previously thought. Therefore, organizations should choose and implement CSR initiatives based on their life cycle stage to ensure long-term value and growth.

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Sustainability Performance, Firm Life Cycle, S&P/EGX ESG Index, Egypt, Corporate Governance, Sustainability, Developing Countries

Authors’ individual contribution: Conceptualization — L.G. and H.W.; Methodology — L.G. and H.W.; Formal Analysis — L.G.; Investigation — L.G. and H.W.; Resources — L.G., H.W., and M.d.R.C.; Data Curation — L.G.; Writing — Original Draft — L.G.; Writing — Review & Editing — M.d.R.C. and H.W.; Visualization — H.W.; Supervision — H.W. and M.d.R.C.; Project Administration — H.W.

Declaration of conflicting interests: The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

JEL Classification: M14, M21, D22, E32, L21, M51

Received: 06.12.2021
Accepted: 04.02.2022
Published online: 07.02.2022

How to cite this paper: Gamal, L., Wahba, H., & Correia, M. R. (2022). Corporate sustainability performance throughout the firm life cycle: Case of Egypt. Corporate Governance and Organizational Behavior Review, 6(1), 79–97. https://doi.org/10.22495/cgobrv6i1p6