Maretno Augus Harjoto Conducts Research on Female Directors, Diversity, and Corporate Social Responsibility

Maretno Augus Harjoto, co-authored two research studies to examine the relationship between diversity in leadership positions and the positive impact on the organization's corporate social responsibility. Religiosity, female directors, and corporate social responsibility for Italian listed companies, published in the Journal of Business Research, investigates the link between religiosity and female representation on the board of Italian organizations. Harjoto studied 156 Italian listed companies where he and co-authors were able to show the positive impacts of female representation and local religiosity on the firms corporate social responsibility performance. Harjoto conducted an additional study, board nationality and educational background diversity and corporate social performance, to further examine the relationship between the nationality and education background diversity of directors that serve on corporate boards and whether there was an impact on the organizations’ corporate social performance. Using a sample of U.S. firms, the study found a positive association with nationality and diverse educational background of directors on the organization’s social performance. Harjoto and co-authors found the increasing trend of foreign nationals in U.S. corporate boards could shift the focus of U.S. firms to be more stakeholder-oriented.