The direct and moderating effects of power distance on carbon transparency: An international investigation of cultural value and corporate social responsibility

There are limited studies on the influence of national culture on corporate social responsibility, and thus, the issue is underexplored. Using an international sample, we show that higher power distance decreases corporate carbon transparency. In addition to this direct effect, we find that power distance also plays a moderating role in the relationship between carbon performance and carbon transparency. We report evidence of a negative association between carbon disclosure and carbon performance in our sample firms, which suggests that disclosure is driven by legitimation purposes. Further findings demonstrate that the tendency toward legitimation is more pronounced in countries with high power distance, which implies that a lower concentration of power promotes corporate social responsibility and reduces carbon opaqueness. Overall, our findings significantly enhance understanding of the role of culture in managerial response to climate change. Such an understanding is extremely important because climate change must be managed by people, and people are influenced by the underlying national cultural preference.