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This study aims to examine the relationship between corporate governance, in particular board diversity, and corporate social performance (CSP) amongst the top 500 listed companies in India.

Data from the top 500 listed Indian companies constituting the BSE500 index for a five-year period from 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2019 are used to test the impact of the proportion of women directors, proportion of women independent directors, female CEOs and other corporate governance variables on CSP.

The results of panel regression analysis suggest that firms characterised by high proportions of women directors, independent women directors or a female CEO spend more on corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Furthermore, CEO duality, board size and board independence are positively related to social performance. These findings are of relevance to the policymakers and board of directors who are engaged in meeting corporate governance requirements.

This is one of the initial studies to document the impact of executive-level female representation on CSP following India's 2013 regulations on mandatory women representation on boards and CSR expenditure. The study reveals that greater gender diversity on corporate boards significantly boosts CSP, offering strategic advantages in governance and CSR. The study offers practical benefits for various stakeholders including corporate regulators, policymakers and corporate managers.

The paper contributes to the corporate governance and CSR literature by showing that good governance practices and high women representation on boards promote social performance. Our study is one of the preliminary efforts to document the level and impact of female representation at the executive level on CSP after the regulation of minimum women representation on corporate boards and mandatory CSR expenditure requirement introduced in India in 2013.

The study aims to examine the relation between corporate reputation and a firm’s systematic risk for top performing Indian companies.

The paper uses Panel regression analysis of the data from the top 500 listed Indian companies constituting the BSE500 index over a 15-year period from 1 April 2002–31 March 2017. Firm age and shareholders’ return have been used as proxy of firm reputation. This paper use signalling theory to explain the impact of corporate reputation on market risk where proxy for the corporate reputation is seen as an information available to the market.

The findings show a significant positive impact of corporate reputation on systematic risk, indicating that a firm’s systematic risk increases with its reputation. Specifically, the findings suggest that reputed firms experience increased levels of market risk and scrutiny from stakeholders.

The results will help corporate managers from developing economies where corporate reputation plays an important role in determining the investment behaviour.

This study deploys two broad approaches to measure reputation and discern its impact on risk, such as reputation among financial stakeholders and reputation among public stakeholders on market risk, specifically on fast emerging Indian market.