EDITORIAL: RECENT TRENDS IN CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH

I am honoured to introduce this second issue of 2021 (Volume 5) of the journal Corporate Governance and Sustainability Review. The nine articles published in this issue discuss various interesting corporate governance and sustainability-related topics. I can appreciate some shared aspects that correspond to three emerging trends in corporate governance and sustainability research. The first trend is apparently essential for our journal. It is represented by examining whether corporate engagement in sustainability activities is attributed to compliance with corporate governance mechanisms in emerging economies, adding to the previous debate by Gerged, Cowton and Beddewela (2018), Elamer, Ntim, and Abdou (2020), Gerged, Beddewela, and Cowton (2021), among others. For instance, Jamel Chouaibi, Yamina Chouaibi, and Noomen Chaabane investigate the expected impact of corporate governance mechanisms on the level of environmental disclosure among a selected sample of Islamic banks in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. In another paper titled “Do Egyptian listed companies support SDGs? Evidence from UNCTAD guidance on core indicators disclosures”, Ahmed M. Abdel Meguid, Khaled M. Dahawy, and Nermeen F. Shehata provide a piece of empirical evidence that examines the extent to which macro-level foundations, including corporate governance regulations, influence sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Egypt. Similarly, Vincent Gagné and Sylvie Berthelot explore the determinants of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions disclosure, including the influence of the existence of an environmental committee in the Canadian context. The second trend that can be appreciated in some articles on this issue is related to sustainability challenges in the time of COVID-19. Relatedly, Shirley Mo Ching Yeung explores in this issue the key elements of emotion sustainability (ES) and sustainable partnership (SP) post-COVID-19. This paper succeeded to add more perspectives to the academic debate that is established by recent studies, such as Adams and Abhayawansa (2021), Koutoupis, Kyriakogkonas, Pazarskis, and Davidopoulos (2021), Ikram, Zhang, Sroufe, and Ferasso (2020). The third trend focuses on various developments in corporate governance implementations. For example, Hamza El Kaddouri and Modar Ajeeb examine management teams’ perceptions of the role of legal audit in the governance system of French universities and its impact on the managerial latitude of university managers. Likewise, D. M. K. T. Dissanayake and D. B. P. H. Dissabandara analyse the nature and level of the relationship between board characteristics and dividend policy. Likewise, Tien-Chin Wang and Bi-Chao Lee raise the question of whether community security is the key to sustainable governance. These papers empirically contribute to the earlier work by Scott (2018), Yarram and Dollery (2015), Nesadurai (2013), among others. Along with the trends mentioned above in this issue, Udo C. Braendle reviews a book titled “Board of directors: A review of practices and empirical research”, edited by Stefano Dell’Atti, Montserrat Manzaneque, and Shab Hundal (Virtus Interpress, 2020; ISBN: 978-617-7309-16-0). This book review focuses on the main challenges that are associated with board diversity and sustainability issues. I am sure that anyone keen on advanced knowledge of the determinants, consequences, and associations among corporate governance and sustainability issues might find some points to ponder in these articles.