Board of director international experience and CSR engagement in Asian emerging economies

Firms in emerging economies vary greatly in their corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement. To extend research in this field, we draw on resource dependence theory to hypothesize the association between board of director international experience and CSR engagement in 238 firms in three emerging economies in Asia (Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines) from 2010-2014. We argue that the foreign economic contexts in which directors have accumulated international experience, matters for understanding the local board-CSR relationship in emerging economies. We develop hypotheses along two core mechanisms of particular relevance to director international experience in this context (i.e., diverse experience accumulation and reverse knowledge transfer). Our findings show that a board’s international experience in developed economies is positively related to their firm’s CSR engagement; while no board international experience or experience limited to other emerging economy contexts do not influence CSR engagement in emerging economies. We conclude that the specific international experience is important for understanding local CSR engagement in emerging markets.