This paper examines the effect of executive board-level national culture and board nationality diversity on corporate social performance (CSP). The sample constitutes of 130 executive boards of non-financial firms from Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK over the time period 2010-2014. Based on the upper echelon theory and the notion of national culture, board-level national culture is determined across Hofstede’s dimensions of power distance, individualism, masculinity and power distance. In this paper, no evidence is provided of a significant relationship between board-level national culture and the corporate social performance of the firm. In addition, nationality diversity as a double-edged sword could both enhance and hamper CSP. In this research, no significant relationship between board nationality diversity and CSP is found. In conclusion, alterations of the board composition in terms of nationality in order to foster CSP seem unjustified based on the results of this paper.

The number of multinational corporations (MNCs) has increased tremendously since the 1990s, as companies have started to act in a more global environment. This has resulted in more integration between economies, where companies have to adjust to this changing environment. In this paper, we study the impact of internationalization on nationality diversity in boards of Swedish MNCs during the period 1994-2012. Our propositions suggest that board size, a company’s degree of internationalization and country of origin are contributing factors that affect how a board is composed. Our findings concluded that companies with a high degree of internationalization often are more nationality diverse and that Swedish companies have gradually increased the number of non-Swedes in their boards over time.

Submitted by Ana Carolina Talarico (anacarolinatalarico@gmail.com) on 2013-09-28T21:57:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_Ana Carolina Talarico_final.pdf: 794527 bytes, checksum: 95b4f034f3aec69307fc529b693d1ae7 (MD5) / Rejected by Eliene Soares da Silva (eliene.silva@fgv.br), reason: Ana, bom dia. Por gentileza, insira o Resumo e Palavras-chave neste trabalho, que são itens obrigatórios. Faça uma nova submissão que aprovarei o trabalho. Att, Eliene 3799-3492 on 2013-09-30T14:54:10Z (GMT) / Submitted by Ana Carolina Talarico (anacarolinatalarico@gmail.com) on 2013-09-30T15:13:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_Ana Carolina Talarico_final.pdf: 797494 bytes, checksum: 72af978f7e500f338279f3aba5ecab61 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Eliene Soares da Silva (eliene.silva@fgv.br) on 2013-09-30T15:49:27Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_Ana Carolina Talarico_final.pdf: 797494 bytes, checksum: 72af978f7e500f338279f3aba5ecab61 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-09-30T15:49:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese_Ana Carolina Talarico_final.pdf: 797494 bytes, checksum: 72af978f7e500f338279f3aba5ecab61 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-09-25 / Companies are moving to a more international structure; going into new markets and having an increased competition in all fronts. Therefore, the practices that lead companies to a more efficient and competitive position are praised. The management of the workforce comes as one of the main concerns of companies, aiming at performance enhancing and at creating better environments that both attract and maintain the professional talents. In an increasingly international environment, companies tend to look for the specialists and best professionals, regardless of their nationality. This new structure with several different nationalities working together poses new challenges for companies. Understanding if and how a more diverse has a relationship with financial performance is the starting point for better managing this new corporate structure. / As empresas estão mudando para uma estrutura mais internacional; entrando em novos mercados com competição mais acirrada. Portanto, as práticas que levam as empresas a serem mais eficientes e competitivas são exaltadas. O gerenciamento da força de trabalho é uma das maiores preocupações das companhias, com foco em melhorar a performance e criar melhores ambientes de trabalho, que atraem e mantem os talentos. Em um ambiente cada vez mais internacional, as empresas buscam os melhores profissionais, independente de sua nacionalidade. Essa nova estrutura com diferentes nacionalidades trabalhando junto é um novo desafio no mundo corporativo. Entender se e como uma empresa com maior diversidade tem relação com a performance financeira é o ponto de partida para um melhor gerenciamento dessa nova estrutura.