EDITORIAL: RESEARCHING THE RELATIONS BETWEEN GOVERNANCE CHARACTERISTICS AND SUSTAINABILITY

The Editorial introduces the first issue of 2020 of Corporate Governance and Sustainability Review. A common thread linking the papers briefly presented is their focus on the relationship between governance characteristics and sustainability. Sustainability is a complex concept (Hart & Dowell, 2011; Hart & Milstein, 2003) and a standardized definition of corporate sustainability does not exist (Montiel & Delgado-Ceballos, 2014). However, most scholars agree that sustainable development (of a firm or nation) has to be based on economic growth, financial stability, social equity, environmental integrity (Bansal, 2005; Hart & Milstein, 2003; Szekely & Knirsch, 2005; Neubaum & Zahra, 2006). Essentially, the papers of this issue investigate the relationship between governance and the ability of firms or nations to achieve sustainable development and provide suggestions and further insights to firms, nations, regulators for improving governance practices.