Call for Papers and Participation

CSR, the Economy and Financial Markets

Sponsored by the Global Finance Journal

WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management
Düsseldorf, Germany

November 5 – 6, 2026

The Conference on “CSR, the Economy and Financial Market” rotates its meetings among different host cities. For its 2026 meetings, it will again return to Düsseldorf, Germany, on November 5-6. The conference is designed to encourage and promote research and dialogue regarding the economic effects of corporate social responsibility, CSR.
The 2026 meeting will be devoted to presentations of academic papers dealing with the topic.
It will also include keynote addresses, panel-discussions and presentations by key corporate executives, policy and investment professionals.
We invite the submission of theoretical or empirical papers that deal with the effects of CSR from a purely economic, a financial market, a reporting and disclosure, or a managerial perspective. Papers accepted for the conference may be submitted for a fast-track review for possible publication in a special issue of the Global Finance Journal with the journal’s submission fee waived.
The topics relevant to the conference include but are not limited to theoretical and empirical papers dealing with:
 Climate risk and pricing
 Role of financial markets, banks, institutional investors in CSR
 Effects of CSR on valuation, performance, cost of capital, funding and capital structure
 Socio-economic aspects and their implications for companies and
financial markets (e.g. labor market issues)
 Corporate governance and CSR
 Risk management and CSR
 CSR reporting and disclosure
 ESG backlash and politicization (political economy of sustainability,
ESG skepticism, divergence between USA, EU, Asia)
 Sustainability strategy under new constraints (geopolitical risk, supply chain fragility, resilience, energy security trade-offs)
 Measurement: information content and reliability of ESG indices
 CSR activities and the economy, both at the macro and micro levels.

Organization:
The conference is scheduled to take place on the campus of WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in Düsseldorf. The conference will have a workshop format to allow for extensive discussion and feedback. Accordingly, only a small number of papers will be accepted for presentation. There will be a registration fee of € 150 for regular participants and € 100 for PhD students.

Important Dates:
Deadline for submission of papers is June 30, 2026. Accept/reject decisions will be sent by August 15, 2026.

Paper Submission Procedure:
All submissions and communications should be sent to csr2026@whu.edu
Original and completed manuscripts in English, and in PDF format, should begin with a title page that includes the names, e-mail addresses, and affiliations of all authors as well as a 200-word abstract and key words. A blinded copy of the paper should also accompany the submission in the form of a PDF file.

Program Committee:
Amir Amel-Zadeh, Oxford University
Tony Berrada, University of Geneva
Arman Eshraghi, Cardiff University
Iraj Fooladi, Dalhousie University
Sadok El Ghoul, University of Alberta
Stuart Gillan, University of Georgia
Martin Glaum, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management
Omrane Guedhami, University of South Carolina
Axel Haller, Universität Regensburg
Garen Markarian, University of Lausanne
Giovanna Michelon, University of Padua
Svetlana Mira, Cardiff University
Piyachart Phiromswad, Sasin School of Management
Sébastien Pouget, Toulouse School of Economics
Nopea Sasaki, Sasin School of Management
Henri Servaes, London Business School
Onur Tosum, Cardiff University
Burcin Yurtoglu, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management
Guosong Xu, Rotterdam School of Management
Stefano Zambon, University of Ferrara