Charles Cho
For more than 25 years, Emerald Publishing has annually rewarded outstanding and impactful contributions to scholarly research. Schulich Professor Charles Cho, the Erivan K. Haub Chair in Business & Sustainability, recently received the 2019 Emerald Literati Awards for Excellence for his paper.
Professor Cho started his academic career at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec after receiving his PhD from the University of Central Florida. He continued his academic career in France where he began working on this paper with two French colleagues. “This accomplishment ranks quite high in my list because it was so rewarding to share an international publication with my co-authors,” said Cho.
The award-winning paper focused on environmental reporting and disclosures that are ongoing in many countries. In order to enhance the credibility of those reports, an environmental assurance – which became regulated and mandatory in 2012 – is conducted. The purpose of this study was to examine whether different levels of assurance statements of environmental disclosures affect investment choices.
Charles and his co-authors found that while environmental disclosures usually have a positive impact on investment decisions, financial analysts are less likely to give recommendations in favour of a company that displays low-level environmental assurance than a company with no assurance statement at all.
Although Professor Cho spent most of his life in France, he returned to Canada to further his academic career at Schulich. “I moved here from Paris because Schulich provides me with more time and resources to conduct high quality research in the area of business and sustainability. It was something I couldn’t refuse.”