Does foreign ownership affect corporate sustainability disclosure in Pakistan? A sequential mixed methods approach

Role of investor attention and executive green awareness on environmental information disclosure of Chinese high-tech listed companies

Against the backdrop of growing public concern about environmental disclosure, and despite this concern, the level of environmental disclosure by high-tech firms remains low, necessitating a heightened emphasis on corporate environmental disclosure. This study delves into the impact of investor attention on the environmental information disclosure of Chinese high-tech firms, analyzing data from 463 firms between 2011 and 2022. Utilizing dynamic panel GMM, our findings highlight a significant negative correlation between investor attention and environmental information disclosure. We also introduced executive green awareness, exploring their moderating role. The results show that improved executive green awareness mitigates the adverse impact of investor attention on environmental information disclosure. However, heterogeneity analysis revealed that this moderating effect does not exist in IT service and non-polluting high-tech enterprises. This research offers policy implications for enhancing transparency and environmental governance through targeted investor engagement and executive training programs. The findings underscore the importance of a comprehensive regulatory framework tailored to sector-specific challenges in high-tech industry.

Demystifying the influence of debt providers' preferences on sustainability reporting: a firm-level meta-analytical inquiry

Over the past three decades, a plethora of academic research has examined the impact of debt capital providers, proxied by leverage, on firms' sustainability reporting (SR) practices, indicating its relevance as a major determinant. Since the empirical literature remains inconclusive, we carried out the first comprehensive firm-level meta-analysis to reconcile the conflicting results from 112 studies involving 180 effect sizes across 32,953 firms spanning from 1989 to 2022. This provides a timely and up-to-date evaluation of the magnitude and nature of the engagement and influence of this significant stakeholder group on SR. Further, the study provides granular insights by dividing the overall effect on SR into three reporting dimensions-adoption, extent, and quality of reporting-to understand the impact of leverage on each and detail plausible reasons cited in the literature underpinning the positive or negative impact of debt providers on SR. The results show a positive significant impact of debt capital providers on SR, specifically, the adoption and extent of SR, but insignificant influence on SR quality, consistent with the findings of legitimacy theory. Debt capital providers' sustainability information needs remain limited to the "act" and "extent" of disclosure and concern for SR has not percolated to "ask for quality," indicative of a rather surface-level care for SR practices of firms. Regarding the strength of this stakeholder group and its funding power, greater activism, advocacy, and informational sensitivity are required to encourage firms to engage in meaningful SR practices. Subgroup analysis and meta-regression techniques were used to account for potential conceptual and study-based moderators. Significant discrepancies were observed due to differences in content of reported issues, type of firm, leverage proxies, the sample period, and publication quality. The study emphasizes the need for proactive measures among debt capital providers to counteract the limited positive impact of leverage on sustainability reporting. By identifying research gaps and exploring implications for debt providers and companies, this study highlights how ESG-sensitive lenders can potentially steer firms towards quality SR practices. It offers valuable insights that could inform policy changes, foster collaboration, and advance the practice of sustainability-oriented lending.

Does CSR governance matters for corporate value creation: exploring the nexus between corporate sustainability governance and investment efficiency of acquirers in Pakistan

This study examines the potential effects of corporate sustainability governance on the investment efficiency of asset acquirers. Using secondary data gathered from the annual reports of sample firms and the global reporting initiatives data repository from 1991-2021, the study results indicate that the provision of sustainable governance better facilitates the efficient allocation of capital and acquirer's value creation. Subject to the individual effects, we find that the economic sustainability disclosure, social sustainability disclosure, and environmental sustainability disclosure have positive and significant effect on the investment efficiency of acquirers that increases the competitiveness of a company's investment. Outcomes further revealed that market risk disclosure and shareholder activism have a strong moderating impact on the relationship between sustainability governance and acquirers efficiency, which significantly complements the acquirer's value. The study findings put forward policy directions that the enforcement of persistent sustainability governance practices has more potential to maximize acquirer's investment.

A systematic literature review on corporate sustainability: contributions, barriers, innovations and future possibilities

This paper aims to understand the current research scenario through published studies on corporate sustainability, emphasizing the environmental approach. Methodologically, this research develops a systematic literature review based on papers published in the Web of Science database in the last ten years. As a result, there was an upward evolution of research on the searched topic, with one hundred fifteen publications in the last three years compared to one hundred six documents published in the previous seven years. It is also observed that studies published at the beginning of the time frame between 2011 and 2020 were more concerned with the adoption of corporate sustainability, while the most recent research focuses on new approaches and methodologies for its implementation. And, with regard to its implementation, one of the main barriers is the incorrect perception of senior managers that the results from corporate sustainability must be more linked to the economic than to the environmental and social spheres. As relevant aspects, this study observed that new technologies, currently led by the 5th generation mobile network (5G) and Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), can contribute to the insertion of corporate sustainability in the industrial context. It also noted that, despite being recent, COVID-19 was considered by several researchers as an event to be considered in terms of corporate sustainability.

In the Pursuit of Environmental Sustainability: The Role of Environmental Accounting

This study aims to evaluate the mediating role of sustainability in the relationship between environmental-accounting (EA) disclosures and audit quality (AQ) and firm performance (FP) by using GDP and firm size as the controlled variables. Data were collected from the annual and sustainability reports of 80 manufacturing firms that were listed on the PSX during the last 10 years (2011–2020). STATA 13 software and a multiple-regression model were used. The findings that were deduced from the empirical results indicate that EA with sustainability has a significant negative effect on both proxies of the FP (ROA and ROE). By contrast, AQ with sustainability has an insignificant negative impact on firm performance. This research contributes to the scarce literature and compares the level of EA with sustainability reporting and its impact on the FP with the controlled variables GDP and firm size. This study also contributes to the execution of the reporting and the assurance of sustainability, and it helps regulatory bodies with the integral development of reporting and the assurance of EA.

Promoting sustainability through green innovation adoption: a case of manufacturing industry

Green innovation is becoming more common among researchers and practitioners around the world due to environmental and social issues. Green innovation minimizes wastes and pollution, and also leads to financial gains and better image if implemented effectively. Nowadays, developing countries pay greater emphasis on environmental issues as their manufacturing industries are considered major contributors to pollution. Considering the case of a developing country (Pakistan), the study empirically identified the drivers of green innovation in the manufacturing industry. A hybrid methodology-Fuzzy Delphi method (FDM), interpretive structural modeling (ISM), and cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC)-was used to develop a novel framework for analyzing the green innovation drivers. At first, green innovation drivers were selected from past studies; they were further screened by applying Fuzzy Delphi approach. The MICAMAC and ISM results indicate that "cost reduction" and "government support" are the most important drivers motivating green innovation implementation in the Pakistani manufacturing industry, while a green image appeared as the least significant driver of green innovation adoption. The study's findings have significant implications for managers and policymakers to develop green strategies for manufacturing sector.

Does a Foreign Board Improve Corporate Social Responsibility?

This study examines the effect of foreign boards on corporate social responsibility, exploring the issues of two-tier board systems (boards of directors and boards of commissioners). Using data for manufacturing firms listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange over the sample period of 2017–2019, the results suggest that a foreign board engages more in corporate social responsibility activities. Our key finding remains robust with respect to all foreign board measures (foreign ownership, foreign board members, foreign directors, foreign commissioners, foreign CEO, and foreign chairperson) and to alternative estimation methods, and pass a series of endogeneity checks. We established the causal effect from foreign boards to CSR, supporting institutional theory and contesting agency theory.

Bank ownership structure and reputation through sustainability reporting in Indonesia

Purpose

This paper aims to find empirical evidence of bank ownership structures on bank reputation through the mediating role of sustainability reporting (SR) in Indonesian banking sector.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses purposive sampling to obtain 279 observations from 43 listed banks in Indonesia Stock Exchange during 2012–2018. This study uses structure equation modelling analysis in the AMOS software and intervening test from the Sobel test to investigate the direct and indirect effect in this research model.

Findings

The empirical results evidence: foreign, government and public ownership exhibit significant positive effect on SR but not with family ownership; SR positively affects bank reputation; SR appears as a mediator in which foreign, government and public ownership have a positive effect on the bank reputation through the indirect effect of SR while family ownership exhibits insignificant result.

Practical implications

The practical contribution of this study is that SR is proven to increase bank reputation through the legitimation from the public, so the management must properly pay attention by publishing this report.

Originality/value

This study provides several novelties to the literature: SR is used as a mediator in the relationships between bank ownership and reputation in which there is very limited studies investigating these aspects, especially in Indonesia. In addition, most SR studies in Indonesia still focus on SR determinants rather than its impact; customer deposits are used as a measurement basis of the bank reputation as it reflects better the trust and perception of the market so that it is relevant with the reputation level.

Towards a green economic policy framework in China: role of green investment in fostering clean energy consumption and environmental sustainability

Recently, China has relished rapid green investment, and its influence on clean energy consumption and environment is substantial. Therefore, this study scrutinizes the effects of green investment on clean energy consumption and CO2 emissions in China by using autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) approach over time from 1998 to 2019. The results show that green investment tends to have a positive effect on clean energy consumption in China in the long run. The outcomes of study also show that green investment also tends to have a negative effect on CO2 emissions in China, but it has a small effect on carbon emissions in magnitude in the long run. Importantly, possible channels revealed green investment encouraging consumers and producers to consume clean energy, thereby positively affecting the environmental quality in China. Other control variables' findings show that environmental tax and financial development have increased the environmental quality by decreasing the CO2 emissions. Based on the findings, it recommends that green investment is considered necessary for encouraging clean energy consumption to reduce carbon emissions in high pollutant economies.

The relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance: a moderate role of fintech technology

This study explores the new area of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial performance in the context of the fintech technology. The fintech technology is currently a very interesting and growing area in the financial organization and how it affects financial performances in different dimensions of banking sector. This study investigates the linear and non-linear relationship between corporate social performance (CSP) and banking performance (BP) by using the dataset of Chinese banks from 2009 to 2018. The results indicate that the interactive variable of CSR (GOV*SOC) shows insignificant influence on the returns on assets (ROA), returns on equity (ROE), and nominal interest margin profit (NIMP) from dependent variable. Moreover, the other CSR variable such as GOV*ENV significantly positively influences ROA and ROE. The square value of the GOV "governance disclosures scores" shows insignificant influence regarding ROA, ROE, and NIMP. Finally, the fintech technology (fintech) positively and significantly impacts on ROE and NIMP and positively but insignificantly affects on ROA in both linear and non-linear models of the study. This study is a roadmap for the financial firms to improve their sources through modern fintech technology regarding financial sector.

Modeling drivers for successful adoption of green business: an interpretive structural modeling approach

Like most other developing countries, Bangladesh is facing tremendous pressure to mitigate climate change effects and prior environmental degradation, further creating a vulnerable condition in mitigating its environmental, social, and economic circumstances. Green business approaches could be one of the better weapons for these severe conditions as they quantify the incorporation of environmental and social concerns without compromising economic development. They have gained considerable attention from governments, industries, and researchers over the past few years. The main aim of this paper is designed to build up a structured model (interpretive structural modeling) of drivers for adopting green business (GB) in the context of emerging economies. The interpretive structural modeling (ISM) will allow the assessors in the regulatory, market, and other sectors to promote the smooth utilization of green business strategies by defining and recognizing the linkages among the drivers associated with the green business. The driver's intimate relationship enables a hierarchy by compiling their dependence and driving power. For demonstrating the structural modeling for the identified drivers, we used combined "Matriced' Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée á un Classement" (MICMAC) analysis and ISM model for characterizing the drivers as indicated by their driving and dependence power. Throughout, the evaluation of the available literature followed by a discussion with experts (both industrial and academic) was done for the identification of the drivers for green business adoption. A structured model (ISM) and MICMAC (as fuzzy analytical tools) analysis are required to give a boon set of knowledge to the assessors of the legislature and business industry, which further lead them for resource maximization in a sustainable way to embrace green strategies into their core business process.

How China is fostering sustainable growth: the interplay of green investment and production-based emission

To mitigate environmental problems and to achieve sustainability, China is striving to transition to low-carbon urban economies. Among several significant steps, the country has made remarkable success in controlling the emissions from transportation, buildings, and energy by shutting down or relocating several polluting industries. This study contributes to the issue of sustainable growth debate using time series data from China for the period 1998-2017 and empirically examines the effects of green investment and renewable energy consumption on production-based carbon emissions for China. The strength of this study is that it tested some new variables such as production-based carbon emissions and green investment. Using autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) cointegration technique, we found that production-based emission and its determinants move together in the long run. The study found that green investment and renewable energy consumption are both helpful in controlling production-based carbon emissions, while trade openness increases production-based carbon emissions. Hence, green investment and renewable energy consumption contribute to the achievement of sustainable growth. Moreover, based on a robustness check, human capital, financial development, and environment-specific technological innovation are found to be helpful in curbing production-based carbon emissions. Our study recommends financial technology (fin-tech), green investment, and public-private partnership investment in renewable energy to mitigate the effect of production-based carbon emissions.

The impact of CEO tenure on corporate social and environmental performance: an emerging country's analysis

This paper analyzes the extent to which CEO (chief executive officer) tenure affects the corporate social and environmental performance of all nonfinancial Chinese firms listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges during 2009-2015. The study uses a fixed-effect panel regression model by considering the overtime data across the firms. 2SLS regression model then is used to control the problem of endogeneity. The study confirms the negative effect (8.8%) of the increase in CEO tenure on the corporate social and environmental performance. The findings also explain that the corporate social and environmental performance of CEOs increases significantly in the initial years of service than in their later years. The study concludes that an inverse relationship between CEO tenure and corporate social and environmental performance is more pronounced with a higher percentage of independent directors, where CEOs have longer anticipated employment tenure and firms under state control, consistent with the signalling explanation of career concern and career horizon effect. Finally, the impact of CEO tenure on corporate social and environmental performance has become stronger in recent years.