New insights into corporate sustainability, environmental management and corporate financial performance in European Union: an application of VAR and Granger causality approach

Sustaining the future: How green capabilities and digitalization drive sustainability in modern business

In recent years, the unprecedented growth in environmental vulnerabilities has made the firms realize the need for environmental protection. With this, the rapid surge for ecological preservation has made worldwide businesses divert their focus toward greener practices that ensure the firm's financial and environmental performance. This study examines the relationships between green management strategies (green dynamic capabilities, internal green supply chain management and green technology adoption), and organizational outcomes, specifically environmental and financial performance. The data was collected from the 471 employees working in the manufacturing firms. Utilizing the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) method via Smart-PLS, our findings show the importance of integrating green practices in supply chain management, dynamic capabilities, and technology adoption to enhance both environmental and financial outcomes under the moderating role of industry dynamism and green knowledge acquisition.

Financial reporting quality of ESG firms listed in China

Given the growing importance of environmental protection in China, this study investigated the determinants of the financial reporting quality of environmental, social and governance (ESG) firms listed in China. The quality of financial reporting shows how informative the accounting numbers are for decision-making. Because business outlook can influence financial reporting quality, this study examined predictable, moderately predictable and unpredictable business outlooks. The study randomly selected 100 firms from the 2021 China ESG Top 500 Outstanding Enterprises published by the Sina Finance ESG Rating Centre and then analysed those firms in 2018, 2019 and 2020. It investigated determinants (financial health, governance and earnings management), controlling for the influence of known variables (firm age and firm-specific risk) on financial reporting quality measured as accruals quality and earnings smoothness. Ordinary robust least square regression was conducted. Financial health had a negative influence, but governance variables and earnings management did not affect financial reporting quality. Firm-specific risk had a positive effect, but firm age did not influence financial reporting quality. Changes in business outlook had no impact on the determinants' effect on financial reporting quality. The study found that ESG firms did not engage in earnings management and aggressively manage earnings, pointing to ethical behaviour. This is the first study to contribute to understanding the financial reporting quality of ESG firms listed in China. It examined different business outlooks to understand ESG firms' behaviour towards financial reporting quality. The findings invite replicable studies outside China to understand the contextual validity and reliability of the financial reporting quality of ESG firms, and to investigate the effect of determinants not examined in this study.

Understanding the nexus between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and financial performance: evidence from Chinese-listed companies

Before discussing how to balance and decide on environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) and traditional revenue enhancement projects, it is crucial to clarify the relationship between corporate financial performance (CFP) and ESG. However, little attention has been paid to the nexus of ESG and CFP. This paper attempts firstly to investigate the bidirectional causality of ESG and CFP, followed by the micro-foundations, and finally, the moderating effect of intrinsic factors. A GMM-PVAR method was used to examine the research hypotheses, which can effectively deal with endogenous problems that have been ignored by traditional literature. The findings of this research demonstrate that CFP promoted ESG growth, but ESG did not boost CFP. This asymmetric causality was because CFP had a supportive effect on the environment and society pillars, while the social pillar cannot promote CFP, and the environment pillar negatively affects CFP. The relationship between ESG and CFP was moderated by total quality management, environmental sensitivity, and the pay gap. Furtherly, a panel threshold model was constructed to access the threshold effects of ESG on CFP, showing an inverted U-shape. Based on these findings, the theoretical implications, managerial prescriptions, and limitations are also discussed.

Current status and trends of research on microplastic fugacity characteristics and pollution levels in mangrove wetlands

Microplastics have been widely detected in the environment, while mangrove wetlands are considered barriers to land-based plastic transport to the ocean, requiring special attention. However, the current literature is distributed and broad besides limited information on the fate characteristics and pollution levels. This study uses a systematic literature review method to analyze the current research status and future trends. In this study, the literature is summarized and concluded that Characteristics including color, shape, size, polymer chemistry and surface microstructure are the basic information for microplastic research in mangrove wetlands. Size is the key to studying distribution and convergence without international standards. The shape is vital to study its sources and environmental processes. Color affects biological predation and is important information for studying ecological risk. The chemical composition of plastics is the key to studying microplastics’ fingerprint information, source, and sink. The surface microstructure is an important basis for studying adsorption behavior and aging processes. Mangrove microplastic studies in China are mainly on the southern and southeastern coasts, and microplastic pollution is more severe in Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi than in Hainan. In contrast, studies on mangrove microplastics abroad are mainly concentrated in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and South America. Overall, microplastic contamination was detected in the major distribution areas of mangroves worldwide and was correlated with mangrove density and human activities.