Does external uncertainty matter in corporate sustainability performance?

Jia, Jing; Li, Zhongtian

doi:10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2020.101743

Cited by 90 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…Following Abdelsalam et al (2016) and Jia and Li (2020), we control for the level of corruption ( CORRUP ) as firms in countries, where corruption is more rampant will more likely deliver inferior sustainability performance. It is argued that in such countries, stakeholders are less powerful and informative (Jia and Li, 2020). The CORRUP variable is scaled between 0 (very clean) and 1 (very corrupt).…”

Section: Data and Empirical Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Board characteristics and sustainability performance: empirical evidence from emerging markets

Disli

Yılmaz

Mohamed

2022

SAMPJ

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Purpose This study aims to investigate the effects of board attributes, i.e. board independence, gender diversity, board size and board activity, on the sustainability performance of 439 publicly-listed non-financial companies across 20 emerging countries over the period of 2010–2019. Design/methodology/approach We use Refinitiv environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance scores and board attributes variables derived from Thomson Reuters Eikon database. We examined the relationship between board features and sustainability performance by using the dynamic panel two-step system generalized method of moments estimator. Findings Overall, our findings suggest that smaller, gender diverse and independent boards that convene frequently achieve better sustainability performance. The authors document a positive relationship between board gender diversity and sustainability performance across a broad spectrum of sustainability indicators. The authors also find evidence that board independence has a positive impact on two sustainability performance measures, i.e. environmental and governance performance. Although board size does not influence aggregate sustainability measures (ESG score, ESG controversies, and ESG combined score), the authors find a negative relation between board size and governance performance. Finally, board activity seems only relevant in explaining ESG controversies, i.e. other things being equal frequently held board meetings significantly reduce sustainability issues (ESG controversies). Practical implications The authors’ findings provide implications to support regulators and emerging market companies on how to improve sustainability performance through the design and use of specific governance mechanisms. These interventions will help resolve agency problems among different stakeholders and, in turn, benefit sustainability. Social implications This study also has social implications because it sheds light on how companies may change their attitudes towards sustainable practices through adjusting their corporate governance structures to increase the welfare of the society. Originality/value This study examines the behaviour of companies in emerging markets on sustainability performance by discussing a broad range of board characteristics and covering a large sample of emerging markets. Thus, it provides valuable insights to the companies for further growth opportunities in emerging markets.

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Section: Data and Empirical Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Board characteristics and sustainability performance: empirical evidence from emerging markets

Disli

Yılmaz

Mohamed

2022

SAMPJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The existing literature focuses on measuring sustainable development at the macro level, such as at the national level (Vachon and Mao, 2008), the provincial level (Yang and Ding, 2018), and the municipal level (Lam and Yap., 2019). Studies on corporate sustainability mainly use ESG ratings as a proxy variable (Jia and Li, 2020) or divide corporate sustainability activities into sub-themes (Gray et al, 1995;Katmon et al, 2019). For example, Branco and Rodrigues (2008) categorized corporate sustainability activities into 23 items and divided them into several categories such as environmental, human resources, products, customers, and community involvement.…”

Section: Sustainability and Digital Transformation Measurementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We refer to existing studies on corporate sustainability, some of which use ESG indexes to measure corporate sustainability (Drempetic et al, 2020;Jia and Li, 2020), while others construct sustainability evaluation systems through disclosure information of companies (Madaleno and Vieira, 2020;Zaid et al, 2020). As the ESG index of Chinese listed manufacturing companies is seriously missing, this paper adopts the approach of Zaid et al (2020) and constructs a new corporate sustainability evaluation system by combining the information disclosed by Chinese listed companies (Appendix Table A1).…”

Section: Dependent Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of digital transformation on corporate sustainability- new evidence from Chinese listed companies

Zhang

Chen

2022

Front. Environ. Sci.

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As Industry 4.0 is seen as the core industrial stage for achieving sustainable development, more and more scholars are exploring the practical effects of Industry 4.0. This paper evaluates the impact of digital transformation on business sustainability, explores whether digital transformation breaks down perceptions, and examines the mechanisms by which it works. First, we measured the digital transformation of each firm using textual analysis. and found that the coefficient of digital transformation is 0.006 on corporate sustainability at the 1% significant level. Secondly, we found that digital transformation eases knowledge flow barriers and makes knowledge more accessible to firms. Firms with higher digital transformation attract more skilled people, which can create talent barriers. Digital transformation can exacerbate firms’ industry monopolies, while increasing the proportion of boardroom women and the inclusion of older members sends positive signals to outsiders. Finally, we find that low costs, high labor productivity, high innovation and low cost of sales are important channels for digital transformation. In addition, digital transformation increases the management costs of firms.

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“…Climate change is also expected to hit supply chains across the globe owing to adverse weather conditions, with significant disruption of the delivery of goods and services. Several studies also suggest that climate change is significantly linked to political instability, which is likely to impact firms' operations as well as their strategic decisions (Henderson et al, 2015;Jia and Li, 2020). Additional costs may arise for firms in their response to climate change, such as through the costs of adapting new technologies and measures to address society's concerns and expectations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%