Environmental Initiatives and Disclosures by Large companies: The Views of Investors

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore investors' perspectives on the environmental initiatives and disclosure strategies of large firms. Obtaining such viewpoints is important because, as signaling theory suggests that investors' perspectives are one of the contributory factors in determining organisational strategies for environmental initiatives and disclosures. We used a web-based questionnaire of a group of investors. We put forward a hypothetical case study that raised financial versus environmental consequences of safe waste disposal initiatives for a large company. The findings revealed that a majority (90.21 per cent) of the investors preferred a pro-environmental strategy for waste disposal when a large firm in an environmentally sensitive sector is responsible for polluting the regional water resource. Our findings concluded that investors expect a high quality of environmental disclosures from larger firms as opposed to smaller firms. This study contributes to the literature by presenting investors perspective on firms' environmental decisions using a hypothetical case study.

Risk–return spectrum of investment for going green: Evidence from Indian equity market

“…Large cap firms are more transparent regarding environmental disclosure and as a result they are valued higher compared to small cap firms (Brammer & Pavelin, 2008;Siddique & Sciulli, 2020).…”

“…Large cap firms are more transparent regarding environmental disclosure and as a result they are valued higher compared to small cap firms (Brammer & Pavelin, 2008; Siddique & Sciulli, 2020). Incorporation of environmental management in a firm's operation leads to increased perceived valuation of the firm (Klassen & McLaughlin, 1996).…”

Perceived Pressures and Motivations for Environmental Disclosures: Role of Certification

“…The study of Sen et al (2011) indicated that the quantity of environment data and the figures of Indian core industries differed across industries and companies, and that the information presented in annual reports was more descriptive than numerical. A large number of environmental reporting studies were conducted by Chatterjee and Zaman Mir (2008), Tilt (2001), Siddique (2015), Plumlee et al (2015), C. Deegan and Rankin (1996), Majumder et al (2019), and Anwar et al (2020), the outcomes of which mainly concentrated on the frequency and types of disclosure.…”

Risk Disclosures in Bank Reporting: Sustainable Finance Roadmap Era

“…Ethical issues that impact the environment of the bank's business practices. Corporate responsibility towards the environment provides added value for all parties because the environment plays an important role not only for organizations but also for companies (Dosinta & Brata, 2020) and investors (Siddique & Sciulli, 2020). Collective actions of institutional investors will increase corporate accountability related to short-term financial aspects and environmental activities, society, climate change, and disclosure practices in corporate reporting (Rupley, Brown, & Marshall, 2012).…”