ESG disclosure regulation: in search of a relationship with the countries’ competitiveness

Abstract

This paper is devoted to the investigation of environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure regulation process and its possible connection with countries’ competitiveness as an integral part of countries’ Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility (CSER) poliсy. ESG disclosure regulation criteria were examined according to their classification on Pension Fund Regulation, Stewardship Code, Government Corporate ESG disclosure, and Non-Government Corporate ESG disclosure by UNPRI in 2016 and for developed countries and developing and emerging countries separately. In order to find the relationship between ESG disclosure and the countries’ competitiveness (describing by Global Competitiveness Index), variety of statistical tests was applied (Student’s t-tests, ANOVA analysis, Mann-Whitney tests, simple average analysis and regression analysis with dummy variables). Research hypotheses about statistically significant differences in ESG disclosure regulation between developed countries and developing and emerging countries and the influence of ESG disclosure regulation on the overall competitiveness of the country were proved. ESG disclosure regulation became an effective instrument of countries CSER policy and tools for increasing their competitiveness.

Demystifying the relationship between ESG and SDG performance: Study of emerging economies

“…More specifically, Van Zanten and Van Tulder (2018) study more than 80 European and American enterprises with respect to their SDG practices and found limited integration of firm-level ESG practices towards country-level SDG. Plastun et al (2019) found statistically significant differences in the level of ESG disclosure between developed and emerging countries, with the former having higher levels of compliance in countries like the USA, Singapore, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. In a similar study, Plastun et al (2020) found that developed countries had higher levels of compliance with regulations than emerging countries which translated into better rankings in both ESG and overall economic performance.…”

The Quest for an ESG Country Rank: A Performance Contribution Analysis/MCDM Approach

“…Park and Jang [27] employed the AHP method to determine investment decisions based on country-specific ESG management factors, aiming to show the best results for institutional investors. Additionally, an analysis by Plastun et al [28] demonstrated a correlation between ESG disclosure regulations and the competitiveness of countries, utilizing various statistical methods such as Student's T-test, ANOVA analysis, Mann-Whitney analysis, simple average analysis, and regression analysis.…”

Corporate Transparency, Sustainable Development and SDG 2 and 12 in Agriculture: The Case of Ukraine

“…More than 300 governmental and non-governmental, mandatory and voluntary instruments have been introduced in the 50 largest countries by GDP (both developed and developing UNPRI, 2016b). Plastun et al (2019) showed that the more ESG criteria are used for disclosure regulation, the higher the country's ranking in the Ranking of 50 largest economies. Non-government corporate ESG disclosure has the most significant influence.…”