Corporate sustainability performance and firm performance: evidence from India and South Korea

Abstract

This paper examines the association between corporate sustainability performance and firm performance in India and South Korea from different prospectives. The study is based on the sample of 28 listed non-financial firms from India and 26 from South Korea for a period of six years from 2008-2009 to 2013-2014. Market to book ratio is used to measure the firm performance. Content analysis is employed for calculating the disclosure score relating to sustainability performance using the reporting format of Global Reporting Initiatives. Employing appropriate regression models, the results reveal positive and significant association between CSP (both in terms of level and quality) and MBR for both countries. The study also finds significant impact of all the three components of corporate sustainability on MBR. Moreover, the relative influence of CSP on firm performance is foundto be more in South Korea than in India.