The circular economy and the sustainable development goals: Strategies for consumer involvement in the textile industry

When AI meets ethics: unveiling the impact of firm AI innovation on corporate social responsibility

Total quality management and corporate sustainability: the mediating role of innovative culture in healthcare

Purpose: This study aims to map and synthesize the research landscape of corporate sustainable performance in Indonesia by identifying dominant themes, theories, methods, and future research directions. Research Method: The study employs a systematic bibliometric approach to analyze prior studies on corporate sustainable performance in Indonesia. The analysis, using the TCCM framework, focuses on research themes, theoretical foundations, methodological choices, authorship patterns, institutional contributions, and research gaps. Results and Discussion: The findings reveal a strong dominance of quantitative methods, especially survey-based designs and SEM/PLS-SEM analysis. The literature relies heavily on stakeholder theory and the resource-based view. Key research themes include sustainability, corporate social responsibility, corporate governance, and financial performance, while emerging topics include environmental innovation, ESG, and organizational capabilities. The field shows a semi-concentrated authorship and institutional structure, indicating established scholarly leadership and growing participation. Implications: The study suggests the need for greater theoretical diversity, deeper contextual analysis, and more robust methodologies, including longitudinal and theory-driven approaches. The findings also provide insights for firms and policymakers to integrate sustainability into corporate strategy and governance. Originality: This study provides a structured overview of research on corporate sustainable performance in Indonesia and identifies key research gaps using the TCCM framework.

Countries, primarily in the Global North, have been implementing transparency and corporate sustainability due diligence laws. These laws seek to increase corporate accountability for various human rights, environmental, and modern slavery offences in global supply chains. Three legislative models have been adopted: 1) Disclosure or Transparency laws; 2) Mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence (MHRDD) laws; and 3) MHRDD laws with civility liability, which is considered best practice. In this article, I evaluate the factors that influenced the adoption of a particular legislative model in various countries and specifically examine what factors influenced the passage of transparency legislation in Canada. I argue that despite international pressure on Canada to enact legislation, it was ultimately features of Canada’s domestic political economy that determined the enactment of a transparency law. These features include Canada’s membership of the Anglosphere, its powerful mining industry, the advocacy of civil society organisations, key parliamentarians, and ruling political party principles.

This study investigates the relationship between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure, corporate governance mechanisms, and firm value in listed companies. As capital markets increasingly integrate non financial information into valuation processes, ESG disclosure and governance quality have become critical signals for investors. Using panel data from publicly listed firms and employing panel regression techniques, this research examines whether ESG disclosure and corporate governance enhance firm value, measured by Tobin’s Q. The findings provide empirical evidence that ESG disclosure has a positive and significant effect on firm value. Furthermore, corporate governance mechanisms not only directly enhance firm value but also strengthen the valuation effect of ESG disclosure. These results support signaling theory and agency theory, suggesting that transparent ESG reporting and effective governance reduce information asymmetry and agency conflicts, thereby increasing market valuation. The study contributes to the corporate finance and sustainability literature by integrating ESG disclosure and governance perspectives in explaining firm value, with important implications for managers, investors, and policymakers.

Purpose Today, environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues are very important for the corporate sustainability reporting performance and trustworthiness. To help organizations respond to these expectations, guides have been designed, offering a systematic approach for reporting ESG information. Although such standards facilitate firms to disclose a complete picture of their ESG performance, the effective implementations of these guidelines remain a challenge for the business community. In this context, this paper examines the quality of ESG information disclosed by Greek firms in relation to an ESG guide introduced by the Athens Stock Exchange (Greece) which is in line with the various international standards. Design/methodology/approach An evaluation framework based on a content analysis technique was constructed that combines a set of reporting topics and a scoring system. This framework was applied to a sample of Greek sustainability reports to assess the quality of the disclosed ESG information. Findings The findings showed that the sampled firms provide a moderate level of ESG disclosure in terms of both quality and quantity. Environmental issues are the most well-disclosed issues compared to the other two ESG dimensions, with industry sensitivity (i.e. division into sensitive and non-sensitive sectors) being a factor which affects disclosure performance. In contrast the listed status of firms and the publication years do not affect the disclosure quality. Originality/value This paper contributes to the literature on the quality of ESG disclosures. Focusing on the Greek context, it provides insights into the ESG reporting behavior of firms operating under the common regulatory regime of a European Union member state. It offers empirical evidence on the ESG reporting practices of Greek firms and their initial responses to the requirements of an ESG guideline.

In recent decades, corporate sustainability practices, consolidated under the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) perspective, have assumed a central role in organizational strategy, influencing not only financial performance but also long-term value creation. In this context, the growing relevance of intangible assets as fundamental mechanisms for generating sustainable competitive advantage stands out. Given this scenario, this study aimed to systematically map and analyze the existing scientific evidence on the influence of sustainability practices, from an ESG perspective, on the creation of intangible value in organizations. A systematic literature review was conducted based on publications retrieved from the Web of Science database covering the period from 2010 to 2025, following the PRISMA 2020 protocol. The findings indicate that the integration between ESG practices and intangible assets constitutes a fundamental element for sustainable competitive advantage, since positive socio-environmental performance tends to strengthen dimensions such as human capital, relational capital, structural capital, reputation, innovation, and intellectual property. Evidence suggests that companies with better ESG performance demonstrate greater resilience during crises, improved corporate reputation, and enhanced innovation capacity, reinforcing the role of intangibles as a link between sustainability and long-term value creation.

Purpose This study examines the impact of female executives on corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance within Chinese-listed companies. Utilizing firm-level data from 2015 to 2022, this study investigates how gender diversity in leadership drives ESG outcomes. Furthermore, it examines the heterogeneous effects of ownership types, financial constraints and regional development levels, providing evidence-based insights into the strategic role of women in executive positions in advancing corporate sustainability and informing governance reforms for inclusive business practices. Design/methodology/approach The study employs a dual fixed-effects regression model to analyze panel data from Chinese-listed companies. Beyond investigating the direct impact of female executives on ESG performance, the model incorporates financial constraints as a moderating variable. Sub-sample analyses are conducted to explore heterogeneity across ownership types (state-owned and private) and regional economic development (eastern, central and western China), offering a nuanced understanding of contextual factors shaping the relationship between gender diversity in leadership and corporate sustainability outcomes. Findings The empirical results reveal that a 10% increase in female executive representation significantly enhances corporate ESG scores by 0.1939 points. This effect is particularly pronounced in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) exhibiting the most pronounced effect. Moreover, the results indicate that reduced financial constraints amplify the positive association between female executives and ESG performance. Regional disparities reveal that female executives significantly drive ESG improvements in economically developed eastern region of China, whereas no statistically meaningful impact is observed in underdeveloped central and western regions. Practical implications The findings suggest that corporations should institutionalize gender-inclusive recruitment and promotion systems to strengthen female decision-making authority. Policymakers are encouraged to adopt region-specific strategies, such as incentivizing gender parity in underdeveloped areas to mitigate ESG governance gaps. Furthermore, SOE reforms could integrate gender diversity metrics into ESG evaluation frameworks to catalyze industry-wide sustainability practices. Finally, financial institutions could develop green financing instruments offering preferential terms to firms achieving gender-balanced leadership thresholds. Originality/value This study expands to the reservoir of literature on gender diversity and sustainability by providing empirical evidence from an emerging market where ESG disclosure is evolving. It is among the pioneer studies to quantify the marginal effect of female executives’ representation on ESG performance and to reveal how this relationship is influenced by financial constraints, ownership structure and regional disparities. The study underscores the strategic value of female executives in fostering inclusive governance and regionally balanced sustainable development.

Efficient access to financing is crucial for corporate sustainability, yet internal governance’s impact on commercial credit financing remains underexplored in emerging markets. This study employed secondary data to investigate the influence of salary gaps on commercial credit financing and firm performance using a seven-year panel dataset of A-share listed firms on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2014 to 2020. The study examines the effect of executive salary gaps on commercial credit financing, considering the mediating role of financing performance and the moderating effect of ownership structure. Panel regression analysis, bootstrap mediation testing, propensity score matching (PSM), and two-stage least squares (2SLS) were applied to ensure robustness and address endogeneity. Findings reveal that salary gaps significantly affect commercial credit financing. Moderate pay differentials improve financing capacity, whereas excessive disparities weaken financing outcomes. Financing performance, measured by return on equity, partially mediates the relationship, suggesting that compensation structures influence financing through their effect on firm profitability. Ownership structure moderates the relationship, with stronger effects observed in private and mixed-ownership firms than in state-owned enterprises. Robustness tests confirm the stability of the findings. The study highlights the importance of balanced compensation design, effective governance, and diversified financing channels in improving financing efficiency, and provides implications for corporate management and financing policy in emerging markets.

ABSTRACT This article examines the “digital turn” in value chain due diligence, focusing on how emerging digital tools and technologies are reshaping the practice and politics of stakeholder engagement in transnational labor governance. As value chain legislation—most notably the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD)—extends corporate accountability across global production networks, private digital service providers have become crucial intermediaries translating legal obligations into practice. Drawing on qualitative case studies of prevalent tools such as Ulula , &Wider , and Prewave , the article develops a typology distinguishing between tech‐based remote consultation and predictive stakeholder inference . These models illustrate contrasting orientations—one toward individualized, data‐driven participation, and the other toward algorithmic prediction and surveillance—that carry distinct implications for stakeholder voice, accountability, and power relations along value chains. The analysis situates these technologies within the broader political economy of due diligence, showing how market logics, platform capitalism, and data extraction increasingly shape the terms of engagement between companies and affected rightsholders. Ultimately, the article argues that the digitalization of due diligence risks transforming stakeholder engagement from a participatory mechanism of accountability into a commodified, corporate‐facing data service, raising fundamental questions for its place in the future of the due diligence framework.

Purpose This paper critically synthesises research on Green Human Resource Management (GHRM) and explains how people-management systems can create corporate sustainability value across the triple bottom line (environmental, social and economic). Design/methodology/approach This paper adopts an integrative review approach oriented towards analytical theory building. The authors conducted iterative searches across major scholarly databases (Scopus and Web of Science) and Google Scholar, supplemented by backward and forward snowballing from key review articles and highly cited empirical studies. The search focused on peer-reviewed work linking GHRM (and closely related constructs) to sustainability outcomes and was updated through December 2025. Studies were retained when they (a) examined GHRM practices/bundles or sustainability-oriented HR systems and (b) reported conceptual arguments or empirical evidence on employee mechanisms (e.g. climate, commitment and green behaviour) and/or organisational sustainability outcomes (environmental, social or economic). Findings GHRM contributes to sustainability by building green human capital and motivation, strengthening psychological green climate and enabling employee green behaviour and eco-initiatives. These mechanisms support eco-efficiency, compliance reliability and green innovation, thereby improving sustainability outcomes and stakeholder legitimacy. However, misaligned or symbolic GHRM can trigger greenwashing perceptions, cynicism and work intensification, which undermine social sustainability and erode long-run performance. Research limitations/implications As an integrative review, this paper does not meta-analyse effect sizes. Future studies should use multi-level, longitudinal and multi-source designs and explicitly test the credibility and justice mechanisms that distinguish substantive from symbolic implementation. Practical implications Managers should implement GHRM as a coherent system aligned with operational sustainability investments, fair and controllable metrics and participatory governance that protects employee well-being and voice. Originality/value The paper integrates major theoretical perspectives into an integrative explanatory logic linking HR practices to human mechanisms, sustainability capabilities and triple-bottom-line outcomes, while also highlighting a “dark side” pathway and safeguards that reduce greenwashing risk.

Purpose This study aims to examine how women on corporate boards affect environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, focusing on the moderating role of operating cash flow (OCF) opacity and the mediating role of sustainability committees (SCs). Drawing on agency, stakeholder and signalling theories, it explores how leadership structure and financial transparency shape ESG performance in the UK. Design/methodology/approach This study uses panel data from FTSE 100 firms for the period 2014–2023. The analysis uses fixed-effects regressions and two-stage least squares estimations. Mediation effects were tested using Baron and Kenny’s (1986) framework and generalised structural equation modelling. Findings Board gender diversity (BGD) is positively associated with ESG performance, particularly when women hold senior leadership positions such as CEO or board chair. The results also indicate post-critical mass effects. SCs partially mediate this relationship, with the strongest mediation effect found for female board chairs. In addition, OCF opacity moderates these dynamics by weakening the effects of BGD and female board chairs on ESG performance, while amplifying the influence of female CEOs in opaque reporting environments. Research limitations/implications In spite of its contributions, this study has limitations that open avenues for future research. First, the analysis may suffer from survivorship bias, as FTSE 100 firms could differ from those entering or exiting the index, limiting generalisability. Second, the binary measure of SC presence may overlook variations in mandate, expertise or activity. Third, while ESG scores are becoming standardised, they may still reflect provider-specific noise. Unobserved time-varying factors, such as corporate culture or stakeholder pressure, may also affect both governance and ESG outcomes, and some effects may reflect broader industry trends not fully captured by fixed effects or controls. Practical implications The findings suggest that ESG performance improves most effectively when women occupy leadership roles on boards, financial reporting is transparent and SCs are empowered to translate board intent into operational governance. Social implications This study advances gender equity, stakeholder trust and corporate responsibility, showing board diversity as both fairness and sustainability drivers. Originality/value This is one of the first studies, to the best of the author’s knowledge, to examine the joint effects of BGD, OCF opacity and SCs on ESG performance, highlighting how composition, transparency and governance interact to shape sustainable corporate behaviour.

This study investigates how artificial intelligence (AI) integration enhances competitive intelligence (CI) effectiveness and, in turn, drives corporate growth and sustainability performance in Zimbabwean firms. Employing a mixed methods design, the research combines a quantitative survey of 312 senior managers and strategy professionals from medium and large firms with qualitative data from 28 semi structured interviews across manufacturing, financial services, telecommunications, and retail sectors. Quantitative findings reveal that AI capability significantly predicts CI effectiveness (β = 0.62, p < .001), while CI effectiveness significantly predicts corporate growth (β = 0.51, p < .001) and sustainability performance (β = 0.47, p < .001). Mediation analysis indicates that CI effectiveness partially mediates the relationship between AI capability and both corporate growth and sustainability outcomes. Qualitative analysis using the Gioia methodology further identifies three aggregate dimensions: AI enabled competitive intelligence, strategic decision making and growth, and sustainable value creation, illustrating how AI enhances sensing, analytics, and reporting capabilities, and how these capabilities are embedded into strategic routines. The findings extend the resource based, knowledge based, and dynamic capabilities perspectives by conceptualising CI as a mediating dynamic capability that transforms AI driven data into actionable strategic knowledge. The study contributes to theory and practice by demonstrating that AI delivers strategic value only when integrated into CI processes and organisational routines, enabling firms to achieve sustainable competitive advantage in volatile emerging economy contexts.

ABSTRACT Sustainability has become central to corporate strategy, yet firms still differ markedly in the breadth and maturity of ESG disclosure. This study examines what explains variation in ESG disclosure breadth across large Russian firms in the 2022 reporting period. Using an open dataset of 109 companies and publicly available nonfinancial reports, we assess aggregate and pillar‐specific disclosure patterns across environmental, social, and governance dimensions. The analysis combines descriptive benchmarking, firm‐level case interpretation, and regression modeling controlling for headcount, revenue, and sector. The results show pronounced unevenness in ESG maturity and transparency. Organizational scale, measured by employee headcount, is the most consistent predictor of disclosure breadth, whereas revenue is not significant and sector effects are generally weak, except for limited governance‐related differences. The findings suggest that ESG institutionalization in Russia is driven more by internal organizational capacity than by sectoral pressures alone. The study highlights persistent disclosure gaps and points to the need for targeted support instruments.

While Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) rating divergence poses a barrier to accurate sustainability measurement and sustainable investment, how internal managerial cognition addresses this external market misalignment remains underexplored. To address the research question of how executive focus shapes market consensus on corporate sustainability, this study integrates the Attention-Based View and Signaling Theory to examine the potential mitigating role of Top Management Team (TMT) environmental attention on ESG rating divergence. Utilizing high-dimensional fixed-effects regressions and textual analysis, we analyze a sample of Chinese A-share non-financial listed firms from 2015 to 2023. Empirical results indicate that a transparent and forthcoming managerial environmental focus helps reduce rating divergence, thereby partially aligning informational baselines. This cognitive alignment can act as an information calibrator, particularly when environmental issues match the firm’s core industry materiality, and this association appears more pronounced in regions with stringent environmental regulations. Robustness checks support the notion that substantive, quantitative sustainability disclosures driven by executive attention assist in alleviating informational misalignment among external rating agencies. These findings offer socio-economic and policy insights for advancing sustainable development, suggesting that regulators could consider encouraging structured sustainability reporting to support the role of executive cognition in standardizing ESG measurements.

ABSTRACT B Corp companies have become a benchmark for sustainability and corporate social responsibility today. However, it is striking that of the more than 285,000 companies that use the B Impact Assessment (BIA) to measure their performance, only around 9400 have managed to achieve certification. This phenomenon raises questions about the barriers that prevent many companies from taking the final step towards certification. This study aims to shed light on the main barriers that companies face during the certification process. Data was obtained from 52 Spanish B Corp certified companies, and Rasch Measurement Theory was used for the analysis. The results reveal that the most relevant barriers appear before starting the certification process, highlighting the need for training and counselling to facilitate access to certification. This paper provides a comprehensive view of the barriers to B Corp certification and offers practical recommendations for promoting corporate sustainability globally.

ABSTRACT This study applies an agency‐theoretical lens to examine how investor heterogeneity, specifically institutional, foreign, and domestic ownership, influences corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance. Drawing on extensions of classical agency theory that account for heterogeneous shareholder preferences and principal‐principal conflicts, I analyze 11,652 firm‐year observations of EU‐headquartered companies over the period 2014–2023. The findings indicate that institutional and foreign ownership are positively associated with CSR performance, whereas domestic ownership shows a negative relationship. These results are consistent with institutional investors seeking a balanced risk–return trade‐off through CSR engagement and foreign investors using CSR to mitigate information asymmetries linked to geographic distance. By contrast, domestic investors, often characterized as less sophisticated and less independent, appear to incentivize managerial short‐termism that hinders long‐term CSR commitments. Importantly, the analysis identifies board gender diversity (BGD) as a complementary governance mechanism that moderates the positive effect of institutional and foreign ownership on CSR performance, suggesting that diverse boards act as a catalyst for investor‐driven CSR engagement. This study contributes to the literature by (1) providing evidence on the distinct role of foreign investors in shaping CSR outcomes within an advanced regulatory context, (2) demonstrating the complementary interplay between investor monitoring and board governance in promoting CSR, and (3) offering actionable insights for corporate managers, investors, and policymakers seeking to strengthen sustainable corporate behavior through governance design and investor engagement strategies.

Amid global carbon neutrality and sustainable development goals, and China’s transition toward high-quality green and sustainable growth, this study investigates how the Green Credit Policy (GCP) influences the sustainable innovation performance of high-polluting firms. Using Chinese A-share listed firms from 2007 to 2019 and a difference-in-differences (DID) design, we exploit the implementation of the GCP as a quasi-natural experiment to assess its long-term sustainability effects on corporate green transformation. The results reveal that while the GCP significantly promotes symbolic green innovation associated with regulatory compliance, it does not substantially enhance substantive green innovation, raising concerns about the effectiveness of green finance in fostering authentic and high-quality sustainability-oriented innovation. Further analysis shows pronounced heterogeneity across firm types. State-owned enterprises (SOEs) and large firms exhibit improvements in substantive green innovation, thereby contributing more effectively to long-term environmental sustainability and green transformation, whereas non-SOEs and small firms experience tightened financial constraints that crowd out R&D investment, ultimately undermining their sustainable innovation capacity. A series of robustness tests confirms the reliability of these findings. Overall, this study advances the literature on green finance and corporate sustainability by revealing firms’ strategic compliance behavior under sustainability-oriented financial regulation, highlighting uneven sustainability outcomes across firm types, and offering policy implications for refining green credit mechanisms to better support genuine green innovation and long-term sustainable development.

ABSTRACT This study examines the relationship between internationalization and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) controversies, focusing on whether foreign directors on corporate boards influence this relationship. Drawing on resource dependence theory, we argue that internationalization increases ESG controversies due to the complexity of managing diverse regulatory environments and stakeholder expectations. Although foreign directors may contribute valuable global expertise and networks, they can either mitigate or exacerbate these controversies depending on their advising and monitoring capabilities. Using a sample of 5834 firm‐year observations from US companies, we find a positive association between internationalization and ESG controversies. Additionally, foreign directors significantly exacerbate the effect of internationalization on ESG controversies. Our results, which underscore the adverse impact of internationalization and culturally diverse boards on ESG controversies, remain consistent after a battery of sensitivity tests and the addressing of potential endogeneity concerns. Our results are also robust to external shocks, such as the global financial crisis and the COVID‐19 pandemic. This research advances the literature on corporate governance and sustainability, offering practical insights for policymakers and firms on the importance of strategic board composition and effective governance structures for managing ESG risks across global operations.