Quality Of Environmental Disclosure Research Articles

International diversification and corporate social responsibility disclosure quality: Employee versus environmental dimensions

AbstractMultinational enterprises (MNEs) face increasing institutional complexity as they expand internationally, which has a significant effect on their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy. In this study, we investigate an under‐explored difference between MNEs' employee and environmental CSR disclosure quality concerning the extent to which CSR reports are indicative of substantive activities. We propose that as international diversification increases institutional complexity, MNEs lower the disclosure quality of environmental CSR yet improve the disclosure quality of employee CSR due to their different institutional implications. In addition, we examine the effect of MNEs' home country cultural differences regarding uncertainty avoidance on the relationship between international diversification and employee and environmental disclosure quality. Based on a sample of 335 global MNEs from 31 countries, we found general support for our hypotheses.

Corporate governance perspective on environmental reporting: Literature review and future research agenda

AbstractThe last three decades have witnessed substantial growth in the literature exploring the motives and drivers of corporate greening. Extant research analyzing the governance determinants of corporate environmental disclosure provides competing and contrasting results; despite the growing sustainability challenges create an urgent need for effective monitoring and incentive mechanisms to promote corporate transparency and accountability. This warrants further inquiry in the field, yet very few comprehensive reviews have been presented on governance determinants of corporate environmental disclosure. To fill this gap we conduct a systematic review of 121 published papers and distinguish the governance mechanisms fostering corporate environmental disclosure. Our paper identifies factors influencing the adoption, extant, and quality of environmental disclosure, and provides useful future research directions.

The Impact of Sustainability Reporting on Financial Performance: Evidence from Turkish FBT and TCL Sectors

This study investigated the impact of sustainability reporting on financial performance, with a focus on companies in the Turkish food, beverage and tobacco and textile, wearing apparel and leather sectors. The sustainability reports of 48 companies listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange for 2022 were studied, and the quality of sustainability practices was determined by using a general index (Sustainability Reporting Disclosure Quality Index (SRDQI)) and three partial indices (Environmental Disclosure Quality Index, Social Disclosure Quality Index, and Corporate Governance Disclosure Quality Index (CGDQI)). To analyze the relationships between financial performance and sustainability practices, two types of regression models were developed, based on which eight models were directly examined. The results indicate the complete absence of a statistically significant impact of SRDQI on all financial performance measures used. Among the partial indices, only CGDQI has a significant positive effect on the Assets Turnover Ratio. An analysis of the influence of control variables shows a multidirectional dependence of individual financial performance measures on the size of companies, their age, industry affiliation, as well as on the structure of capital used. Finally, this study provides directions for improving the institutional environment of sustainability reporting for Turkish companies.

Corporate Governance and Environmental Disclosure: Assessing The Role of Environmental Performance

This research aims to examine and provide empirical evidence of the influence of Corporate Governance on Environmental Disclosure, with Environmental Performance as a mediating variable. The study was conducted on publicly traded companies that disclosed Corporate Social Responsibility during the period from 2018 to 2021 and participated in PROPER (Program for Environmental Performance Rating and Disclosure). The sample was determined using purposive sampling and consisted of 61 companies. The results of the research show that Corporate Governance is positively related to environmental performance and disclosure. The findings also indicate that environmental performance partially mediates the relationship between corporate governance and the quality of environmental disclosure.

Green merger and acquisition and green technology innovation: Stimulating quantity or quality?

An increasing number of heavy pollution enterprises are enthusiastically involved in green merger and acquisition (GMA), but the impact on green technology innovation (eco-innovation) has yet to be explored. Does it stimulate the quantity or quality of eco-innovation? By manually collecting GMA engagements of China's heavy pollution enterprises from 2010 to 2020, this study employed the staggered DID method to explore this issue. The empirical results show that: (1) GMA significantly improves the quantity rather than the quality of eco-innovation. After a battery of robustness checks, such as the parallel trend test, placebo test, substitution variables, and an adjusted sample interval, the conclusion remains valid. (2) Through analyzing the motivation of GMA, we find that the desire to obtain government green innovation subsidies and enjoy tax preferences prevails, which results in the scale and quality of GMA tending to be smaller and worse, respectively. (3) Moreover, the decline in the quality of environmental disclosure and CSR provides further evidence that the quality of eco-innovation did not improve. Briefly, this study enriches theoretical grounding regarding strategies of GMA in heavy pollution enterprises and provides implications for governments in emerging economies to guide enterprises to sincerely promote both the quantity and quality of eco-innovation via GMA deals.

Responsible governance and environmental disclosure quality: The moderating role of media exposure and media legitimacy

Responsible governance and environmental disclosure quality: The moderating role of media exposure and media legitimacy

Environmental information disclosure and the investment-cash flow sensitivity

Purpose- In 2008 China issued the Measures for the Disclosure of Environmental Information. Using the introduction of this environmental policy, this paper examines how the environmental information disclosure quality affects a firm's access to capital markets. In particular, the relationship is investigated between the environmental disclosure quality and the investment-cash flow sensitivity, a measure of a firm's financial constraints, before and after the implementation of the policy. Methodology- The content analysis is used to construct the measure of environmental disclosure quality. First of all, the contents of both qualitative and quantitative environmental disclosures are analyzed with respect to the following ten areas reported in firms' annual reports: (1) corporate investment in environmental protection, (2) government financial support related to environmental control, (3) tax reductions related to environmental programs, (4) lawsuits, settlements, penalties, and rewards related to environmental protection, (5) emissions and pollution reduction implementation, (6) certifications of environmental programs, (7) firm environmental protection missions and goals, (8) firm environmental protection plans and strategies, (9) bank loans related to environmental protection, and (10) other environmental-related information. And then, different points are assigned based on the disclosure quality for each of the ten disclosure areas and aggregated to obtain an overall disclosure score. Univariate and regression tests are used to examine the relationship between environmental information disclosures and investment-cash flow sensitivity. Findings- A negative association is found between a firm's environmental disclosure quality and the investment-cash flow sensitivity after the policy was implemented, while no such association is found before the policy implementation. Furthermore, the observed reduction in investment-cash flow sensitivity tends to be stronger for firms in high-polluting industries. Conclusion- Given the environmental policies in emerging markets are often viewed with great doubts, our findings suggest that government environmental policy plays an important role in firm's access to capital markets. Keywords: Environmental information disclosure, investment-cash flow sensitivity, government policy, asymmetric information, financial constraints JEL Codes: G18, G30, G32

The consequences of environmental disclosure quality: Evidence from France

We examine the consequences of environmental disclosure (ED) quality. We test to see if ED quality affects the cost of equity capital (COEC), market valuation, and institutional investors. We focus on the French context as France is one of the pioneer countries in the mandatory adoption of ED. Our sample includes companies listed in the Société des Bourses Françaises (SBF) 120 index for the period 2009–2014. To measure ED quality, we use the qualitative attributes of information quality. The manual content analysis is then used to calculate the score of ED quality. We then link our ED measurement with measures of COEC, market valuation, and institutional ownership. Our analysis offers several interesting findings. First, it shows that ED quality negatively impacts COEC. It also shows that ED quality is negatively associated with higher market valuations. Finally, it provides evidence that ED quality positively affects institutional ownership. Our results indicate that enhancing ED quality leads to desirable economic consequences for disclosing companies and investors.

IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL DISCLOSURES QUALITY ON THE INFORMED DECISION OF RELEVANT STAKEHOLDERS IN NIGERIA

This study investigates the impact of environmental disclosure quality on the informed decision of users of corporate reports based on the assumptions of the decision usefulness theory. The survey design was adopted in this study using a questionnaire that was administered to preparers and users of corporate reports. A combination of t-test and regression was used to test the hypotheses of the study. The findings confirm the low level of voluntary environmental disclosure mechanisms practiced in Nigeria. Finally, preparers are aware of the information need of users. In conclusion, the study shows that much priority is not given to environmental reports. It is recommended from this study that firms should ensure that the level of their EDQ is continuously improved to aid user decisions and secure a positive impression of stakeholders about the firms. Government and standard setters should gear efforts towards standardization of environmental disclosures of firms in Nigeria through legislation and issuance of standards to improve the quality of disclosures.

Do Environmental Performance, Feminism in Commissioner, Female Audit Committee, and Corporate Visibility Affect Corporate Environmental Disclosure?

The company should not separate developing business activities from society's external environment. Instead, the companies should protect the external environment, so many companies need to improve the sustainability of their companies to be better through corporate environmental disclosure. This study aims to examine and analyze the effect of environmental performance, feminism in commissioners, female audit committees, and corporate visibility towards corporate environmental disclosure, controlled by profitability and liquidity. One hundred samples were obtained from the mining companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2015 to 2019 and analyzed using the multiple linear regression method. This study proved that female audit committee could positively influence corporate environmental disclosure. On the other hand, this study found that environmental performance, feminism in commissioners, and corporate visibility couldn't affect corporate environmental disclosure. This result of study can be used by the company's management to help companies provide more thorough supervision of decisions made by management related to social responsibility activities carried out by the female audit committee and monitor the quality of environmental disclosure more effectively. For investors, the results of this study are expected to provide information to investors about the importance of female audit committee members' existence in supporting the community's welfare.

The impact of corporate environmental disclosure quality on financing constraints: the moderating role of internal control.

It is still controversial whether environmental information disclosure (EID) can alleviate firms' financing constraints. Existing studies have not addressed the issue of whether internal control can address the financing constraint in the context of institutional weaknesses and managerial opportunism of environmental information disclosure quality (EIDQ). Therefore, through constructing multiple linear regression analysis, we empirically studied the impact of EIDQ on the financing constraint of Chinese firms and the moderating effect of internal controls on the above relationship. The findings showed that (1) improving EIDQ could significantly alleviate the financing constraint problem of enterprises, and the mitigation effect is more significant among non-state enterprises; (2) the quality of internal control helps to strengthen the mitigation effect of EIDQ on the financing constraint; and (3) further research found that the mitigation effect of EIDQ on financing constraints was more significant in a sample with a high degree of marketization, stricter government regulation, and non-political affiliation among non-state-owned enterprises. This study provides new ideas for promoting institutional optimization of EID and the development of green finance.

Sustainability reporting nexus to corporate governance in scholarly literature

Sustainability reporting has become a practice of the majority and is decided by boards of directors as the supreme governing body in the decision-making process of companies. The paper provides a high-view picture and visualizes research to portray the historical shifts in sustainability reporting nexus to corporate governance through an analysis utilizing CiteSpace software on 935 articles published in Web of Science Core Collection from 2009 to 2021.The number of papers in the area has expanded, especially since 2013 (a branching point), while the study determines a type of bifurcation spot (the year 2017) that evinces the SR-CG field maturity. The study determined the dominant countries through affiliated to them researchers (the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, China and Australia), the most esteemed journals (Journal of Business Ethics, Business Strategy and the Environment and Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal), and the major co-occurrence of hot keywords (carbon disclosure project, environmental disclosure quality, integrated reporting, financial performance, foreign director, environmental reporting, public sector, sustainability assurance statement). The paper identifies principal issues where SR-CG research lags (dearth of those research in developing economies and geographical limitation of research) and unravels uncharted so far domains (jurisdictions-related studies) in the realm. Future research in the realm is likely to focus on ESG, disclosures and governance performance, as well as on specific areas (geography, industry, etc.), and will explore in depth the role of multiple factors together. This papers indicate the growing convergence between SR and CG in literature, and given predominance of ‘SR as a function of CG’ approach a more stalwart and sound CG framework could bring about more tenable SR practices. The paper puts forward an agenda for advancing forthcoming research in the realm of SR-CG interdependence. AcknowledgmentThis paper is co-funded by European Union through the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) within the project “EU BEST PRACTICE OF LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT, SOCIAL, ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING” 101047667 — EULASTING — ERASMUS-JMO-2021-HEI-TCH-RSCH https://bit.ly/3Bbvquw

Does media exposure and media legitimacy moderate the relationship between environmental audit committee and environmental disclosure quality?

Purpose This study aims to examine the moderating effect of media exposure and media legitimacy on the environmental audit committee (EAC) regarding environmental disclosure quality as measured by voluntary and timely disclosure. Design/methodology/approach This paper was based on a sample of 81 French nonfinancial companies listed on the SBF 120 index and covered a six-year period; from 2014 to 2019. To test the hypotheses, a feasible generalized least squares regression was applied. Moreover, the authors checked the results using an additional analysis and the generalized method of moment model for endogeneity problems. Findings The results obtained show that for 482 French firm-year observations during the period 2014–2019, the media exposure does not play a moderating role between the EAC and the voluntary environmental disclosure; However, it plays a moderating role between the EAC and the timely environmental disclosure. The results also show that media legitimacy plays a moderating role between the EAC and the quality of environmental information. After testing for endogeneity problems, the findings remain unchanged. Research limitations/implications The findings of this study may be of interest to academic researchers, practitioners and regulators who are interested in determining the quality of environmental disclosure by considering the role of the EAC while giving a role to media exposure and media legitimacy in the French context. Considering the EAC as a powerful source of effective corporate governance to improve the quality of environmental disclosure for decision-making, the research provides valuable insights for policymakers and managers on the importance of this mechanism and the importance of the environmental media and its tone in making environmental reporting useful and relevant. Originality/value The originality of the work lies in the fact that it is one of the first works that deal with the moderating effect of media exposure on the relationship between the EAC and the quality of environmental information disclosure measured by voluntary and timely disclosure. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous empirical studies have been conducted on this relationship in the French context or in other contexts.

Does media exposure moderate the relationship between ownership structure and environmental disclosure quality: evidence from Jordan

PurposeGiven the increasing emphasis on environmental issues, this study attempts to offer concrete evidence on the relationship between ownership structure and environmental disclosure quality and whether media exposure moderates this relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe sample adopted in this study includes a group of 94 Jordanian companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange from 2010 to 2016. Data about companies' environmental disclosure were manually collected using the content analysis method.FindingsOur findings reveal that increasing the levels of ownership concentration and management ownership can negatively impact the quality of environmental reporting among companies in Jordan. This type of reporting, however, is likely to be benefited from the presence of a high level of foreign ownership. In terms of the role played by media, media coverage may act as a buffer against the negative relationship between environmental reporting and ownership concentration and management ownership. On the other hand, the relationship between foreign ownership and environmental reporting remains positive and significant no matter the amount of media attention the company is receiving.Originality/valueThis study is crucial because it contributes to the existing environmental debate studies in two crucial ways. It first offers the first evidence on how media exposure can moderate the relationship between ownership structure and environmental disclosure. Second, this study's findings provide important implications for regulators and policymakers in Jordan.

Discretionary Accruals: Contribution Of Quality Environmental Disclosures, Corporate Governance, And Assimetric Information

The purpose of this research is to determine the impact of the quality environmental disclosure, corporate governance, and assimetric information on discretionary accruals. In this study, the population is mining companies that implement PROPER and are listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange between 2016 and 2020. Purposive sampling was used to obtain data from 47 different companies. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to analyze the data. The quality of environmental disclosure has impact on discretionary accruals, corporate governance has impact on discretionary accruals, assimetric information has impact on discretionary accruals. Simultaneously, the findings of the quality of environmental disclosure, corporate governance and assimetric information has impact on discretionary accruals.

Environmental disclosures and corporate attributes, from the lens of legitimacy theory: a longitudinal analysis on a developing country

PurposeThe study seeks to evaluate the extent and quality of environmental reporting following a longitudinal analysis and covering a wide spectrum of industries in a single frame. The study also attempts to identify the set of most favored environmental reporting items by firms and items which are least disclosed. Furthermore, the study attempts to test whether certain corporate attributes such as firm size, age of the firm, leverage ratio, profitability, presence of independent directors in the board and gender diversity have any influencing power over environmental disclosure practices. The whole study has been carried out from legitimacy theory setting.Design/methodology/approachThe study follows longitudinal analysis to identify the extent and quality of environmental disclosures. A self-constructed checklist of 12 environmental reporting items has been developed analyzing the annual report and content analysis method is followed to measure the extent and quality of environmental disclosures and identify environmental reporting items which are mostly disclosed and which are least disclosed. The study further uses panel data regression analysis to investigate whether certain corporate attributes have any impact on environmental disclosures using multiple linear regression. Total of 345 annual reports of listed financial and nonfinancial institutions have been observed in this study ranging from 2015 to 2019.FindingsThe key finding suggests that strict enforcement of Green Banking Rules 2011 fosters country’s commercial banks to invest more to protect the environment and commercial banks encourage nonfinancial institutions for environmental performance and related disclosures through finance. Therefore, almost 50% of sample firms disclose their environmental performance through reporting in either narrative, quantitative or monetary format which was only 2.23% in the last decade. Findings also reveal that tree plantation is the most reported environment disclosure followed by investment in renewable energy and green infrastructural projects and the least reported items are fund allocation for climatic changes and carbon management policy. Further analysis shows that firm size and leverage ratio both have positive impact on environmental reporting.Research limitations/implicationsAn in-depth analysis may be conducted to identify why certain environmental items are least disclosed such as fund allotment for climatic changes, carbon management policy, etc. and how corporations may earn social appreciation and motivation by investing in those least preferred items in legitimacy theory setting. Future research may also take into consideration other corporate attributes which are not considered in the study.Originality/valueThe study conducted an in-depth analysis to understand the most favored form of environmental disclosures (narrative/quantitative/monetary) and their extent after incorporation of regulatory guidelines, which is the first of its kind in the research of environmental disclosures. The study indeed contributes to the documentation of environmental reporting in the context of a developing country where there is a lack of longitudinal analysis from the lens of legitimacy theory. Moreover, a wide spectrum of industries has been taken into consideration which facilitates the generalized findings on the environmental disclosure practices of corporations in Bangladesh.

Social and environmental accounting research in vulnerable and exploitable less-developed countries: a theoretical extension

ABSTRACT Research on social and environmental accountability (SEA) and transparency in less-developed countries may generate deeper insights, if theoretical underpinnings which are consistent with the social, political and economic realities found in these countries are used. This paper revisits “vulnerability and exploitability” framework introduced by [Belal, A. R., Cooper, S. M., & Roberts, R. W. (2013). Vulnerable and exploitable: The need for organisational accountability and transparency in emerging and less developed economies. Accounting Forum, 37(2), 81–91]. The paper refines, builds on and extends the theoretical context of the framework with a view to strengthening its ability to describe, explain and predict corporate SEA and transparency practices in less-developed countries. The study utilises analytical review of the relevant multidisciplinary literature from environmental economics, vulnerability and openness, and SEA in less-developed countries. In doing this, firstly, the paper derives three postulates and presents a diagram depicting the conditions which make less-developed countries vulnerable and exploitable. Secondly, as the main contribution of the study, pollution haven theory is integrated into the framework as an additional element. This leads to the derivation of five additional postulates and a modified diagram depicting the conditions for pollution haven and the outcomes of vulnerability’s causal link with exploitability and pollution haven. These outcomes take the form of poor SEA and transparency indicated by low corporate social and environmental performance, disclosure level and disclosure quality. The postulates developed are put forward for further debate and empirical tests.

The impact of the EU nonfinancial information directive on environmental disclosure: evidence from Italian environmentally sensitive industries

Purpose To determine whether to entrust the European Union (EU) to create a new nonfinancial reporting framework or endorse the extant reporting framework developed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), this study aims to explore whether the mandatory implementation of the EU Directive positively impacted the GRI-based environmental disclosure. Design/methodology/approach The authors compared the pre- and post-EU Directive environmental disclosure of 16 Italian environmentally sensitive companies. The authors used an extended coding scheme and developed a unique scoring system to compare the quantitative and qualitative changes in environmental disclosure. Findings The analysis showed that the quantity of environmental disclosure increased after the mandatory EU Directive adoption. The most significant change was observed regarding the disclosure topics explicitly required by the Italian legislature. Additionally, disclosure of soft information continued to prevail over that of hard information in the post-Directive period. While the Directive boosted the level of adherence to GRI standards, Italian companies disclosed information that could be easily mimicked (soft) instead of objective measures that could be verified (hard). In light of this evidence, the endorsement of extant GRI standards could be a valuable option for enhancing the comparability and transparency of environmental disclosure. Originality/value This study used an original extended coding system and proposed related environmental disclosure indexes that allow monitoring changes in environmental disclosure over time. To the authors’ best knowledge, this study is one of the few that justifies the significant impact of regulation (here the EU Directive) on the increase in environmental disclosure and that uses hard and soft information typology to examine the quality of environmental disclosure.

Stakeholder interactions as sources for organisational learning: insights from the water sector

Purpose This paper aims to understand stakeholders' sentiments with respect to company policies in the water utilities (WU) sector and to explore if and how these sentiments could be a source for organisational learning. Design/methodology/approach This study investigates the use of social media in WUs’ and stakeholders’ reactions as a source of data for organisational learning. This paper relies on a mixed-methods approach based on sentiment analysis of Facebook (FB) pages and semi-structured interviews with sustainability managers from a sample of Italian WUs. Findings Findings show that WUs increasingly use FB mainly to promote and disclose environmental issues and as a source of information for organisational learning. A longitudinal analysis of environmental disclosure via FB reveals a growing trend of both companies’ posts and stakeholder interactions and significant differences among organisations in their ways of using information and knowledge obtained from social media. Originality/value Theoretically, this paper builds an original link between disclosure via social media and organisational learning processes. Empirically, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies to identify the quantity and quality of environmental disclosure via FB and the related stakeholders’ reactions.

Corporate environmental disclosure and local government environmental oversight in China

PurposeRecent research has drawn attention to the tension between the Central and local governments in China regarding their roles in environmental protection. This paper aims to explore this tension and examine the extent to which local/provincial government’s environmental oversight has influenced the quality of corporate environmental disclosure in China.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 198 listed companies in heavily polluting industries were selected to examine the relationship between their environmental disclosure quality and the respective local government’s environmental oversight level.FindingsThe results provide evidence that local/provincial government’s environmental oversight significantly influences environmental disclosure in China. Despite the coercive pressure from the powerful Central government on corporate environmental disclosure, local/provincial governments are able to buffer the pressure and adjust the intensity of their environmental oversight on companies during the implementation of central policies to retain local economic and political interests. This may partially explain the persistent issue of low environmental disclosure quality in China.Research limitations/implicationsThis study enriches our understanding of the significant role of local governments in China in enhancing or sometimes discounting the regulatory enforcement of the Central government on corporate environmental disclosure, pointing to the need for concerted efforts by both local and Central governments to advance environmental disclosure development.Originality/valueResearch on environmental disclosure in developed countries has been well established in the literature. However, such research in developing nations is still limited, especially in China, the world largest developing country. The existing literature on environmental disclosure in China links it with either market demands, or regulatory enforcement from the Central government. The importance of local/provincial governments and their environmental oversight has long been ignored, which motivates this research.