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Corporate sustainability and environmental reporting: triggers and consequences

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Abstract

This paper explores the triggers and consequences of sustainability reporting in the developing economy of Pakistan. Moreover, the study examines whether the corporate factors have any indirect and conditional indirect effects on financial performance through sustainability reporting where sector-affiliation acts as a moderator. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach has been applied for the data collection and analysis. The study uses secondary data collected from annual reports of 178 companies listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange for 2010–2018. The quantitative results reveal that size, age, leverage, earnings, sustainability awards, CEO duality, and board independence significantly influence sustainability reporting. In contrast, foreign ownership, ownership concentration, women on board, and media visibility do not determine sustainability reporting. Mediation results indicate significant indirect effects of each corporate factor on financial performance through sustainability reporting. Similarly, except for a few, conditional indirect effects in all the models were also seen to exist. Subsequently, interviews with prominent players in the field helped validate and understand the quantitative results. This study has implications for regulators, corporate managers, investors, NGOs, and academic researchers.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Business Administration, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

    Yasir Ashraf

  2. Institute of Administrative Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

    Mian Sajid Nazir

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YA conceived, carried out the literature review, and drafted the manuscript. MSN conceived, designed, and coordinated the study, and contributed to and finalized the draft. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mian Sajid Nazir.

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Appendix

Appendix

Table 9 SR themes and items
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Table 10 Variable names, symbols, measurement, and references
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Table 11 Respondents’ profile
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Ashraf, Y., Nazir, M.S. Corporate sustainability and environmental reporting: triggers and consequences. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 68743–68769 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-27160-5

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