IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aii/ijcmss/v4y2013i3p51-59.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainability Reporting and its Impact on Corporate Financial Performance: A Literature Review

Author

Listed:
  • Priyanka Aggarwal

    (Assistant Professor, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, University of Delhi & Research Scholar, Department of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi –Delhi, India.)

Abstract

Sustainability is the most critical issue faced by an organization today; having the potential to influence overall performance and profitability of organization. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of sustainability reporting on corporate financial performance through review of extant literature. Various researches have been conducted over the last decade for examining this relationship. The results are mixed, inconsistent and often contradictory; ranging from positive, to negative, to statistically insignificant relationship; depending upon the choice of measure of sustainability reporting, measure of financial performance, sample composition, time-period, and control variables. We, however, observed that the majority of studies suggest positive relationship. This paper attempts to critically analyze the existing researches to lay down scope for further research which may provide better and more consistent results. Further, the laws, regulations and standards on sustainability reporting are contemplated to become more stringent and mandatory in near future. Thus, the companies should adopt sustainability reporting as early as possible to avoid regulatory actions in future. Another important issue which needs to be addressed is concern over the reliability of sustainability reports. To resolve this issue, firms should get their sustainability reports externally assured from credible assurance providers like KPMG, EY, etc. to establish their image as a credible reporter in the perception of stakeholders. Without the credibility and trust that is put by stakeholders, business is impossible to run.

Suggested Citation

  • Priyanka Aggarwal, 2013. "Sustainability Reporting and its Impact on Corporate Financial Performance: A Literature Review," Indian Journal of Commerce and Management Studies, Educational Research Multimedia & Publications,India, vol. 4(3), pages 51-59, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:aii:ijcmss:v:4:y:2013:i:3:p:51-59
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://scholarshub.net/index.php/ijcms/article/view/267/260
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://scholarshub.net/index.php/ijcms/article/view/267
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cristiana Mǎnescu, 2011. "Stock returns in relation to environmental, social and governance performance: Mispricing or compensation for risk?," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(2), pages 95-118, March/Apr.
    2. Stephen Brammer & Chris Brooks & Stephen Pavelin, 2006. "Corporate Social Performance and Stock Returns: UK Evidence from Disaggregate Measures," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 35(3), pages 97-116, September.
    3. Detre, Joshua D. & Gunderson, Michael A., 2011. "The Triple Bottom Line: What is the Impact on the Returns to Agribusiness?," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 14(4), pages 1-14, November.
    4. Hannu Schadewitz & Mikael Niskala, 2010. "Communication via responsibility reporting and its effect on firm value in Finland," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(2), pages 96-106, March.
    5. Abagail McWilliams & Donald Siegel, 2000. "Corporate social responsibility and financial performance: correlation or misspecification?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(5), pages 603-609, May.
    6. Galema, Rients & Plantinga, Auke & Scholtens, Bert, 2008. "The stocks at stake: Return and risk in socially responsible investment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(12), pages 2646-2654, December.
    7. Patten, Dennis M., 1992. "Intra-industry environmental disclosures in response to the Alaskan oil spill: A note on legitimacy theory," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 471-475, July.
    8. Michael Robinson & Anne Kleffner & Stephanie Bertels, 2011. "Signaling Sustainability Leadership: Empirical Evidence of the Value of DJSI Membership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 101(3), pages 493-505, July.
    9. M. López & Arminda Garcia & Lazaro Rodriguez, 2007. "Sustainable Development and Corporate Performance: A Study Based on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 75(3), pages 285-300, October.
    10. Semenova, Natalia & Hassel, Lars & Nilsson, Henrik, 2009. "The Value Relevance of Environmental and Social Performance: Evidence from Swedish SIX 300 Companies," Sustainable Investment and Corporate Governance Working Papers 2009/4, Sustainable Investment Research Platform.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. R K Tailor & Ashoka M L & Parameshwara & Abhishek N, 2020. "Suitability of accounting education to current market," Indian Journal of Commerce and Management Studies, Educational Research Multimedia & Publications,India, vol. 11(2), pages 14-23, May.
    2. Atan, Ruhaya & Alam, Md. Mahmudul & Said, Jamaliah & Zamri, Mohamed, 2019. "The Impacts of Environmental, Social, and Governance Factors on Firm Performance: Panel Study of Malaysian Companies," SocArXiv ntz52, Center for Open Science.
    3. Radu-Dan TURCU, 2015. "Sustainability Reporting – An Analysis Of The Worldwide Diffusion," SEA - Practical Application of Science, Romanian Foundation for Business Intelligence, Editorial Department, issue 7, pages 557-564, April.
    4. Tafadzwa Mark Wasara & Fortune Ganda, 2019. "The Relationship between Corporate Sustainability Disclosure and Firm Financial Performance in Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Listed Mining Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-23, August.
    5. Monica Singhania & Neha Saini, 2022. "Quantification of ESG Regulations: A Cross-Country Benchmarking Analysis," Vision, , vol. 26(2), pages 163-171, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. She‐Chih Chiu & Hsuan‐Chu Lin & Chuan‐San Wang, 2017. "The Impact of Investments in Pollution Reduction on Shareholder Wealth: Evidence from Taiwanese Manufacturing Companies," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(6), pages 676-691, November.
    2. Abhishek Behl & P. S. Raghu Kumari & Harnesh Makhija & Dipasha Sharma, 2022. "Exploring the relationship of ESG score and firm value using cross-lagged panel analyses: case of the Indian energy sector," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 313(1), pages 231-256, June.
    3. Cellier, Alexis & Chollet, Pierre, 2016. "The effects of social ratings on firm value," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 656-683.
    4. Alan Gregory & Julie Whittaker, 2013. "Exploring the Valuation of Corporate Social Responsibility—A Comparison of Research Methods," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(1), pages 1-20, August.
    5. Amal Aouadi & Sylvain Marsat, 2018. "Do ESG Controversies Matter for Firm Value? Evidence from International Data," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(4), pages 1027-1047, September.
    6. Karime Chahuán-Jiménez, 2020. "Correlation between the DJSI Chile and the Financial Indices of Chilean Companies," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-14, November.
    7. Ramzi Benkraiem & Sabri Boubaker & Asif Saeed, 2022. "How does corporate social responsibility engagement affect the information content of stock prices?," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(5), pages 1266-1289, July.
    8. Felipe Arias Fogliano de Souza Cunha & Erick Meira & Renato J. Orsato, 2021. "Sustainable finance and investment: Review and research agenda," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(8), pages 3821-3838, December.
    9. Selena Aureli & Sabrina Gigli & Renato Medei & Enrico Supino, 2020. "The value relevance of environmental, social, and governance disclosure: Evidence from Dow Jones Sustainability World Index listed companies," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(1), pages 43-52, January.
    10. Eduardo Duque-Grisales & Javier Aguilera-Caracuel, 2021. "Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Scores and Financial Performance of Multilatinas: Moderating Effects of Geographic International Diversification and Financial Slack," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(2), pages 315-334, January.
    11. Ioannis Ziogas & Theodore Metaxas, 2021. "Corporate Social Responsibility in South Europe during the Financial Crisis and Its Relation to the Financial Performance of Greek Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-20, July.
    12. Najul Laskar & Tapan Kumar Chakraborty & Santi Gopal Maji, 2017. "Corporate Sustainability Performance and Financial Performance: Empirical Evidence from Japan and India," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 42(2), pages 88-106, May.
    13. Emmanuel Adegbite & Yilmaz Guney & Frank Kwabi & Suleiman Tahir, 2019. "Financial and corporate social performance in the UK listed firms: the relevance of non-linearity and lag effects," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 105-158, January.
    14. Meng‐Feng Yen & Yung‐Ming Shiu & Chi‐Feng Wang, 2019. "Socially responsible investment returns and news: Evidence from Asia," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(6), pages 1565-1578, November.
    15. Soytas, Mehmet Ali & Denizel, Meltem & Durak Usar, Damla, 2019. "Addressing endogeneity in the causal relationship between sustainability and financial performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 56-71.
    16. Nguyen, Dat Thanh & Tran, Vuong Thao & Phan, Dinh Hoang Bach, 2023. "Does green activity impact stock price crash risk? The role of climate risk," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PA).
    17. Emmanuel Lawal & Gökan May & Bojan Stahl, 2017. "The Significance of Corporate Social Disclosure for High‐Tech Manufacturing Companies: Focus on Employee and Community Aspects of Sustainable Development," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(4), pages 295-311, July.
    18. Younès El Manzani & Mohamed Larbi Sidmou & Jean-Jack Cegarra, 2017. "A conceptual framework of the relationship between total quality management, corporate social responsibility, innovation capability, and financial performance," Post-Print hal-03207361, HAL.
    19. Ioannis Oikonomou & Chris Brooks & Stephen Pavelin, 2014. "The Financial Effects of Uniform and Mixed Corporate Social Performance," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(6), pages 898-925, September.
    20. Zhou, Guangyou & Sun, Yongkun & Luo, Sumei & Liao, Jiayi, 2021. "Corporate social responsibility and bank financial performance in China: The moderating role of green credit," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aii:ijcmss:v:4:y:2013:i:3:p:51-59. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Mr. Asif Anjum (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.