IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i8p3393-d1378148.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Are Investors Most Interested in about Sustainability? An Approach from the Scientific Literature

Author

Listed:
  • Juan Oliveros Fontaine

    (Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28223 Madrid, Spain)

  • Cristina del Campo

    (Departamento de Economía Financiera y Actuarial y Financiera, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28223 Madrid, Spain)

  • Elena Urquía-Grande

    (Departamento de Administración Financiera y Contabilidad, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28223 Madrid, Spain)

Abstract

In the midst of the development of international frameworks for the dissemination of information on sustainability, the European Union published the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) in order to meet user requirements on sustainability. To achieve its objectives, the Directive assigns large companies and investors a key role in the transmission of sustainability-related information, leveraging their capacity to influence. An increased separate use of the term “investor” has been noted in the sustainability-related literature regarding the overall “stakeholder” that contains it. Our research applies a methodology based on analysis of the content of the abstracts from 260 articles published prior to the approval of the CSRD, with the aim of identifying whether that separate use implied that investors’ interests are concentrated on sustainability-related aspects. The results of the research concluded that there is no statistical significance between the separate, growing use of the term “investor” and a generalised use in the lexical field related to sustainability that might characterise the influence of investors. This work encourages future research directions to examine how the enactment of the CSRD may affect the trend in investor influence on the dissemination of sustainability-related information.

Suggested Citation

  • Juan Oliveros Fontaine & Cristina del Campo & Elena Urquía-Grande, 2024. "What Are Investors Most Interested in about Sustainability? An Approach from the Scientific Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-23, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:8:p:3393-:d:1378148
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/8/3393/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/8/3393/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ester Clementino & Richard Perkins, 2021. "How Do Companies Respond to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) ratings? Evidence from Italy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(2), pages 379-397, June.
    2. Johannes Jahn & Rolf Brühl, 2018. "How Friedman’s View on Individual Freedom Relates to Stakeholder Theory and Social Contract Theory," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 41-52, November.
    3. Jeffrey Unerman & Jan Bebbington & Brendan O’dwyer, 2018. "Corporate reporting and accounting for externalities," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(5), pages 497-522, July.
    4. Mayer, David M. & Kuenzi, Maribeth & Greenbaum, Rebecca & Bardes, Mary & Salvador, Rommel (Bombie), 2009. "How low does ethical leadership flow? Test of a trickle-down model," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 1-13, January.
    5. Isabel Lourenço & Jeffrey Callen & Manuel Branco & José Curto, 2014. "The Value Relevance of Reputation for Sustainability Leadership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 119(1), pages 17-28, January.
    6. Geyskens, I. & Steenkamp, J.E.B.M. & Scheer, L.K. & Kumar, N., 1996. "The effects of trust and interdependence on relationship commitment : A trans-Atlantic study," Other publications TiSEM ef7c8d6c-963d-4ee7-8576-9, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    7. Manuel Branco & Lúcia Rodrigues, 2008. "Factors Influencing Social Responsibility Disclosure by Portuguese Companies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 83(4), pages 685-701, December.
    8. Pablo Ruiz & Carmen Ruiz & Ricardo Martínez, 2011. "Improving the “Leader–Follower” Relationship: Top Manager or Supervisor? The Ethical Leadership Trickle-Down Effect on Follower Job Response," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 99(4), pages 587-608, April.
    9. Julia Wolf, 2014. "The Relationship Between Sustainable Supply Chain Management, Stakeholder Pressure and Corporate Sustainability Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 119(3), pages 317-328, February.
    10. Suman Sen & James Cowley, 2013. "The Relevance of Stakeholder Theory and Social Capital Theory in the Context of CSR in SMEs: An Australian Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(2), pages 413-427, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Jianzhuang Zheng & Muhammad Usman Khurram & Lifeng Chen, 2022. "Can Green Innovation Affect ESG Ratings and Financial Performance? Evidence from Chinese GEM Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-32, July.
    2. Olivier Boiral & Marie‐Christine Brotherton & Léo Rivaud & David Talbot, 2022. "Comparing the uncomparable? An investigation of car manufacturers' climate performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 2213-2229, July.
    3. S. Hansen & Bradley Alge & Michael Brown & Christine Jackson & Benjamin Dunford, 2013. "Ethical Leadership: Assessing the Value of a Multifoci Social Exchange Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 115(3), pages 435-449, July.
    4. Yidong Tu & Xinxin Lu & Yue Yu, 2017. "Supervisors’ Ethical Leadership and Employee Job Satisfaction: A Social Cognitive Perspective," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 229-245, February.
    5. Li, Changhong & Li, Jialong & Liu, Mingzhi & Wang, Yuan & Wu, Zhenyu, 2017. "Anti-misconduct policies, corporate governance and capital market responses: International evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 47-60.
    6. Vitolla, Filippo & Raimo, Nicola & Rubino, Michele & Garegnani, Giovanni Maria, 2021. "Do cultural differences impact ethical issues? Exploring the relationship between national culture and quality of code of ethics," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(1).
    7. Francisco Javier Forcadell & Antonio Lorena & Elisa Aracil, 2023. "The firm under the spotlight: How stakeholder scrutiny shapes corporate social responsibility and its influence on performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 1258-1272, May.
    8. Yanhan Zhu & Diwan Li, 2016. "Supervisor–subordinate Guanxi violations: Trickle-down effects beyond the Dyad," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 15(5), pages 399-423, December.
    9. Shirel Damti & Guy Hochman, 2022. "Personality Characteristics as Predictors of the Leader’s Ethical Leadership in Regular Times and in Times of Crisis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-17, August.
    10. Cheng, Ken & Wei, Feng & Lin, Yinghui, 2019. "The trickle-down effect of responsible leadership on unethical pro-organizational behavior: The moderating role of leader-follower value congruence," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 34-43.
    11. Imran Shafique & Masood N. Kalyar & Bashir Ahmad, 2018. "The Nexus of Ethical Leadership, Job Performance, and Turnover Intention: The Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction," Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems - scientific journal, Croatian Interdisciplinary Society Provider Homepage: http://indecs.eu, vol. 16(1), pages 71-87.
    12. Chaim Letwin & David Wo & Robert Folger & Darryl Rice & Regina Taylor & Brendan Richard & Shannon Taylor, 2016. "The “Right” and the “Good” in Ethical Leadership: Implications for Supervisors’ Performance and Promotability Evaluations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 137(4), pages 743-755, September.
    13. Q. Miao & A. Newman & J. Yu & L. Xu, 2013. "The Relationship Between Ethical Leadership and Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior: Linear or Curvilinear Effects?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(3), pages 641-653, September.
    14. Mani, Venkatesh & Gunasekaran, Angappa, 2018. "Four forces of supply chain social sustainability adoption in emerging economies," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 150-161.
    15. Kubilay Gok & John J. Sumanth & William H. Bommer & Ozgur Demirtas & Aykut Arslan & Jared Eberhard & Ali Ihsan Ozdemir & Ahmet Yigit, 2017. "You May Not Reap What You Sow: How Employees’ Moral Awareness Minimizes Ethical Leadership’s Positive Impact on Workplace Deviance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(2), pages 257-277, December.
    16. Byun, Gukdo & Karau, Steven J. & Dai, Ye & Lee, Soojin, 2018. "A three-level examination of the cascading effects of ethical leadership on employee outcomes: A moderated mediation analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 44-53.
    17. Pablo Ruiz-Palomino & Francisco Sáez-Martínez & Ricardo Martínez-Cañas, 2013. "Understanding Pay Satisfaction: Effects of Supervisor Ethical Leadership on Job Motivating Potential Influence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(1), pages 31-43, November.
    18. Dave Bouckenooghe & Asma Zafar & Usman Raja, 2015. "How Ethical Leadership Shapes Employees’ Job Performance: The Mediating Roles of Goal Congruence and Psychological Capital," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 129(2), pages 251-264, June.
    19. K. Kacmar & Martha Andrews & Kenneth Harris & Bennett Tepper, 2013. "Ethical Leadership and Subordinate Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Organizational Politics and the Moderating Role of Political Skill," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 115(1), pages 33-44, June.
    20. Vishag Badrinarayanan & Indu Ramachandran & Sreedhar Madhavaram, 2019. "Mirroring the Boss: Ethical Leadership, Emulation Intentions, and Salesperson Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 897-912, October.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:8:p:3393-:d:1378148. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.