IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v34y2025i8p9785-9807.html

Building Trust for Sustainable Disclosure: The Effect of Social Capital on Sustainable Disclosure and the Moderating Role of Corruption

Author

Listed:
  • Abdulkader Kaakeh
  • Mohamad Kaakeh

Abstract

This paper explores the effect of social capital on firms' Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosure practices using a sample of US companies. We propose that public corruption moderates this relationship. Our findings indicate that for social capital to effectively enhance ESG disclosure, it must function within a low‐corruption environment. We show that governmental commitment decreases the negative impact of corruption and amplifies the positive effect of social capital on ESG disclosure. Our results emphasize that corruption erodes trust and undermines the benefits of social capital, highlighting the importance of a robust governmental system for promoting corporate ESG transparency. This study contributes to the understanding of the complex dynamics influencing ESG disclosure practices and stresses the role of institutional frameworks and societal norms in advancing corporate transparency and accountability.

Suggested Citation

  • Abdulkader Kaakeh & Mohamad Kaakeh, 2025. "Building Trust for Sustainable Disclosure: The Effect of Social Capital on Sustainable Disclosure and the Moderating Role of Corruption," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(8), pages 9785-9807, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:34:y:2025:i:8:p:9785-9807
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.70091
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70091
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.70091?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wei Jiang, 2017. "Have Instrumental Variables Brought Us Closer to the Truth," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 6(2), pages 127-140.
    2. Jo, Ara & Carattini, Stefano, 2021. "Trust and CO2 emissions: Cooperation on a global scale," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 922-937.
    3. Harjoto, Maretno Agus & Rossi, Fabrizio, 2019. "Religiosity, female directors, and corporate social responsibility for Italian listed companies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 338-346.
    4. Emily Oster, 2019. "Unobservable Selection and Coefficient Stability: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 187-204, April.
    5. Filipe R. Campante & Quoc-Anh Do, 2014. "Isolated Capital Cities, Accountability, and Corruption: Evidence from US States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(8), pages 2456-2481, August.
    6. Hilary, Gilles & Hui, Kai Wai, 2009. "Does religion matter in corporate decision making in America?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(3), pages 455-473, September.
    7. Spagnolo, Giancarlo, 1999. "Social relations and cooperation in organizations," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 1-25, January.
    8. Mussa Hussaini & Ugo Rigoni & Paolo Perego, 2023. "The strategic choice of payment method in takeovers: The role of environmental, social and governance performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 200-219, January.
    9. Hans B. Christensen & Luzi Hail & Christian Leuz, 2021. "Mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting: economic analysis and literature review," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 1176-1248, September.
    10. Alex Edmans & Mirko S. Heinle & Chong Huang, 2016. "The Real Costs of Financial Efficiency When Some Information Is Soft," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 20(6), pages 2151-2182.
    11. Filipe R. Campante & Quoc-Anh Do, 2014. "Isolated Capital Cities, Accountability, and Corruption: Evidence from US States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(8), pages 2456-2481, August.
    12. repec:bla:obuest:v:61:y:1999:i:0:p:631-52 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Valentina A. Bali & Lindon J. Robison & Richard Winder, 2020. "What Motivates People to Vote? The Role of Selfishness, Duty, and Social Motives When Voting," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, October.
    14. Robert G. Eccles & Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim, 2014. "The Impact of Corporate Sustainability on Organizational Processes and Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(11), pages 2835-2857, November.
    15. Garrett A. McBrayer, 2018. "Does persistence explain ESG disclosure decisions?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(6), pages 1074-1086, November.
    16. Al-Tuwaijri, Sulaiman A. & Christensen, Theodore E. & Hughes, K. II, 2004. "The relations among environmental disclosure, environmental performance, and economic performance: a simultaneous equations approach," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 29(5-6), pages 447-471.
    17. Healy, Paul M. & Palepu, Krishna G., 2001. "Information asymmetry, corporate disclosure, and the capital markets: A review of the empirical disclosure literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 405-440, September.
    18. Ellis, Jesse & Smith, Jared & White, Roger, 2020. "Corruption and Corporate Innovation," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(7), pages 2124-2149, November.
    19. Filipe R. Campante & Quoc-Anh Do, 2014. "Isolated Capital Cities, Accountability, and Corruption: Evidence from US States," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(8), pages 2456-2481, August.
    20. Lin, Tse-Chun & Pursiainen, Vesa, 2022. "Regional social capital and moral hazard in crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4).
    21. Smith, Jared D., 2016. "US political corruption and firm financial policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(2), pages 350-367.
    22. Love, Inessa & Zicchino, Lea, 2006. "Financial development and dynamic investment behavior: Evidence from panel VAR," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 190-210, May.
    23. Kleibergen, Frank & Paap, Richard, 2006. "Generalized reduced rank tests using the singular value decomposition," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 133(1), pages 97-126, July.
    24. Yadong Luo, 2006. "Political behavior, social responsibility, and perceived corruption: a structuration perspective," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(6), pages 747-766, November.
    25. Rupasingha, Anil & Goetz, Stephan J., 2007. "Social and political forces as determinants of poverty: A spatial analysis," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 650-671, August.
    26. Nishant Dass & Vikram Nanda & Steven Chong Xiao, 2016. "Public Corruption in the United States: Implications for Local Firms," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 5(1), pages 102-138.
    27. Jha, Anand & Cox, James, 2015. "Corporate social responsibility and social capital," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 252-270.
    28. Joseph G. Altonji & Todd E. Elder & Christopher R. Taber, 2005. "Selection on Observed and Unobserved Variables: Assessing the Effectiveness of Catholic Schools," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(1), pages 151-184, February.
    29. Grougiou, Vassiliki & Dedoulis, Emmanouil & Leventis, Stergios, 2016. "Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting and Organizational Stigma: The Case of “Sin” Industries," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 905-914.
    30. Ng, Anthony C. & Rezaee, Zabihollah, 2015. "Business sustainability performance and cost of equity capital," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 128-149.
    31. Veltri, Stefania & Bruni, Maria Elena & Iazzolino, Gianpaolo & Morea, Donato & Baldissarro, Giovanni, 2023. "Do ESG factors improve utilities corporate efficiency and reduce the risk perceived by credit lending institutions? An empirical analysis," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    32. Bahoo, Salman & Alon, Ilan & Paltrinieri, Andrea, 2020. "Corruption in international business: A review and research agenda," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(4).
    33. Clarkson, Peter M. & Li, Yue & Richardson, Gordon D. & Vasvari, Florin P., 2008. "Revisiting the relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: An empirical analysis," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(4-5), pages 303-327.
    34. G. S. Maddala & Shaowen Wu, 1999. "A Comparative Study of Unit Root Tests with Panel Data and a New Simple Test," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(S1), pages 631-652, November.
    35. Callen, Jeffrey L. & Fang, Xiaohua, 2015. "Religion and Stock Price Crash Risk," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 50(1-2), pages 169-195, April.
    36. Paolo Mauro, 1995. "Corruption and Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(3), pages 681-712.
    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. Huai Zhang & Jin Zhang, 2023. "Political corruption and accounting choices," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3-4), pages 443-481, March.
    2. Mia Hang Pham & Harvey Nguyen & Martin Young & Anh Dao, 2024. "Who Keeps Company with the Wolf will Learn to Howl: Does Local Corruption Culture Affect Financial Adviser Misconduct?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 194(1), pages 185-210, September.
    3. Huang, Rui & Jiang, Xuejun & Li, Leonard Leye & Lu, Louise Yi & Yu, Yangxin, 2025. "The impact of local corruption on firms' narrative R&D disclosures," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    4. Hossain, Ashrafee Tanvir & Kryzanowski, Lawrence, 2021. "Political corruption and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    5. Du, Qingjie & Hasan, Iftekhar & Wang, Yang & Wei, K.C. John, 2025. "Political corruption, Dodd–Frank whistleblowing, and debt financing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    6. El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Wei, Zuobao & Zhu, Yicheng, 2023. "Does public corruption affect analyst forecast quality?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    7. Yang, Hao & Zhang, Qiusheng & Zhao, Xiaofang & Wang, Zhongchao, 2022. "Does political corruption affect mergers and acquisitions decisions? Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 248-266.
    8. Ahsan Habib & Mabel D' Costa & Ahmed Khamis Al‐Hadi, 2023. "Consequences of local social norms: A review of the literature in accounting, finance, and corporate governance," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(1), pages 3-45, March.
    9. Mark Zakota, 2025. "EPA scrutiny and voluntary environmental disclosures," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 30(4), pages 3514-3557, December.
    10. Zuobao Wei & Yicheng Zhu, 2023. "Public corruption and the allocation of government contracts," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(1), pages 3-22, January.
    11. Hinh Khieu & Nam H. Nguyen & Hieu V. Phan & Jon A. Fulkerson, 2023. "Political Corruption and Corporate Risk-Taking," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(1), pages 93-113, April.
    12. Du, Qingjie & Heo, Yuna, 2022. "Political corruption, Dodd–Frank whistleblowing, and corporate investment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    13. Ucar, Erdem & Staer, Arsenio, 2020. "Local corruption and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 266-282.
    14. Zabihollah Rezaee & Ling Tuo, 2019. "Are the Quantity and Quality of Sustainability Disclosures Associated with the Innate and Discretionary Earnings Quality?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(3), pages 763-786, March.
    15. Nguyen, Nam H. & Phan, Hieu V. & Simpson, Thuy, 2020. "Political corruption and mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    16. Aiello, Darren & Bernstein, Asaf & Kargar, Mahyar & Lewis, Ryan & Schwert, Michael, 2025. "The marginal value of public pension wealth: Evidence from border house prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    17. Joël Cariolle & Petros G Sekeris, 2021. "How export shocks corrupt: theory and evidence," Working Papers hal-03164648, HAL.
    18. Hassan, M. Kabir & Karim, Md. Sydul & Kozlowski, Steven E., 2022. "Implications of public corruption for local firms: Evidence from corporate debt maturity," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    19. Ashrafee Tanvir Hossain & Lawrence Kryzanowski, 2021. "Political corruption shielding and corporate acquisitions," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 56(1), pages 55-83, February.
    20. Mathieu Gomes & Sylvain Marsat & Jonathan Peillex & Guillaume Pijourlet, 2024. "Does religiosity influence corporate greenwashing behavior ?," Post-Print hal-04360447, HAL.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:bla:bstrat:v:34:y:2025:i:8:p:9785-9807. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    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.