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The impact of governance on environmental performance: evidence from African countries

Author

Listed:
  • Sana Ben Abdallah

    (Faculty of Economics and Management of Sfax, LED, University of Sfax, Tunisia)

  • Dhafer Saidane

    (SKEMA Business School – Université Côte d''Azur)

  • Sami Ben Mim

    (IHEC, LaREMFiQ, University of Sousse, Tunisia)

Abstract

This article assesses the impact of governance mechanisms on the environmental performance of a sample of 122 listed African firms between 2010 and 2022. We distinguish between the performance relative to the control of harmful emissions and that related to the firm's pro-environmental innovations. We also consider two governance proxies, reflecting the management quality and the corporate social responsibility strategy, respectively. The System GMM results show that enhancing the governance quality significantly contributes to promoting environmental performance. Results also reveal that the environmental scores are highly persistent, which reflects the African firms' commitment to a long-term CSR strategy. Finally, we notice that results differ from one sector to another. In particular, CSR has little effect on industrial harmful emissions and no effect on the industrial sector's ability to produce innovations. Such results suggest that the green transition in African industry is particularly difficult to implement and requires more resources.

Suggested Citation

  • Sana Ben Abdallah & Dhafer Saidane & Sami Ben Mim, 2024. "The impact of governance on environmental performance: evidence from African countries," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 44(1), pages 122-139.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-23-00137
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Governance; Environmental performance; African companies; SGMM.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics
    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance

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