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Sustainable Disclosure Policies and Sustainable Performance of European Listed Companies

Author

Listed:
  • Vincenzo D’Apice

    (Center for Relationship Banking & Economics, Lumsa, 00192 Rome, Italy)

  • Giovanni Ferri

    (Department of Law, Economics, Policy & Modern Languages LUMSA University of Rome, 00192 Rome, Italy)

  • Francesca Lipari

    (Department of Mathematics, University Carlos III of Madrid, 28911 Madrid, Spain)

Abstract

Sustainable disclosure has become common for companies to publicly signal their responsible behavior. Our research idea is twofold. First—irrespective of its content—better quality sustainable disclosure should identify more sustainability compliant companies. Second, we propose that those companies should have a more stable—and thus more sustainable—performance. Focusing on the top-capitalized companies of the EU-28 stock exchanges, we assess how GRI sustainable-reporting quality associates with stock-price volatility and distance-to-default. Our results, which resist various robustness checks, confirm that better quality sustainable disclosure couples with more sustainable performance. Thus, pro-disclosure policies could enhance long-term value creation.

Suggested Citation

  • Vincenzo D’Apice & Giovanni Ferri & Francesca Lipari, 2020. "Sustainable Disclosure Policies and Sustainable Performance of European Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-19, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:15:p:5920-:d:388447
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    References listed on IDEAS

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