Effect of mandatory sustainability disclosure announcements:cross-country evidence
ISSN: 0114-0582
Article publication date: 5 October 2021
Issue publication date: 5 January 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine whether announcements of mandatory sustainability disclosure affect corporate sustainability performance (CSP).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a quasi-experiment provided by mandatory sustainability disclosure announcements that occurred in 21 countries from 2006–2016. A difference-in-differences method is adopted. The authors restrict the drawing of all candidate treatment and control firms to a pool of firms that did not disclose sustainability information one year before the announcements.
Findings
The authors find that the announcements of mandatory sustainability disclosure are positively related to CSP. The positive effect is more pronounced for firms in countries with higher anticipation effects and lower awareness effects. Specifically, the authors find that the effect of the announcements is more pronounced in a country where the rule of law is higher and stakeholders are less likely to initiate communication about sustainability with firms, and with fewer active participants in and signatories to the United Nations Global Compact initiative. The findings hold under different robustness analyses.
Originality/value
The study enriches the knowledge about the effect of the announcements of comprehensive mandatory sustainability disclosure by analysing the consequences of these announcements. In the contribution to this growing stream of research, the authors provide evidence on the consequences of the announcements based on a cross-country sample and importantly, focusses on the non-economic consequences.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
An earlier version of the manuscript is presented in the 2019 AFAANZ conference.
Citation
Li, Z. and Jia, J. (2022), "Effect of mandatory sustainability disclosure announcements:cross-country evidence", Pacific Accounting Review, Vol. 34 No. 1, pp. 127-155. https://doi.org/10.1108/PAR-09-2020-0141
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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