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The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of environmental disclosures (END) on the corporate financial performance (CFP) of listed companies in Ghana before and during the Banking crisis (BKC) and the COVID-19 pandemic (COV).

This study used data from 16 companies listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange between 2012 and 2021. The END Index was used, which uses percentile ranking and is guided by Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. A diverse set of empirical tests were used to examine whether ENDs affect CFP during crises.

The study offered support for the stakeholder and signaling theories generally applied to the study of END. The results confirmed that ENDs have a significant positive effect on CFP measures, return on equity and earnings per share, before and during the crises. The BKC and COV had no impact on the CFP.

As Ghana is still recovering from the 2017 to 2020 BKC and COV, the findings of this study highlight the need for managers to embrace END reporting and engagement strategies to improve CFP and firm reputation.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the effect of END on CFP in the context of before and considering the Ghanaian BKC and COV. In addition, it is one of the few studies that investigates how ENDs affect the CFP of Ghanaian-listed firms.

The effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on corporate financial performance (CFP) is shown to depend on both firm-specific and external factors. This study investigates the moderating role of two firm-specific factors – the firm life-cycle stage and ownership structure – on the CSR–CFP relationship in a developing economy setting – India.

The study covers 1,419 listed companies in India during 2015–21. The firm lifecycle is represented using firm age and future growth prospects. Ownership is represented through a dummy variable and promoters’ holding percentages. Return on assets (RoA) is used as a measure of CFP, while CSR intensity, i.e. the ratio of CSR expenditure to profit after tax (PAT), is used to represent CSR. Fixed effect panel regression and generalized method of moments (GMM) models are used for data analysis.

CSR expenditure has a significant negative impact on CFP. Firm age and future growth prospects amplify this negative impact, indicating that the firm life-cycle has a significant negative moderating effect on the CSR–CFP relationship. Furthermore, the impact of CSR on CFP is worse for government companies than private ownership. Promoters’ holdings have a positive impact on the CSR–CFP relationship.

The results question the validity of mandatory CSR expenditure on companies operating in developing countries and call for a differentiated policy approach to CSR expectations based on firm characteristics. This study also enhances the existing literature on CSR–CFP.

The growing research on CSR–CFP has limited coverage of firm characteristics as contributing factors. Hence, this paper helps in enhancing the existing literature on CSR–CFP and makes it more relevant to firms with specific characteristics.

In the context of global economic downturn and intense competition, firms are increasingly resorting to supply chains to acquire capital support and achieve sustainability. This study aims to investigate the effect of supply chain finance (SCF) on corporate sustainability performance (CSP) and identifies SCF-related recipes for CSP.

Based on a sample of 1,038 firms that disclose CSP – namely, corporate financial performance (CFP) and environmental, social and governance performance (ESGP) – the authors use a quasi-replication method consisting of empirical analysis with fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to investigate SCF’s effects on CSP.

The authors find that SCF has a “doing well by doing good” effect on CSP. CFP can promote the positive effect of SCF and ESGP while ESGP’s positive effect on SCF and CFP is nonsignificant. In addition, heterogeneity tests show that SCF’s promoting effect on CSP is affected by high-low CFP and ESGP. The fsQCA results verify the empirical findings and reveal five SCF-related recipes for achieving high CSP.

This study has the following two limitations. First, we do not consider how SCF affects CSP in different industries. There is a need to investigate whether industry heterogeneity changes SCF’s effects on CSP, especially in prominent industries, such as the energy industry, with its high susceptibility to ESGP, and the manufacturing industry, with its extensive application of SCF. It will be important to investigate these industries to better understand SCF’s role in sustainability. Second, we study the secondary supply chain – namely, core firm–suppliers and core firm–customers. The authors do not consider financial institutions (e.g. banks and guarantee institutions). SCF modes that include the participation of financial institutions, such as factoring financing and reverse factoring financing, cater more to the capital needs of diversified firms. In the future, studying specific industries that have made significant contributions to the application of SCF along with others that are more sensitive to environmental governance could better highlight the effect of SCF on sustainability and help supply chain managers understand the application value of SCF. Future research could also extend SCF participants into multiple roles to explore separate effects. Tracking financing demanders, fund providers and credit guarantors could capture SCF characteristics more comprehensively. Methodologically, it will be challenging to accurately measure SCF networks in terms of quantification. In future work, this could be performed with the help of artificial intelligence.

First, our findings indicate that SCF has a “doing well by doing good” effect on core firms. SCF can not only overcome the capital shortage of SMEs but also provide significant benefits to core firms. Second, our findings provide SCF-related recipes to help firms fulfil ESGP obligations without sacrificing CFP under the pressure to “do good.” The authors provide valuable insights and diverse recommendations to help supply chain managers, marketing executives and researchers adjust supply chain management strategies. Third, this work can guide executives in various fields to adopt SCF to achieve sustainability as a risk-mitigation strategy by means of marketing.

This study identifies better, more straightforward SCF-related recipes for CSP (consisting of CFP and ESGP) using a quasi-replication analysis that improves upon conventional methods such as regression analysis, which have limited power. The authors provide valuable insights and diverse recommendations to help managers pursue sustainable development. The findings point to practical guidelines and feasible solutions that can support well-founded operational strategic and management decision-making, which can enhance a firm’s competitiveness under uncertainty and a sluggish economy.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and innovation are the two main approaches firms utilize to promote sustainable development. However, as yet, scholars have reached no consensus regarding their precise impact on construction firm performance (CFP), hindering efforts to implement effective sustainable development strategies that improve CFP. In view that a simple linear relationship may not be sufficient to capture their precise pattern, this study aims to unveil the nonlinear impact of CSR and innovation on CFP, especially when construction firms take up a distinct competitive position.

This study first proposed four hypotheses to establish a new theoretical model by incorporating CSR, innovation, CFP and construction firms' competitive position (CFCP). Then the model was tested by using 292 annual observations collected from 75 construction firms in China. A multiple regression model analysis was carried out to analyze the survey data and validate the hypotheses.

The results reveal that both CSR and innovation have a U-shaped impact on the price-to-book ratio of a construction firm, a specific CFP measure. CFCP negatively moderates the U-shaped relationship between CSR and CFP, but positively moderates the U-shaped relationship between innovation and CFP.

This study goes beyond a simple linear view, instead of unveiling the nonlinear U-shaped effects of CSR and innovation on CFP that deepen the understanding of their complex relationships in the construction industry and makes construction firms aware that CSR and innovation can only improve performance if they reach a certain level. The moderating role of CFCP provides important implications for construction firms seeking to adopt appropriate competitive strategies related to social responsibility and innovation that both promote CFP and achieve sustainable development.

This paper aims to examine the effects of political connections (PCs) on corporate financial performance (CFP) in an emerging economy. It also investigates the moderating influence of the directors’ financial expertise (DFE) on the relationship between politically connected firms and their financial performance.

The study sample includes 304 firm-year observations from non-financial Tunisian listed firms covered over 2012–2019. Financial data are from various sources: financial statements, annual reports, official bulletins of the Tunisian Stock Exchange (TSE) and the Financial Market Council. PCs and DFE data are manually collected from the TSE and companies’ websites. Multivariate regression analyses are used to test the research hypotheses.

The results show that PCs negatively affect CFP and the DFE is a moderator variable that exacerbates this negative relationship. These results could be explained on the one hand by the fact that politicians often lack management, professionalism and know-how. On the other hand, political members on boards focus mainly on their political agendas and prioritize their interests rather than firm performance. Furthermore, board directors are more inclined towards the grabbing-hand approach to create personal linkages with these politicians and take personal benefits rather than protect the interests of minority shareholders and effectively use firm resources.

The most important limitation of the study is the small number of non-financial TSE-listed firms. Indeed, the small sample size prevents us from considering industry specificities and working in a homogeneous environment.

This study recommends that external investors pay particular attention to politically connected firms as PCs tend to weaken corporate governance. Also, it helps policymakers better assess the need to harmonize and develop corporate governance standards and practices that account for the specific conditions in Tunisia to mitigate the lobbying of political parties and supervise their abuse of power. Furthermore, the negative relationship between PCs and CFP in a poorly regulated and governed country could be used by financial institutions in their credit scoring.

The findings suggest that the nexus between politics and business draws attention to corruption post-revolution.

The originality and the relevance of this study consist in studying the moderating effect of the DFE on the association between PCs and CFP. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study pioneers assessing the role of the DFE as a moderating variable. It also supplements prior literature by examining the combined factors, such as PCs and DFE, on CFP in an emerging market.

This study aims to investigate the role of women in business leadership, specifically the effect of women on boards (WoB) on corporate environmental responsibility engagement (CERE) and corporate financial performance (CFP) in the Indonesian manufacturing companies. Furthermore, it also examines whether CERE mediates the WoB – CFP relationship.

This is quantitative research using secondary data obtained from the Indonesian Stock Exchange and the website of each company. Using agency theory, upper echelon theory and sustainability theory, 645 firm-year data from the period of 2015–2019 are analysed. The partial least squares structural equation modelling is used to test the hypotheses studied.

The results indicate that WoB is positively associated with CFP and CERE, CERE is positively associated with CFP and CERE mediates the effect of WoB on CFP. The samples are derived from the manufacturing industry; thus, it limits its generalisation. The result implies that investors need to increase the proportion of WoB to enhance CFP. For management, it implies that WoB has an important role in increasing environmental responsibility. For regulators, such as the Indonesian Financial Service Authority, it provides useful information for policymaking in terms of increasing the proportion of WoB and the need for a sustainability report. With increased WoB and CERE, CFP will be better so that society will also gain increased social benefits.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the topic is rarely investigated, especially in the two-tier governance system that uses WoB, CERE and CFP. By investigating the impact of women’s presence on the board of commissioners and the board of directors, this research provides crucial empirical evidence for the agency theory, upper echelon theory and sustainability theory. A new data set also has been created for this research.

Firms are advocating for social change to a growing extent, but the performance implications of corporate activism are not clearly understood. This study aims to introduce social nonmarket strategy (SNMS) as a goal-directed form of corporate activism, explore whether such strategy harms corporate financial performance (CFP), and assess the buffering potential of effective market-based strategy and good standing with stakeholders.

A reflective measurement model and all hypothesized relationships were tested using consistent partial least squares structural equation modeling on a data set of 202 US-based small, medium, and large manufacturing and service firms.

SNMS is positively related to good standing with stakeholders but negatively related to CFP. By contrast, a higher market strategy (MS) is positively associated with both stakeholder performance and CFP. MS and stakeholder performance buffer but do not fully neutralize the adverse financial effect of SNMS.

Firms undertaking SNMS face serious risks. However, effective MS and higher levels of stakeholder performance can buffer but not fully neutralize the adverse financial effect of SNMS.

This research introduces SNMS as a goal-directed form of corporate activism, establishes the conflicting performance effects of such strategy and estimates the buffering potential of MS and stakeholder performance.

Considering environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors is vital in climate change mitigation. Energy companies must incorporate ESG into their business plans, although it unquestionably affects their corporate financial performance (CFP). This paper aims to investigate the effect of ESG on energy companies’ profitability through return on assets by analysing the combined score and individual dimensions of ESG.

The study examined a panel data sample of 911 firm-year observations for 85 European energy-sector companies during 1995–2020. Two distinct modelling specifications were applied to explore the impact of ESG components on the CFP of EU energy companies. The financial data and ESG scores were obtained from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database in July 2021.

The empirical findings revealed that energy companies’ profitability is marginally and negatively affected by their ESG performance. Whereas independent evaluation of the ESG subcomponents indicated that environmental responsibility has a significant negative effect. In contrast, corporate social and governance responsibilities are positively but not significantly associated with the company’s CFP.

This study fills a research gap in the ESG–CFP literature in the European energy sector, a pioneer in sustainable development. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study’s originality lies in its analysis of ESG factors’ role in profitability by considering different EU countries and energy sectors.

The increasing relevance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) engagement has attracted interest in its drivers and effects on business outcomes under different organizational settings. By focusing on family firms (FFs), we deepen both the role of business ethics as a predictor of enhanced ESG engagement and the link with improved corporate financial performance (CFP). In this way, we aim to provide new insights into the impact of business ethics and ESG engagement on FFs competitiveness.

Based on a worldwide panel of 335 FFs covering the 2002–2020 time horizon, this study adopts a two-stage Heckman model (1979) to empirically address two research questions: (RQ1) Do business ethics predict greater ESG engagement in FFs? (RQ2) Does ESG engagement positively affect the corporate financial performance (CFP) of FFs?

The results of the current study are twofold. First, we demonstrate that an ethical approach to business drives greater ESG engagement. Second, we show that higher levels of ESG engagement lead to improved financial performance in FFs.

Our study contributes to filling the knowledge gaps regarding the drivers and effects of ESG engagement in FFs. On the one hand, we demonstrate the positive connection between dimensions that have their own identity, such as business ethics and ESG constructs. On the other hand, by shedding light on the impact of ESG engagement on improved CFP, we contribute to solving the trade-off between economic and noneconomic FF goals.

This study aims at investigating the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) on corporate financial performance (CFP) in firms headquartered in developed versus emerging countries. Drawing upon stakeholder and legitimacy perspectives, the authors argue that the CSR/CSI–CFP relationship differs depending on the home-countries’ level of economic development as this reflects their different sensitivity to sustainability. Indeed, as emerging economies are normally characterized by weaker regulations, they are likely to place lower pressures on companies for superior CSR practices. Therefore, the authors expect the effect of CSR on CFP to be more positive for firms headquartered in advanced than in emerging countries. At the same time, the authors propose a more negative relationship between CSI and CFP for firms headquartered in developed countries due to the higher overall sustainability expectations required to gain legitimacy. The empirical analyses, run on a sample of 1,971 publicly listed firms between 2010 and 2020 from developed and emerging economies, support the expectations, thus confirming that country-specific contextual factors do play a role in shaping both the positive and the negative impact of CSR and CSI on CFP, and that the reactions of stakeholders to responsible and irresponsible behavior are stronger when their sensitivity to sustainability is higher.