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This study aims to investigate the direct and indirect relationship between board characteristics and corporate tax avoidance using the environmental, social and governance (ESG) index as a mediating variable in G20 countries.

To test the direct and indirect effects between board characteristics and tax avoidance using structural equation model analysis, this study used a panel data set of 522 companies from G20 countries between 2015 and 2021.

The regression results show that ESG reporting mediates the relationship between the board of directors and tax avoidance in G20 countries.

The findings have some policy and practical implications that may help regulators improve the quality of transactions and achieve more efficient market supervision. They recommend that governments implement regulations and restrictions on corporate tax avoidance through board mechanisms in G20 countries.

The paper enables information users to assess future growth opportunities by emphasizing the importance of ESG policies and board characteristics in evaluating companies.

Although previous literature has investigated the direct relationship between the board of directors and tax avoidance, the present work focused on considering the direct and indirect association between the board of directors and tax avoidance through the mediating effect of ESG reporting, which has not been widely used in ESG studies so far.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of integrated reporting quality (IRQ) on the cost of equity and financial performance of Islamic banks (IBs) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

This study examines 67 IBs in the MENA region over a period of six years (2015–2020). This paper is motivated by the use of the method of ordinary least on square panel data. A multiple regression model is used to analyze the impact of the quality of integrated reporting, on the one hand, on the cost of equity and, on the other hand, on the financial performance of IBs in the MENA region. Similarly, as an extension of the research, the authors exploited the dynamic effect of the data set through the generalized method of moments and estimated the impact of the one-year lagged value of the cost of equity.

The empirical results obtained do indicate that the quality of integrated reporting seems to have a significant negative effect on the cost of equity capital. It is also interesting to note that IRQ has a positive and significant impact on the financial performance of IBs.

Current research can help and encourage IBs to provide quality information to reduce the cost of equity. Furthermore, this research could be a valuable source of information for policymakers, regulators and stakeholders on IB governance practices and disclosure. Finally, integrated reporting is very important for the progress and development of the Islamic banking sector.

This paper is motivated by the limited research on integrated reporting and financial performance of IBs. It makes an important contribution to the academic literature by adding to the limited body of research on the cost of equity, performance and quality of integrated reporting in the MENA region. This study is also important for the investors seeking to reduce the cost of equity to improve financial performance.

The aim of this study is to analyze the possible relationship between board characteristics and integrated reporting quality in an international setting.

To test the study's hypotheses, the authors applied linear regressions with a panel data, and the authors collected data from the Thomson Reuters database (ASSET4) and from the annual reports from European companies to analyze data of 253 listed companies selected from the environmental, social and governance (ESG) index between 2010 and 2019.

The reached empirical results prove to indicate well that both of the board size, independence and diversity appear to have a significantly positive effect on the integrated reporting quality. Noteworthy, also, is the fact that the appointment of an independent nonexecutive chairman is positively associated with the integrated reporting related quality, and holds for firms with a nonindependent chairman.

Beyond the theoretical implications, our study also has several practical implications. These findings are particularly relevant for managers, shareholders, and policymakers. Thus, stakeholders should consider the accuracy of disclosure in determining the optimal reporting strategy (reducing risk estimation, returns' stock volatility, increasing long-term shareholder value and reputation of the firm).

This article is motivated by the low number of works in the context about the corporate social responsibility and sustainability issues. It makes an important contribution to the academic literature by adding to the limited body of research on integrated reporting and corporate governance in an ESG company setting. The study is also important for practitioners seeking to improve the quality of their integrated reports.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of business ethics and governance score on tax avoidance.

The sample used consists of 432 European companies belonging to the STOXX600 index during the period ranging from 2010 to 2019. The authors use the linear regression with a panel data.

The results show a negative and significant relationship between business ethics and tax avoidance. In addition, the governance is negatively and significantly correlated with tax avoidance. Similarly, this paper finds a negative and significant joint impact of business ethics and governance score on tax avoidance.

The findings of this paper could help firms consider their future growth opportunities in a context where the approach of business ethics occupies a central position in the business valuation.

This study is motivated by the low number of works in the context of the tax avoidance. It makes an important contribution to the academic literature through adding to the limited body of research on business ethics and governance score in a company setting. The firms strongly focusing on ethics and governance score are more likely to reduce their tax avoidance activities. Thus, these corporations aim to preserve their reputation and image. In this regard, it is worth saying that a positive reputation can increase the shareholder value. Accordingly, companies find a powerful strategy in their commitment and their ethical and responsible behavior, allowing them to maintain their good image and reputation.

This study aims to examine the potential effect of integrating social and ethical practices into strategy on the market valuation of environmental, social and governance (ESG) businesses using the moderating effect of green innovation.

The sample used consisted of 523 international firms listed on the ESG index and headquartered in North America and Western Europe, forming an unbalanced panel of 7,845 observations spanning the period 2005–2019. The authors run a fixed-effects panel regression model using the Thomson Reuters ASSET4 to test the relationship between societal and ethical practices and the stock market value creation. Similarly, as an extension of the research, this paper exploits two robustness analyzes. The authors tested the dynamic dimension of the data set through the generalized moment method and the effect of the legal system.

Evidence reveals a significant positive relationship between societal and ethical practices and businesses’ market valuation. The empirical results indicate that societal and ethical strengths increase firm value with the moderating effect of green innovation and weaknesses reduce it. The results found with the dynamic dimension of the data set indicate the existence of continuity between firm values over time.

Given the long study period, many firms with missing data were eliminated. To avoid the small sample size, countries with few observations were included, which led to an uneven distribution between observations per country.

Findings from this paper can help ESG firms to consider their future growth opportunities in a context where the approach of business ethics occupies a central position in business valuation.

This study is the only study that provides ESG companies with seven different nationalities with evidence for the effect of social and ethical practices regarding market valuation. This paper is also relevant as it addresses the relationship between social effectiveness and financial efficiency, as well as the dynamic effect of this relationship.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the direct and indirect links between environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices and financial performance using the mediate role of green innovation.

To test the current study hypotheses, the authors applied linear regressions with a panel data using the Thomson Reuters ASSET4 and Bloomberg database from a sample of 115 UK and 90 Germany companies selected from the ESG index over the period 2005–2019.

The results show that the strengths ESG increase the firm value and the weaknesses decrease it. In addition, the authors find that green innovation fully mediates the relationship between ESG practices and financial performance in UK and Germany.

The findings provide interesting implications to academics practitioners and regulators who are interested in discovering ESG score, financial performance and green innovation. The results also provide insights to regulators and the board of directors on future growth opportunities for the company and the country.

This study is unique in examining the mediation effect of green innovation on the relationship between ESG practices and financial performance.

This study aims to examine the potential effect that business ethics (BE) in general and corporate social responsibility (CSR) more specifically can exert on the voluntary disclosure (VD) of intellectual capital (IC) for the ethically most engaged firms in the world.

The research design is based on an inductive approach. As part of the global quantitative investigation, the authors have analyzed the impact of BE and CSR on the transparent communication of the IC. The data under analysis have been investigated using multiple linear regression.

Based on a sample of 83 enterprises emerging as the most ethical companies in the world, the results have revealed that the adoption of ethical and socially responsible approach is positively associated with the extent of VD about IC. This finding may help attenuating the asymmetry of information and the conflict of interest potentially arising with corporate partners. Hence, IC-VD may stand as an evidence of ethical and socially responsible behaviors.

Global and national regulators and policymakers can be involved by these results when setting social reporting standards because they suggest that institutional and/or cultural factors affect top management's social reporting behavior in the publication of the IC information.

Direct and indirect stakeholders, if supported by ethical and socially responsible behaviors of the company, could assess more in detail the quality of the disclosed information concerning the IC.

Most of the studies that have been conducted in this field have examined the effect of BE and CSR on the firm's overall transparency, neglecting their potential effect on IC disclosure. This study is designed to fill in this gap through testing the impact of ethical and socially responsible approaches specifically on IC-VD.

Given the rising global interest in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) index, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of social and ethical practices on the firm’s environmental disclosure level.

To test the study’s hypotheses, the authors applied linear regressions with a data panel using the Thomson Reuters ASSET4 and Bloomberg database from seven countries in analyzing data of 523 listed companies selected from the ESG index between 2005 and 2017. Similarly, as an extension of the research and to address the potential unobserved heterogeneity and the dynamic endogeneity, the authors exploited the dynamic dimension of the data set through the generalized moment method (GMM) and estimated the impact of the one-year lagged value of the environmental disclosure.

The empirical results indicate a growing interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and ethical practices over the past decade. Besides, companies with a strong social and ethical commitment obtain significantly higher environmental disclosure scores. The results found with the GMM technique indicate the existence of dependence and continuity in environmental disclosure over time.

The research enables the information user to assess the transparency of the company as well as the quality of the information disclosed on its environment and its future growth opportunities in a context where the approach of business ethics occupies a central position in business valuation. The reached results suggest that the institutional and/or cultural factors affect top management’s environmental reporting behavior regarding the quality of published information.

This paper explores, for the first time, the effect of the social and ethical practices of ESG companies with seven different nationalities as well as its dynamic effect on the adoption of an environmental transparency strategy.

This study seeks to investigate the impact of board attributes on environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, along with exploring the mediating role of carbon emissions in this relationship.

To address this objective, the panel data approach was used to analyze the data were collected from 1,621 European companies from 2017 to 2021.

This study shows that board gender diversity, audit committee independence, expertise and board meeting attendance help enhance ESG performance. On the contrary, board size and composition do not affect ESG performance. The findings also showed that board gender diversity, audit committee independence, expertise and board meeting attendance are negatively related to carbon emissions performance. However, board size is related positively to carbon emissions performance. This indicates that the larger boards of directors may have diverse experiences that enhance the environmental performance of companies. Furthermore, the finding showed companies that contribute to lowering carbon emissions are more willing to improve their ESG performance. Also, carbon emissions mediate the relationship between the board's attributes and ESG performance.

The study's results have significant implications for firm managers in enhancing the efficiency of board decisions in determining environmental practices that matter to various groups of stakeholders. In addition, this study provides valuable input to regulators and policymakers regarding strengthening the regulations and controlling tools that enhance environmental performance.

This study aims to thoroughly examine and understand the relationship between working capital management (WCM) and the sustainable financial performance (FP) in the context of the New Zealand companies listed on stock exchange.

This study has applied various regression techniques to examine WCM and the sustainable FP relationship. The data set period is from 2009 to 2019. The results are robust upon various layers of robustness parameters. The system-generalized method of moments is applied for managing endogeneity issue.

The research reveals compelling evidence of a meaningful connection between WCM and sustainable FP indicators. The study specifically highlights the significant negative associations between the cash conversion cycle, average collection period and average age of inventory with the firm’s sustainable FP. Through robust analyses and various parameter adjustments, the study ensures the credibility and reliability of its conclusions, further reinforcing the impact of WCM on the financial health of New Zealand-listed firms.

This study provides future directions for researchers to explore the dynamic relationship between WCM and a firm sustainable FP because it is still a demanding and challenging area. Future research may care to explore the optimal way to reduce the cash conversion cycle, average collection period and average age of inventory for New Zealand firms. The current study does provide insights to NZ financial managers, which is useful for improving sustainable FP by efficiently managing WCM.

WCM is problematic and constitutes a notable challenge; it requires further research, especially in small economies such as New Zealand. Hence, it is an updated and fresh attempt based on a larger data set to measure the empirical relationship between WCM and the sustainable performance of New Zealand-listed firms. Furthermore, the current study uses dynamic panel data estimation techniques in addition to multiple regression techniques.