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1 – 10 of over 15000
Article
Publication date: 3 October 2019

Pornanong Budsaratragoon and Boonlert Jitmaneeroj

The purpose of this study is to investigate the causal interrelations among the four pillars of corporate sustainability, which indicate a firm’s contribution to environmental…

2881

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the causal interrelations among the four pillars of corporate sustainability, which indicate a firm’s contribution to environmental, social, governance and economic activities. Moreover, this study identifies the critical drivers of corporate sustainability by focusing on the levels of market developments and geographical regions.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on corporate sustainability data of 2,725 global companies in 2016, this study uses a combination of analytical techniques including cluster analysis, data mining, partial least square path modeling and importance performance map analysis.

Findings

This study finds that companies in European developed markets exhibit the highest-ranking of corporate sustainability. In line with the social impact hypothesis, environmental, social and governance performance positively affects economic performance. Moreover, there is strong evidence of causal relationships and synergistic effects among the four pillars of corporate sustainability. In accordance with the institutional theory, the patterns of causal directions and the critical pillars depend on levels of market developments and geographical regions. Overall, social and environmental pillars are among the most critical drivers of corporate sustainability.

Research limitations/implications

The methodology does not aim to provide a new weighting scheme for calculating the corporate sustainability index.

Practical implications

Corporate managers should consider sustainability practices in all dimensions to benefit from synergistic effects among environmental, social, governance and economic activities. Furthermore, corporate sustainability strategies should not be generalized across countries with different levels of market developments and geographical regions.

Originality/value

This study prioritizes environmental, social, governance and economic pillars of corporate sustainability in emerging and developed markets across geographical regions.

Details

Measuring Business Excellence, vol. 23 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1368-3047

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 October 2022

Rui Vicente Martins, Eulália Santos, Teresa Eugénio and Ana Morais

Business politics and social and economic policies in the past decades brought us to the inevitability of change. Foreign direct investment (FDI) plays a vital role in this change…

Abstract

Purpose

Business politics and social and economic policies in the past decades brought us to the inevitability of change. Foreign direct investment (FDI) plays a vital role in this change as it is a tool for international business management in a global world. The relationship between FDI and sustainability in sub-Saharan countries with lower incomes has not yet been sufficiently studied, so this study aims to bring some more conclusions to the discussion. Thus, the main objective is to understand if FDI effectively influences the so-called triple bottom line (TBL) pillars of sustainability.

Design/methodology/approach

With data from the World Bank regarding 20 sub-Saharan countries gathered between 2010 and 2018, this study analysed 34 indicators composing 11 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Afterwards, the authors grouped them by the TBL pillars and evaluated the influence of FDI inflows on their scores using panel data models.

Findings

The results show a positive and significant correlation between the TBL pillars, with the highest correlation being between the environmental and economic pillars. On the other hand, FDI has no significant influence on the TBL pillars.

Practical implications

This study could improve foreign investment legislation/regulation in sub-Saharan African countries, potentially impacting the sustainability these investments should generate.

Social implications

This study contributes to understanding how FDI implies sustainability. The results suggest that governments, non-governmental organisations and other competent entities need to adjust their actions in these countries so that foreign companies sustainably exploit the resources.

Originality/value

This study brings to the current arena an emerging theme: FDI and sustainability in African countries, particularly in sub-Saharan countries. This subject in developing countries is still under-researched.

Details

Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, vol. 14 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-8021

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 June 2020

Seyed-Hadi Mirghaderi

This paper aims to develop a simple model for estimating sustainable development goals index using the capabilities of artificial neural networks.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to develop a simple model for estimating sustainable development goals index using the capabilities of artificial neural networks.

Design/methodology/approach

Sustainable development has three pillars, including social, economic and environmental pillars. Three clusters corresponding to the three pillars were created by extracting sub-indices of three 2018 global reports and performing cluster analysis on the correlation matrix of sub-indices. By setting the sustainable development goals index as the target variable and selecting one indicator from each cluster as input variables, 20 artificial neural networks were run 30 times.

Findings

Artificial neural networks with seven nodes in one hidden layer can estimate sustainable development goals index by using just three inputs, including ecosystem vitality, human capital and gross national income per capita. There is an excellent similarity (>95%) between the results of the artificial neural network and the sustainable development goals index.

Practical implications

Instead of calculating 232 indicators for determining the value of sustainable development goals index, it is possible to use only three sub-indices, but missing 5% of precision, by using the proposed artificial neural network model.

Originality/value

The study provides additional information on the estimating of sustainable development and proposes a new simple method for estimating the sustainable development goals index. It just uses three sub-indices, which can be retrieved from three global reports.

Article
Publication date: 9 February 2021

Zdzisława Elżbieta Niemczewska

The paper is to propose a tool for holistic impact assessment of commercially reused immovable cultural heritage resources on local, sustainable development along with the…

Abstract

Purpose

The paper is to propose a tool for holistic impact assessment of commercially reused immovable cultural heritage resources on local, sustainable development along with the possibility to ensure the cultural sustainability of these assets themselves. The paper contains a case study using the proposed tool. The case study concerns a historic object in the form of a Polish manor house located in rural areas in Poland adapted for commercial purposes – restaurant, painting gallery and renovation of antique furniture.

Design/methodology/approach

The author proposes a holistic approach based on aspects, to impact assessment of given heritage resources on the economic, social, cultural and environmental pillars of sustainable development and the sustainable use of heritage assets themselves. Above that, the approach proposes to use the assumptions of EMAS or ISO 14001 systems for assessment of environmental aspects in case of reused cultural heritage assets.

Findings

The test study showed that the proposed tool allows determining whether, how and to what extent the contemporary commercial function of a given element of immovable cultural heritage contributes to local sustainable development and whether and to what extent the cultural sustainability of a given cultural heritage is ensured.

Research limitations/implications

In the proposed approach, very detailed quantitative data cannot be included because of the need to simplify the research.

Practical implications

The proposed tool can be used by owners of reused historic buildings, local authorities, services responsible for the protection of cultural heritage and financing institutions to determine whether a given contemporary commercial function of cultural heritage resources contributes to local sustainable development in holistic approach and whether this function ensures the preservation of its cultural sustainability.

Social implications

The use of the proposed tool will give the opportunity to take appropriate actions to increase the impact of historic objects on local sustainable development including social aspects. Moreover, it will be possible to increase the cultural sustainability of these objects.

Originality/value

There are not many studies and tools that provide a possibility to assess a holistic impact of reused cultural heritage on local sustainable development. Research usually concerns one or two pillars: social and economic. Above that, the study of the cultural appreciation in two different groups: direct users and the local community is a novelty in the perception of contribution to cultural development. It may contribute to the different way of measurement of appreciation of cultural heritage and its contribution to social and cultural development. In addition, to study the environmental pillar, the author proposes an approach used in environmental management (ISO 1400 and EMAS), i.e. the application of activities related to eliminating the potentially harmful impact of a new function of the historic resource on the natural environment.

Details

Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, vol. 11 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2044-1266

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 December 2021

Rim El Khoury, Nohade Nasrallah and Bahaaeddin Alareeni

As reporting environmental, social and governance (ESG) information is not yet mandatory in all countries, it is intriguing to understand ESG’s underlying driving mechanisms. This…

2057

Abstract

Purpose

As reporting environmental, social and governance (ESG) information is not yet mandatory in all countries, it is intriguing to understand ESG’s underlying driving mechanisms. This study aims to investigate ESG determinants in the banking sector of the Middle East and North Africa countries.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors gather data for 38 listed banks for the period 2011–2019. The data used is threefold as follows: data related to ESG; firm-level; and country-level data. While ESG and firm’s level data are taken from Refinitiv, country-level data are extracted from the World Bank. Using panel regression, the authors test the effect of firm- and country-specific variables on the overall ESG score and its pillars.

Findings

Results indicate that banks’ ESG scores are negatively affected by performance and positively affected by size. The level of economic development exerts a negative impact on the environmental pillar while the social development exerts a positive impact on ESG and governance pillar. Corruption is the only country-level that gathers a homogenous effect on ESG scores. Finally, the three pillars follow heterogeneous patterns.

Originality/value

This study extends the scope of previous studies by introducing new country-level independent variables to contribute to the understanding of ESG antecedents.

Details

Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal , vol. 33 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1059-5422

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 July 2016

Boonlert Jitmaneeroj

Most companies rarely work on sustainable development as a whole, which includes environmental, social, governance, and economic pillars. The purpose of this paper is to explore…

3093

Abstract

Purpose

Most companies rarely work on sustainable development as a whole, which includes environmental, social, governance, and economic pillars. The purpose of this paper is to explore causal relationships between pillar scores and overall score of sustainability and identify the most critical pillar to which policy makers should allot limited resources with the highest priority.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on Thomson Reuters ASSET4 database of global corporate sustainability, this paper examines the causal relations between pillar scores and overall score of sustainability by using the three-stage integrative methodology consisting of cluster analysis, data mining, and partial least square path modeling.

Findings

This paper finds that each pillar has unequal effects on the overall corporate sustainability and that the overall score is affected by not only the direct effects from pillar scores but also the indirect effects from the causal interrelations among pillars. Moreover, the patterns of causal directions and the most critical pillar are sensitive to industries. Social performance is the most critical pillar for the majority of industries, followed by environmental performance, and economic performance, respectively. The governance performance, however, is not the most critical pillar in any industry.

Practical implications

To construct a roadmap for reform priorities, policy makers should follow the top-down approach which involves hierarchical decisions. Using the three-stage methodology, the policy makers first decide on the most critical pillar score before selecting the most critical category score underneath.

Originality/value

Relaxing traditional assumptions of simple average overall score of corporate sustainability, the three-stage integrative framework allows for causal interrelations among pillars and different weights on individual pillars.

Details

Management Decision, vol. 54 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 11 April 2023

Vahid Mohamad Taghvaee, Abbas Assari Arani, Mehrab Nodehi, Jalil Khodaparast Shirazi, Lotfali Agheli, Haji Mohammad Neshat Ghojogh, Nafiseh Salehnia, Amir Mirzaee, Saeed Taheri, Raziyeh Mohammadi Saber, Hady Faramarzi, Reza Alvandi and Hosein Ahmadi Rahbarian

This study aims to assess and decompose the sustainable development using the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Iran in 2018, for proposing agenda-setting of public…

6243

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to assess and decompose the sustainable development using the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Iran in 2018, for proposing agenda-setting of public policy.

Design/methodology/approach

It ranks the SDGs not only in Iran but also in the region and the world to reveal the synergetic effects.

Findings

Based on the results, subaltern-populace generally suffers from the hegemonic domination of ruling elite-bourgeois, lack of strong institutions, heterogeneous policy networks and lack of advocacy role of non-governmental organizations, due to no transparency, issues in law or no rule of law, no stringent regulation, rent, suppression and Mafia, all leading to corruption and injustice.

Practical implications

To stop the loop of corruption-injustice, Iran should homogenize the structure of the policy network. Furthermore, the failed SDGs of the three-geographic analysis are the same in a character; all of them propose SDG 3, good health and well-being as a serious failed goal.

Social implications

In this regard, strong evidence is the pandemic Coronavirus, COVID 19 since 2019, due to its highly-disastrous consequences in early 2020 where the public policymakers could not adopt policies promptly in the glob, particularly in Iran.

Originality/value

In Iran, in addition to this, the malfunction of health is rooted in “subjective well-being” and “traffic deaths,” respectively. Concerning the transportations system in Iran, it is underscored that it is damaging the sustainable development from all the three pillars of sustainable development including, economic, social and environmental.

Details

Review of Economics and Political Science, vol. 8 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2356-9980

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 February 2021

Francesco Paolone, Nicola Cucari, Jintao Wu and Riccardo Tiscini

This study aims to contribute to international doctrine by testing how environmental social governance (ESG) pillars can affect marketing performance in the pharmaceutical…

4407

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to contribute to international doctrine by testing how environmental social governance (ESG) pillars can affect marketing performance in the pharmaceutical industry.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors follow a pioneering approach, using a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis and data from the largest European listed companies belonging to the pharmaceutical industry in 2019. Specifically, the authors contribute to international doctrine by testing how ESG pillars can affect marketing performance by presenting two configurational paths that may help to clarify not only the individual role of the pillars but also how their interrelationships predict marketing performance.

Findings

The results identify two different causal configurations that lead to higher marketing performance. These configurations allow us to think more carefully about the role of ESG pillars in the pharmaceutical sector. These results could help managers reflect upon and justify their choice to invest in specific ESG pillars, highlighting the importance of the governance pillar.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to use configurational analysis to investigate combinations of ESG pillars that lead firms to achieve higher levels of marketing performance.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 37 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 29 November 2021

Sarah Russo, Federico Schimperna, Rosa Lombardi and Pasquale Ruggiero

This paper aims to present a deep understanding of how social media affects organisations’ sustainability performance, using environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors…

6471

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to present a deep understanding of how social media affects organisations’ sustainability performance, using environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. Particularly, this paper assumes the existence of a causal relationship between organisations’ sustainability performance and the use of their social media profile (i.e. Twitter).

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used a multivariate regression with an explorative approach. Using Thomson Reuters Eikon, the authors composed a sample of 115 public EU companies with a headquarter in Europe operating in the “energy” and “utilities” sectors. The authors collected ESG-related, financial and Twitter-related data covering the period 2016–2019.

Findings

The study findings emphasise the existence of a statistically significant and positive relationship between social media profiles (i.e. Twitter) and companies’ sustainability performance. Findings show that ESG-oriented companies use their Twitter profile more as a tool for achieving a higher level of legitimation rather than for managing their sustainability strategy and related performance. Therefore, social media contribute more to the construction of companies’ CSR identity than the management of analytic aspects of sustainability performance. The longevity of companies’ profiles is the variable mostly showing a causal relationship not only with the general measure of companies’ sustainability performance but also with its pillars and sub-pillars.

Originality/value

This research is original in showing academics, practitioners and policymakers results on the impact of different modalities of interaction (retweets, replies, likes and quotes) between organisations and stakeholders by using social media on sustainability performance.

Details

Meditari Accountancy Research, vol. 30 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2049-372X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 May 2023

Francesco Baldi and Neophytos Lambertides

This study investigates the relation between ESG-driven investment strategies and the performance of infrastructure funds. More specifically, this study examines the impact of the…

Abstract

Purpose

This study investigates the relation between ESG-driven investment strategies and the performance of infrastructure funds. More specifically, this study examines the impact of the different dimensions – environmental (E), social (S) and governance (G) – of the ESG profile of infrastructure funds on their performance.

Design/methodology/approach

To study the risk-return properties of infrastructure funds and the relationship with their ESG profiles, an econometric analysis is conducted, based on a sample of 180 listed, ESG-oriented infrastructure funds identified through Refinitiv Eikon.

Findings

The results show that infrastructure funds with more solid environmental investment policies experience a lower performance, while those with a stronger social orientation yield a superior performance. Governance-related investment policies seem trivial in determining the performance of these funds. Further analysis shows that ESG controversies have a negative impact on infrastructure funds' performance, whereas Emissions and Resource Use scores, both proxying for different elements under the environmental pillar, have opposite signs. Finally, the Community score has a positive impact on funds' performance consistent with the positive impact of the social pillar score. The study also provides a number of sub-sample analyses to shed light on the conditions under which each pillar has significant impact on funds’ performance.

Practical implications

First, infrastructure funds should choose the composition of their portfolio holdings in a way that the total return is not penalized by the prevalence of the tricky E aspects (compliance with environmental regulations) over the main benefits of the S dimension. Second, fund managers need to bet on infrastructures with an expected impact on the social pillar dimension such as those aimed at promoting the wealth of the local communities (e.g. hospitals, schools). Third, to strengthen the fund's social dimension, fund managers must increase the dollar amount of the assets under management to count on a higher firepower.

Originality/value

This study makes three contributions to literature. First, the ESG profiles of the infrastructure funds operating both at local and global level and their relationship with annual performance are studied. Second, the different dimensions of the ESG profile of infrastructure funds are investigated by measuring their impact on performance. Third, the study sheds light on some detailed but relevant aspects of this phenomenon by analyzing the breakdown of the ESG profile of infrastructure funds into four sustainability sub-scores capturing their efforts to reduce CO2 emissions, the use of polluting materials and to influence local communities as well their exposure to the risk of litigation due to the occurrence of ESG controversies. This study addresses the extent to which the adoption of ESG investment policies by the infrastructure funds have an impact on their performances.

Details

Managerial Finance, vol. 50 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4358

Keywords

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