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Cited by 134Corporate Social Responsibility ReportingGovernance, Compliance, and SustainabilityCorporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability

Does SDG disclosure reflect corporate underlying sustainability performance? Evidence from UN Global Compact participants

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Nicolo', Giuseppe, Zampone, Giovanni, De Iorio, Serena, Sannino, Giuseppe·2024·Journal of International Financial Management & Accounting
DOI 10.1111/jifm.12194
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Abstract

The 2030 United Nations (UN) Agenda for Sustainable Development has posed unprecedented challenges to businesses to integrate Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) concerns into their core operations and strategies and improve their transparency on SDG commitment toward investors and other stakeholders. However, prior studies have questioned the significance of firms' SDG disclosure practices, evidencing their inadequacy. Nevertheless, despite the burgeoning SDG disclosure literature, the extent to which SDG disclosure effectively reflects corporate sustainability performance is still unclear. Accordingly, using data from a large panel data set comprising 635 companies from 45 world countries and 8 industry sectors over the period 2016–2020, this study investigates the relationship between corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance and sustainable development goals (SDGs) disclosure. Voluntary SDG disclosure has been measured using a disclosure index based on each company's response to the uniform and well‐designed communication on progress (CoP) questionnaire drafted annually by business participants in the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). Several panel Tobit regressions have been estimated to examine whether the level of SDG disclosure retrieved from the CoPs reflects underlying corporate sustainability performance measured by total and individual ESG scores provided by the Refinitiv Eikon database. The study's findings provide robust empirical evidence that sustainability performance positively affects SDG disclosure, especially through environmental and social channels. Therefore, in line with the voluntary disclosure theory's arguments, this study highlights that superior sustainability performers provide more SDG disclosure to prove their high performance and distinguish themselves in the eyes of investors and other stakeholders.

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Authors
Nicolo', G., Zampone, G., De Iorio, S., & Sannino, G.
Affiliations
  • Management and Innovation Systems Department University of Salerno Fisciano Salerno Italy
  • University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli" (IT)
  • Department of Economics University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” Capua Caserta Italy
ORCID
Venue
Journal of International Financial Management & Accounting
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2023-11-03
Volume
35
Issue
1
Pages
214-260
ISSN
  • 0954-1314 (ISSN-L)
  • 1467-646X
DOI
10.1111/jifm.12194
OpenAlex
W4388289542
Cited by
134
References
80
Citations by year
2026: 41 · 2025: 54 · 2024: 39
FWCI
28.86
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca - Università degli Studi della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli" (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Governance, Compliance, and Sustainability
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability
Keywords
corporate sustainability performance, ESG performance, UN Global Compact, voluntary disclosure theory, disclosure index, environmental and social performance, corporate transparency

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