The Relationship between Corporate Sustainability Disclosure and Firm Financial Performance in Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Listed Mining Companies

Tafadzwa Mark Wasara and Fortune Ganda
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Tafadzwa Mark Wasara: Africa Centre for Sustainability Accounting and Management (ACSAM), School of Accountancy, University of Limpopo, Polokwane 0727, South Africa
Fortune Ganda: Africa Centre for Sustainability Accounting and Management (ACSAM), School of Accountancy, University of Limpopo, Polokwane 0727, South Africa

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 16, 1-23

Abstract: Whether corporate sustainability disclosure (CSD) affects profitability remains indistinct to many firms. This paper examines the relationship between corporate sustainability disclosure and return on investment. The sample of this study consisted of ten Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)-listed mining companies, and the data was extracted from sustainability reports for a period of five years from 2010 to 2014. In this regard, data collection was undertaken by the adoption of a content analysis approach. A multi-regression analysis was used to analyze the relationship between environmental disclosure and return on investment. The same statistical mechanism was employed to determine the association involving social disclosure and return on investment. Results show that there is a negative relationship between environmental disclosure and return on investment. On the other hand, the research reveals that there is also a positive association between social disclosure and return on investment. This implies that an increase in corporate reporting of social issues results in heightened financial performance through an increase in return on investment. This study recommends the adoption of corporate social disclosure as it will encourage firms to be socially responsible, while also generating financial benefits. Further studies can be conducted about the change from voluntary corporate social disclosure to mandatory disclosure.

Keywords: corporate social disclosure; environmental disclosure; social disclosure; financial performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:16:p:4496-:d:259081

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