Investigating the Factors That Determine the ESG Disclosure Practices in Europe

Akrum Helfaya (), Rebecca Morris and Ahmed Aboud
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Akrum Helfaya: Keele Business School, Keele University, Keele, Newcastle ST5 5BG, UK
Rebecca Morris: Keele Business School, Keele University, Keele, Newcastle ST5 5BG, UK
Ahmed Aboud: Faculty of Business and Law, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 2DA, UK

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 6, 1-23

Abstract: The increased focus on environmental (E), social (S), and governance (G) (ESG) disclosure has become a necessary step toward the integration of sustainability practices into firms’ culture to meet the expectations of stakeholders. The social and environmental implications of firm activities on the environment and surrounding communities have led to the growing demand for useful non-financial information. This paper investigates the impacts of the board’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy and CSR orientation, GRI, and the country–cultural dimensions, based on Hofstede’s measures of ESG disclosure practices within Europe. Using a European dataset from Bloomberg and Refinitiv Eikon, this paper adopts a quantitative research methodology to test the research hypotheses through a statistical analysis of 7840 observations from European companies to analyze the extent of the relationship between micro- and macro-variables and the disclosure of company ESG. Our findings suggest that both board CSR orientation and strategy and the GRI have positively and significantly affected the overall disclosure of ESG practices within Europe. When examining country–cultural dimensions, we find that individualism and feminine cultures are positively associated with increased levels of ESG disclosure. Our findings shed light on factors affecting ESG disclosure practices within Europe and could be of interest to companies, policy makers, and other stakeholders.

Keywords: ESG disclosure; board CSR orientation; board CSR strategy; global reporting initiative; country–cultural dimensions; Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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