Unpacking ESG Risk Disclosure Determinants: The Role of Stakeholder, Shareholder, and Managerial Influence

Marisa Agostini (), Daria Arkhipova (), Marco Fasan () and Silvia Panfilo ()
Additional contact information
Marisa Agostini: Venice School of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venice
Daria Arkhipova: Venice School of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venice
Marco Fasan: Venice School of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venice
Silvia Panfilo: Venice School of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venice

No 5, Working Papers from Venice School of Management - Department of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia

Abstract: This study examines the key drivers of ESG risk disclosure, focusing on stakeholders, shareholders, and management. While legitimacy theory suggests firms under scrutiny should disclose more ESG information to secure stakeholder support, findings show these firms often provide lower-quality disclosures, potentially reducing accountability. This indicates that companies may perceive ESG risk reporting as a threat rather than an opportunity. Shareholders, analyzed through agency theory, are expected to push for better ESG disclosures if aligned with financial interests or personal values. However, no significant relationship was found between board characteristics and ESG disclosures, suggesting limited shareholder influence. Management incentives play a notable role, as firms with sustainability-linked executive compensation disclose higher-volume ESG risk information, supporting evidence that such incentives enhance ESG performance.

Keywords: Risks; Environmental Social Governance (ESG); Content analysis; Disclosure quality; Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD); legitimacy theory; agency theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2025-05
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.unive.it/web/fileadmin/user_upload/dip ... rs/2025/2025wp05.pdf First version, 2025 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vnm:wpdman:223

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Venice School of Management - Department of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Daria Arkhipova ().