ESG and firm performance: The moderating role of gender diversity

Authors

  • Dewi Khornida Marheni Universitas Internasional Batam
  • Sherry Sherry Universitas Internasional Batam
  • Yulfiswandi Yulfiswandi Batam International University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12928/optimum.v14i1.8647

Abstract

Disclosure of ESG from companies around the world has experienced a drastic increase, this phenomenon is also accompanied by an increase in socially responsible investment. This study investigates the moderating role of gender diversity in the relationship between the individual dimensions of ESG (environmental disclosure, social disclosure, and governance disclosure) and the company’s performance (Tobin's Q) in IDX companies. The research design is causal-explanatory. Based on the theory of previous findings, hypotheses were developed and tested by applying panel data regression to 42 IDX companies in the period of 2017 to 2021. The results found that disclosure of governance had a significant negative effect on company performance as measured by Tobin's Q. Moderation of gender diversity plays a role in weakening the relationship between governance disclosure with company performance. Several managerial implications are proposed based on this research. Managers may consider other ways to address stakeholder concerns about environmental and social performance. Indonesian policymakers can authorize regulations regarding ESG disclosure requirements to boost firm performance and lead to economic stability.

References

Abdi, Y., Li, X., & Càmara-Turull, X. (2020). Impact of sustainability on firm value and financial performance in the air transport industry. Sustainability (Switzerland), 12(23), 1–22. doi: 10.3390/su12239957

Abdullah, M., Hamzah, N., Ali, M. H., Tseng, M. L., & Brander, M. (2019). he Southeast Asian haze: The quality of environmental disclosures and firm performance. Journal of Cleaner Production, 246, 1–23. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118958

Al Hawaj, A. Y., & Buallay, A. M. (2022). A worldwide sectorial analysis of sustainability reporting and its impact in firm performance. Journal of Sustainable Finance and Invesment, 12(1), 62–86. doi: 10.1080/20430795.2021.1903792

Alareeni, B. A., & Hamdan, A. (2020). ESG impact on performance of US S&P 500-listed firms. Corporate Governance (Bingley), 20(7), 1409–1428. doi: 10.1108/CG-06-2020-0258

Albitar, K., Hussainey, K., Kolade, N., & Gerged, A. M. (2020). ESG disclosure and firm performance before and after IR: The moderating role of governance mechanism. International Journal of Accounting and Information Management, 28(3), 429–444. doi: 10.1108/IJAIM-09-2019-0108

Arvanitis, S. E., Varouchas, E. G., & Agiomirgianakis, G. M. (2022). Does board gender diversity really improve firm performance? evidence from Greek listed firms. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 15(7), 306. doi: 10.3390/jrfm15070306

Atan, R., Alam, M. M., Said, J., & Zamri, M. (2018). The impacts of environmental, social and governance factors on firm performance: Panel study of Malaysian companies. Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, 29(2), 182–194. doi: 10.1108/MEQ-03-2017-0033

Azzam, M., AlQudah, A., Abu Haija, A., & Shakhatreh, M. (2020). The association between sustainability disclosures and the financial performance of Jordanian firms. Cogent Business and Management, 7(1), 1–13. doi: 10.1080/23311975.2020.1859437

Bahadori, N., Kaymak, T., & Seraj, M. (2021). Environmental, social and governance factors in emerging markets: The impact on firm performance. Business Strategy and Development, 4(4), 411–422. doi: 10.1002/bsd2.167

Bătae, O. M., Dragomir, V. D., & Feleagă, L. (2021). The relationship between environmental, social and financial performance in the banking sector: A European study. Journal of Cleaner Production, 290, 125791. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.125791

Boakye, D. J., Tingbani, I., Ahinful, G. S., & Nsor-Ambala, R. (2021). The relationship between environmental management performance and financial performance of firms listed in the Alternative Invesment Market (AIM) in the UK. Journal of Cleaner Production, 278, 124034. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124034

Boulhaga, M., Bouri, A., Elamer, A. A., & Ibrahim, B. A. (2023). Environmental, social and governance ratings and firm performance: The moderating role of internal control quality. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 30(1), 134–145. doi: 10.1002/csr.2343

Brahma, S., Nwafor, C., & Boateng, A. (2021). Board gender diversity and firm performance: The UK evidence. International Journal of Finance and Economics, 26(4), 5704–5719. doi: 10.1002/ijfe.2089

Buallay, A. (2019). Is sustainability reporting (ESG) associated with performance? Evidence from the European banking sector. Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, 30(1), 98–115. doi: 10.1108/MEQ-12-2017-0149

Buallay, A., Fadel, S. M., Al-Ajmi, J. Y., & Saudagaran, S. (2020). Sustainability reporting and performance of MENA banks: Is there a trade-off? Measuring Business Excellence, 24(2), 197–221. doi: 10.1108/MBE-09-2018-0078

Buallay, A., Kukreja, G., Aldhaen, E., Al Mubarak, M., & Hamdan, A. M. (2020). Corporate social responsibility disclosure and firms’ performance in Mediterranean countries: A stakeholders’ perspective. EuroMed Journal of Business, 15(3), 361–375. doi: 10.1108/EMJB-05-2019-0066

Cek, K., & Eyupoglu, S. (2020). Does environmental, social and governance performance influence economic performance? Journal of Business Economics and Management, 21(4), 1165–1184. doi: 10.3846/jbem.2020.12725

Chouaibi, S., Rossi, M., Siggia, D., & Chouaibi, J. (2022). Exploring the moderating role of social and ethical practice in the relationship between environmental disclosure and financial performance: Evidence from ESG companies. Sustainability (Switzerland), 14(1). doi: 10.3390/su14010209

Di Tommaso, C., & Thornton, J. (2022). Do ESG scores effect bank risk taking and value? Evidence from European banks. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 27(5), 2286–2298. doi: 10.1002/csr.1964

Duppati, G., Rao, N. V., Matlani, N., Scrimgeour, F., & Patnaik, D. (2020). ender diversity and firm performance: evidence from India and Singapore. Applied Economics, 52(14), 1553–1565. doi: 10.1080/00036846.2019.1676872

Duque-Grisales, E., & Aguilera-Caracuel, J. (2021). Environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores and financial performance of multilatinas: Moderating effects of geographic international diversification and financial slack. Journal of Business Ethics, 168(2), 315–334. doi: 10.1007/s10551-019-04177-w

Fernando, G. D., Jain, S. S., & Tripathy, A. (2020). This cloud has a silver lining: Gender diversity, managerial ability, and firm performance. Journal of Business Research, 117, 484–496. doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.042

Firmansyah, A., Husna, M. C., & Putri, M. A. (2021). Corporate social responsibility disclosure, corporate governance disclosures, and firm value in Indonesia chemical, plastic, and packaging sub-sector companies. Accounting Analysis Journal, 10(1), 9–17. doi: 10.15294/aaj.v10i1.42102

Gholami, A., Murray, P. A., & Sands, J. (2022). Environmental, social, governance & financial performance disclosure for large firms: Is this different for SME firms? Sustainability (Switzerland), 14(10). doi: 10.3390/su14106019

Gholami, A., Sands, J., & Rahman, H. U. (2022). Environmental, social and governance disclosure and value generation: Is the financial industry different? Sustainability (Switzerland), 14(5), 2647. doi: 10.3390/su14052647

Giannopoulos, G., Fagernes, R. V. K., Elmarzouky, M., & Hossain, K. A. B. M. A. (2022). The ESG disclosure and the financial performance of Norwegian listed firms. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 15(6), 237. doi: 10.3390/jrfm15060237

Hardiningsih, P., Januarti, I., Yuyetta, E. N. A., Srimindarti, C., & Udin, U. (2020). The effect of sustainability information disclosure on financial and market performance: Empirical evidence from Indonesia and Malaysia. International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, 10(2), 18–25. doi: 10.32479/ijeep.8520

Hoang, T. H. Van, Przychodzen, W., Przychodzen, J., & Segbotangni, E. A. (2020). Does it pay to be green? A disaggregated analysis of U.S. firms with green patents. Business Strategy and the Environment, 29(3), 1331–1361. doi: 10.1002/bse.2437

Hongming, X., Ahmed, B., Hussain, A., Rehman, A., Ullah, I., & Khan, F. U. (2020). Sustainability reporting and firm performance: The demonstration of Pakistani firms. SAGE Open, 10(3), 1–12. doi: 10.1177/2158244020953180

Huang, D. Z. X. (2021). Environmental, social and governance (ESG) activity and firm performance: A review and consolidation. Accounting and Finance, 61(1), 335–360. doi: 10.1111/acfi.12569

Husted, B. W., & Sousa-Filho, J. M. de. (2019). Board structure and environmental, social and governance disclosure in Latin America. Journal of Business Research, 102, 220–227. doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.01.017

Khanifah, K., Hardiningsih, P., Darmaryantiko, A., Iryantik, I., & Udin, U. (2020). The effect of corporate governance disclosure on banking performance: Empirical evidence from Iran, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 7(3), 41–51. doi: 10.13106/jafeb.2020.vol7.no3.41

Kumar, P., & Firoz, M. (2022). Does accounting-based financial performance value environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosures? A detailed note on a corporate sustainability perspective. Australasian Accounting Business and Finance Journal, 16(1), 41–72. doi: 10.14453/aabfj.v16i1.4

Menike, L. M. C. S. (2020). Impact of environmental disclosure on firm performance: An empirical analysis of food, beverage and tobacco sector companies listed in Colombo Stock Exchange, Sri Lanka. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 10(10), 518–536. doi: 10.6007/IJARBSS/v10-i10/7977

Mohammad, W. M. W., & Wasiuzzaman, S. (2021). Environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure, competitive advantage and performance of firms in Malaysia. Cleaner Environmental Systems, 2, 100015. doi: 10.1016/j.cesys.2021.100015

Moundigbaye, M., Rea, W. S., & Reed, W. R. (2018). Which panel data estimator should I use?: A corrigendum and extension. Economics, 12, 1–31. doi: 10.5018/economics-ejournal.ja.2018-4

Muhammad, N., Scrimgeour, F., Reddy, K., & Abidin, S. (2015). The relationship between environmental performance and financial performance in periods of growth and contraction: Evidence from Australian publicly listed companies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 102, 324–332. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.04.039

Muslichah, M. (2020). The effect of environmental and social disclosure on firm value with financial performance as intervening variable. Jurnal Akuntansi Dan Auditing Indonesia, 24(1), 22–32. doi: 10.20885/jaai.vol24.iss1.art3

Naveed, M., Ali, S., Iqbal, K., & Sohail, M. K. (2020). Role of financial and non-financial information in determining individual investor invesment decision: A signaling perspective. South Asian Journal of Business Studies, 9(2), 261–278. doi: 10.1108/SAJBS-09-2019-0168

Nguyen, D. T., Hoang, T. G., & Tran, H. G. (2022). Help or hurt? The impact of ESG on firm performance in S&P 500 non-financial firms. Australasian Accounting Business and Finance Journal, 16(2), 91–102. doi: 10.14453/aabfj.v16i2.7

Nicolò, G., Zampone, G., Sannino, G., & De Iorio, S. (2022). Sustainable corporate governance and non-financial disclosure in Europe: does the gender diversity matter? Journal of Applied Accounting Research, 23(1), 227–249. doi: 10.1108/JAAR-04-2021-0100

Partalidou, X., Zafeiriou, E., Giannarakis, G., & Sariannidis, N. (2020). The effect of corporate social responsibility performance on financial performance: The case of food industry. Benchmarking, 27(10), 2701–2720. doi: 10.1108/BIJ-11-2019-0501

Petitjean, M. (2019). Eco-friendly policies and financial performance: Was the financial crisis a game changer for large US companies? Energy Economics, 80, 502–511. doi: 10.1016/j.eneco.2019.01.028

Pu, G. (2023). A non-linier assessment of ESG and firm performance relationship: Evidence from China. Economic Research-Ekonomska Istrazivanja, 36(1), 2113336. doi: 10.1080/1331677X.2022.2113336

Pulino, S. C., Ciaburri, M., Magnanelli, B. S., & Nasta, L. (2022). Does ESG disclosure influence firm performance? Sustainability (Switzerland), 14(13), 1–18. doi: 10.3390/su14137595

Raja Ahmad, R. A., Ayob, A. A., Zainon, S., & Probohudono, A. N. (2021). The influence of environmental, social and governance reporting on firm value: Malaysian evidence. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 11(9), 1058–1080. doi: 10.6007/IJARBSS/v11-i9/10877

Romano, M., Cirillo, A., Favino, C., & Netti, A. (2020). SG (Environmental, social and governance) performance and board gender diversity: The moderating role of CEO duality. Sustainability (Switzerland), 12(21), 1–16. doi: 10.3390/su12219298

Sachs, D. J., Kroll, C., Lafortune, G., Fuller, G., & Woelm, F. (2022). Sustainable development report 2022. doi: 10.1017/9781009210058

Shaikh, I. (2022). Environmental, social and governance (ESG) practice and firm performance: An international evidence. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 23(2), 218–237. doi: 10.3846/jbem.2022.16202

Suretno, F., Adrianto, F., & Alfarisi, M. F. (2022). Effect of environment, social and governance disclosure on firm value. JBTI: Jurnal Bisnis: Teori Dan Implementasi, 13(2), 121–128. doi: 10.18196/jbti.v13i2.14458

Thuy, C. T. M., Khuong, N. V, Canh, N. T., & Liem, N. T. (2021). Corporate social responsibility disclosure and financial performance: The mediating role of financial statement comparability. Sustainability (Switzerland), 13(18), 10077. doi: 10.3390/su131810077

Triani, N., & Tarmidi, D. (2019). Firm value: Impact of investment decisions, funding decisions and dividend policies. International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, 9(2), 158–163.

Ullah, S., Ahmad, S., Akbar, S., Kodwani, D., & Frecknall-Hughes, J. (2021). Governance disclosure quality and market valuation of firms in UK and Germany. International Journal of Finance and Economics, 26(4), 5031–5055. doi: 10.1002/ijfe.2053

Velte, P. (2017). Does ESG performance have an impact on financial performance? Evidence from Germany. Journal of Global Responsibility, 8(2), 169–178. doi: 10.1108/JGR-11-2016-0029

Wang, S., Wang, H., Wang, J., & Yang, F. (2020). Does environmental information disclosure contribute to improve firm financial performance? An examination of the underlying mechanism. Science of the Total Environment, 714(96), 136855. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.136855

Widyasari, D. A., & Marheni, D. K. (2022). Analisa good corporate governance terhadap kinerja perusahaan BUMN yang terdaftar di Bursa Efek Indonesia. SEIKO: Journal of Management & Business, 5(2), 521–538. doi: 10.32877/eb.v5i2.326

Wijayanti, R., & Setiawan, D. (2022). Social reporting by Islamic banks: The role of sharia supervisory board and the effect on firm performance. Sustainability (Switzerland), 14(17), 1–25. doi: 10.3390/su141710965

Xie, J., Nozawa, W., Yagi, M., Fujii, H., & Managi, S. (2019). Do environmental, social and governance activities improve corporate financial performance? Business Strategy and the Environment, 28(2), 286–300. doi: 10.1002/bse.2224

Zarefar, A., Agustia, D., & Soewarno, N. (2022). Bridging the gap between sustainability disclosure and firm performance in Indonesian firms: The moderating effect of the family firm. Sustainability (Switzerland), 14(19), 12022. doi: 10.3390/su141912022

Zhang, F., Qin, X., & Liu, L. (2020). The interaction effect between ESG and green innovation and its impact on firm value from the perspective of information disclosure. Sustainability (Switzerland), 12(6), 1–18. doi: 10.3390/su12051866

Zhu, C., Husnain, M., Ullah, S., Khan, M. T., & Ali, W. (2022). Gender diversity and firms’ sustainable performance: Moderating role of CEO duality in emerging equity market. Sustainability (Switzerland), 14(12), 1–26. doi: 10.3390/su14127177

Zraqat, O., Zureigat, Q., Al-Rawashdeh, H. A., Okour, S. M., Hussien, L. F., & Al-Bawab, A. A. (2021). The effect of corporate social responsibility disclosure on market performance: Evidence from Jordan. Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 8(8), 453–463.

Downloads

Published

2024-04-01

Issue

Section

Articles