Resource-based view on corporate sustainable financial reporting and firm performance: evidences from emerging Indian economy

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to find the impact of environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure on financial performance of firms in an emerging economy, India, using resource-based view. The financial performance of the firms was taken as the predicted variable. ESG disclosure scores showed negative association with the measures of firm performance, with relationship being moderately significant with return on assets. Environmental disclosure score was found to have significant inverse relationship with measures of both accounting performance (ROA) and marketing performance (Tobin s Q). Social performance disclosure has significant positive impact on firms financial performance. Size of the firm has moderating role to play in determining the impact of social disclosure score on financial performance. Larger firms were found to be displaying higher capability to convert their social performance into competitive advantage. Firms in the sectors of healthcare and energy sectors have significant competitive advantage with higher environmental performance.