Corporate sustainability and environmental reporting: triggers and consequences

This paper explores the triggers and consequences of sustainability reporting in the developing economy of Pakistan. Moreover, the study examines whether the corporate factors have any indirect and conditional indirect effects on financial performance through sustainability reporting where sector-affiliation acts as a moderator. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach has been applied for the data collection and analysis. The study uses secondary data collected from annual reports of 178 companies listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange for 2010-2018. The quantitative results reveal that size, age, leverage, earnings, sustainability awards, CEO duality, and board independence significantly influence sustainability reporting. In contrast, foreign ownership, ownership concentration, women on board, and media visibility do not determine sustainability reporting. Mediation results indicate significant indirect effects of each corporate factor on financial performance through sustainability reporting. Similarly, except for a few, conditional indirect effects in all the models were also seen to exist. Subsequently, interviews with prominent players in the field helped validate and understand the quantitative results. This study has implications for regulators, corporate managers, investors, NGOs, and academic researchers.