The impact of sustainability reporting on corporate financial performance: A multilevel modelling approach using evidence from publicly listed companies in the Philippines

• Main Authors: Juan, Julienne Elisha Q., Marin, David Joshua T., Reyes, John Raymond D., Sy, Shaila Kimberly U.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2022
• Subjects: Sustainable development reporting—Philippines; Corporations—Philippines—Finance; Business Administration, Management, and Operations; Corporate Finance
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdb_finman/44; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etdb_finman/article/1049/viewcontent/The_impact_of_sustainability_reporting_on_corporate_financial_per_Redacted2.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

The objective of this research was to study the impact of sustainability reporting (SR) on the corporate financial performance (FP) of publicly listed companies (PLCs) in the Philippines. While the impacts of SR on FP have already been examined, the results presented are inconsistent and often contradictory. Updated studies utilizing perspectives from Southeast Asian countries are limited, often to industry-specific contexts only. Instead of applying conventional research methods, this study estimated a multilevel model. The GRI Topic-specific Standards, namely economic, environmental, and social, and the overall index were used to measure the completeness of the SRs of PLCs. As for FP, ROA and ROE were used as the proxies. With a coverage period spanning 2019 to 2021, including one year of lag, it was established that overall SR and the social dimension had statistically positive relationships with ROA and ROE, while all the other dimensions had no significant impacts. A group variance was also observed which means the impact of sustainability indicators on FP could vary per sector. The results confirmed that SRs in general contribute positively to a company’s FP. As the social dimension was the only individual dimension to have a significant effect on FP, it can be inferred that Philippine PLCs and their stakeholders give higher regard to labor practices, human rights, and social responsibilities. Although some PLCs were already reporting SRs long before the declaration of mandatory SR in 2019, the majority of the PLCs were not. As such, there is still a wide population of stakeholders that may not be informed or convinced with SR and its implications. This, along with the effects of SR being more likely to be observed in the long term, might explain no found relationships between some SR dimensions and FP.