Investigating the effect of ESG disclosure on firm performance: The case of Saudi Arabian listed firms

Abstract

AbstractThis study investigates how environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures influence the performance of listed Saudi Arabian companies. The study used unbalanced panel data obtained from the Bloomberg database (2010–2020). The results show that ESG has significantly reduced TOBINSQ but has an insignificant association with return on equity (ROE). Concerning the ESG components, environmental disclosure has an insignificant negative association with TOBINSQ but is significantly and positively related to ROE. Social disclosure has a significantly reduced TOBINSQ but is insignificantly and negatively associated with ROE. Meanwhile, governance disclosure significantly improved and reduced TOBINSQ and ROE, respectively. Besides, the findings offer helpful implications for regulatory bodies and policymakers toward providing practical guidelines and policies that ensure the implementation of ESG activities maximizes shareholders’ wealth.

Keywords

• environmental, social, and governance
• ESG disclosure
• financial performance
• Saudi Arabia
• L25
• M41