This study investigates the sustainability disclosure effects of the introduction of the Companies Act 2006 Regulations 2013 in the United Kingdom. The regulation mandates the disclosure of information on greenhouse gas emissions, gender distribution and human rights issues. We examine two research questions: first, whether firms increased disclosure on the mandated topics after the regulation became effective relative to a control group, and second, whether a potential increase in disclosure is moderated by firms’ reporting incentives, namely, firms’ capital market visibility, growth orientation, governance structure, prior voluntary sustainability disclosure levels and critical media coverage. Our sample consists of the FTSE-350 firms and a matched control group of US firms. We use textual analysis to assess the disclosure of the mandated sustainability topics in firms’ annual reports. Specifically, we examine two types of disclosure, namely, the disclosure of the mandated key performance indicators and the narrative disclosure. Our results reveal a significant increase for both types of disclosure relative to the control group. Overall, this treatment effect tends to be smaller for firms with higher reporting incentives, i. e., reporting incentives mitigate the regulatory effect. Taken together, our results suggest that both standards and reporting incentives shape firms’ sustainability disclosure level.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the role of environmental management control systems as mechanisms to translate environmental strategy into environmental managerial performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on survey data from 218 firms, the authors test a structural equation model.
Findings
The results show that environmental management control systems mediate the relationship between environmental strategy and environmental managerial performance. Moreover, the level of integration between regular and environmental management control systems significantly impacts the relationship between environmental management control systems and environmental managerial performance. Therefore, environmental management control systems are important mechanisms to translate environmental strategy into managerial performance, and a high level of integration can reinforce this role.
Research limitations/implications
The typical shortcomings of survey-based research apply to this study.
Originality/value
While previous research focuses primarily on environmental performance at the organizational level, this study addresses individual managerial performance with regard to environmental outcomes. In addition, the authors investigate how the level of integration between regular and environmental management control systems influences the relationship between environmental strategy and environmental managerial performance as well as the mediating role of environmental management control systems.
This study investigates the sustainability disclosure effects of the introduction of the Companies Act 2006 Regulations 2013 in the United Kingdom. The regulation mandates the disclosure of information on greenhouse gas emissions, gender distribution and human rights issues. We examine two research questions: first, whether firms increased disclosure on the mandated topics after the regulation became effective relative to a control group, and second, whether a potential increase in disclosure is moderated by firms’ reporting incentives, namely, firms’ capital market visibility, growth orientation, governance structure, prior voluntary sustainability disclosure levels and critical media coverage. Our sample consists of the FTSE-350 firms and a matched control group of US firms. We use textual analysis to assess the disclosure of the mandated sustainability topics in firms’ annual reports. Specifically, we examine two types of disclosure, namely, the disclosure of the mandated key performance indicators and the narrative disclosure. Our results reveal a significant increase for both types of disclosure relative to the control group. Overall, this treatment effect tends to be smaller for firms with higher reporting incentives, i.e., reporting incentives mitigate the regulatory effect. Taken together, our results suggest that both standards and reporting incentives shape firms’ sustainability disclosure level.
Sustainability accounting as a distinct discipline has evolved over the last decades and is still expanding. As a multidimensional concept, sustainability accounting, however, relates to various other disciplines and thus provides a suitable setting to examine the extent of interdisciplinarity in accounting research. This paper investigates sustainability accounting in in twofold way. First, it provides a comprehensive and systematic review of academic literature addressing sustainability accounting topics. Based on a systematic search strategy capturing articles in the fields of finance and accounting, management, economics, organization and behavioral research, and international business, we determine a sample of 5,245 articles. Descriptive findings show that equally large proportions of the sample articles are published in accounting, management, and organization journals. Using citation network analysis, we identify existing research clusters within this sample and analyse them with respect to their delineations and interactions. Our results reveal that cluster formation relates to specific subject areas with some clusters showing limited interactions to other subject areas, while other clusters are more “interdisciplinary”. Interviews with influential researchers from the most prominent clusters in the network complement the network analysis results, providing insights into the establishment of paradigms and patterns in academic research that lead to the failure of knowledge integration and impede the transfer of research insights into business and politics.