ESG disclosure and financial performance of multinational enterprises: The moderating effect of board standing committees

Abstract

The study examines the impact of board committee indexes on the relationship between Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosure, and accounting- and market-based performance measures of multinational enterprises (MNEs). Using quantile regression analysis and a large balanced panel data of 500 multinational companies operating in 40 countries from 2009 to 2019 (i.e., 5500 firm-year observations), we uncovered the following significant associations: (i) a positive relationship between ESG disclosure and accounting performance indicators for large-sized MNEs, but this relationship is counteracted by the negative influence of the audit and sustainability committee indexes; (ii) the association between market-based performance outcomes and ESG disclosure is positively affected by the compensation, nomination, and sustainability committee indexes, while it is negatively influenced by the audit committee index; (iii) the combined board committee index has varying impacts on the connection between the components of ESG disclosure, and accounting and market-relevant performance metrics for different sizes of MNEs; and (iv) while the audit and sustainability committee indexes exert negative effects on the relationship between the components of ESG disclosure and performance measures, these effects are countered by the positive moderating impacts of the compensation and nomination committee indexes. The study concludes by discussing the policy implications of these results.