Share:


Modelling of the relationship between sustainability and shareholder wealth

    Marie Pavláková Dočekalová   Affiliation
    ; Alena Kocmanová   Affiliation
    ; Tomáš Meluzín Affiliation
    ; Stanislav Škapa Affiliation

Abstract

A structural model for the verification of the causal relationship between sustainability and economic value added is presented in this paper. The study has shown that there is no definite and unique relationship between corporate sustainability and economic value. Based on the results of the structural modelling, sustainable value model ESGVA is methodologically improved. The model expresses all four dimensions of corporate sustainability: environmental, social, corporate governance and economic. The case study demonstrates how different the results are if a purely economic concept of company value is used compared to value that takes into account environmental, social and corporate governance factors. The model is applicable to comparative analysis of socially responsible investments. Sustainable value provides extra information on corporate performance and can be used for decision-making of individual investors.


First published online 17 March 2022

Keyword : economic value added, sustainability, environmental, social, corporate governance factors, sustainable value

How to Cite
Pavláková Dočekalová, M., Kocmanová, A., Meluzín, T., & Škapa, S. (2022). Modelling of the relationship between sustainability and shareholder wealth. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 28(3), 854–871. https://doi.org/10.3846/tede.2022.16480
Published in Issue
Jun 2, 2022
Abstract Views
912
PDF Downloads
742
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

ADVANCE-project. (2006). Sustainable value of European industry: A value-based analysis of environmental performance of European manufacturing companies (Full version). www.advance-project.org/

Aguinis, H., & Kraiger, K. (2009). Benefits of training and development for individuals and teams, organizations, and society. Annual Review of Psychology, 60(1), 451–474. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163505

Al-Tuwaijri, S., Christensen, T., & Hughes, K. E. (2004). The relations among environmental disclosure, environmental performance, and economic performance: A simultaneous equations approach. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 29(5), 447–471. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0361-3682(03)00032-1

Ang, F., & Van Passel, S. (2010). The Sustainable Value approach: A clarifying and constructive comment. Ecological Economics, 69(12), 2303–2306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2010.05.016

Artiach, T., Nelson, D., & Walker, J. (2010). The determinants of corporate sustainability performance. Accounting & Finance, 50(1), 31–51. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-629X.2009.00315.x

Axon, S., & James, D. (2018). The UN Sustainable Development Goals: How can sustainable chemistry contribute? A view from the chemical industry. Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, 13, 140–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsc.2018.04.010

Bergman, M. M., Bergman, Z., & Berger, L. (2017). An empirical exploration, typology, and definition of corporate sustainability. Sustainability, 9(5), 753. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9050753

Bernal-Conesa, J., Nieves Nieto, C., & Briones‐Penalver, A. (2017). CSR strategy in technology companies: Its influence on performance, competitiveness and sustainability. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 24(2), 96–107. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.1393

Bowen, K. N., & Guo, Sh. (2011). Structural equation modeling. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195367621.001.0001

Branco, M. C., & Rodrigues, L. L. (2006). Corporate social responsibility and resource-based perspectives. Journal of Business Ethics, 69(2), 111–132. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9071-z

Burkert, M., & Lueg, R. (2013). Differences in the sophistication of value-based management – The role of top executives. Management Accounting Research, 24(1), 3–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mar.2012.10.001

Callens, I., & Tyteca, D. (1999). Towards indicators of sustainable development for firms: A productive efficiency perspective. Ecological Economics, 28(1), 41–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8009(98)00035-4

Carroll, B. A., & Shabana, K. (2010). The business case for corporate social responsibility: A review of concepts, research and practice. International Journal of Management Reviews, 12(1), 85–105. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2370.2009.00275.x

Cooper, W. W., Seiford, L. M., & Tone, K. (2006). Introduction to Data Envelopment Analysis and its uses: With DEA-solver software and references. Springer.

Cooper, W. W., Seiford, L. M., & Zhu, J. (2011). Handbook on data envelopment analysis: International series in operations research & management science. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6151-8

Cornell, B., & Shapiro, A. C. (1987). Corporate stakeholder and corporate finance. Financial Management, 16(1), 5–14.

Cronqvist, H., Heyman, F., Nilsson, M., Svaleryd, H., & Vlachos, J. (2009). Do entrenched managers pay their workers more? Journal of Finance, 64(1), 309–339. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.2008.01435.x

Deev, O., & Khazalia, N. (2017). Corporate governance, social responsibility and financial performance of European insurers. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 65(6), 1873–1888. https://doi.org/10.11118/actaun201765061873

Deng, X., Kang, J., & Sin Low, B. (2013). Corporate social responsibility and stakeholder value maximization: Evidence from mergers. Journal of Financial Economics, 110(1), 87–109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2013.04.014

Dluhošová, D. (2007). Nové přístupy k měření finanční výkonnosti podniku. Ekonomická revue, X(2/3), 21–39.

Dong, L., & Wong-On-Wing, B. (2021). Does causally linking nonfinancial measures influence investors’ use of management’s disclosures of nonfinancial information? Accounting & Finance, 61(S1), 2269–2299. https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.12662

Emilsson, L. M., Classon, M., & Bredmar, K. (2012). CSR and the quest for profitability: Using Economic Value Added to trace profitability. International Journal of Economics and Management Sciences, 2(3), 43–54.

European Commission. (2005). Commission Recommendation of 15 February 2005 on the role of non-executive or supervisory directors of listed companies and on the committees of the (supervisory) board (Text with EEA relevance) (2005/162/EC). https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32005H0162

Falck, O., & Heblich, S. (2007). Corporate social responsibility: Doing well by doing good. Business Horizons, 50(3), 247–254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2006.12.002

Fernández-Guadaño, J., & Sarria-Pedroza, J. (2018). Impact of corporate social responsibility on value creation from a stakeholder perspective. Sustainability, 10(6), 2062. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10062062

Figge, F., & Hahn, T. (2002). Sustainable value added – Measuring corporate sustainable performance beyond eco-efficiency. Centrum Für Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement, Lüneburg, Germany.

Figge, F., & Hahn, T. (2004). Sustainable Value Added – Measuring corporate contributions to sustainability beyond eco-efficiency. Ecological Economics, 48(2), 173–187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2003.08.005

Figge, F., & Hahn, T. (2008). The cost of sustainability capital and the creation of sustainable value by companies. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 9(4), 47–58. https://doi.org/10.1162/108819805775247936

Fombrun, J. C., Gardberg, N. A., & Barnett, M. L. (2000). Opportunity platforms and safety nets: Corporate citizenship and reputational risk. Business and Society Review, 105(1), 85–106. https://doi.org/10.1111/0045-3609.00066

Freeman, R. E., Wicks, A. C., & Parmar, B. (2004). Stakeholder theory and “The corporate objective revisited”. Organization Science, 15(3), 364–369. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1040.0066

Freudenreich, B., Lüdeke-Freund, F., & Schaltegger, S. (2020). A stakeholder theory perspective on business models: Value creation for sustainability. Journal of Business Ethics, 166, 3–18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04112-z

Friedman, M. (1998). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. In L. B. Pincus (Ed.), Perspectives in business ethics (pp. 246–251). McGraw-Hill.

Gallagher, W. M., & Brown, T. A. (2013). Introduction to confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. In T. Teo (Ed.), Handbook of quantitative methods for educational research (pp. 289–314). SensePublishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6209-404-8_14

Global Reporting Initiative, United Nations Global Compact, & World Business Council for Sustainable Development. (2015). SDG Compass: The guide for business action on the SDGs. (GRI, UNGC, WBCSD). https://sdgcompass.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/019104_SDG_Compass_Guide_2015.pdf

Hahn, T., Figge, F., & Barkemeyer, R. (2007). Sustainable Value creation among companies in the manufacturing sector. International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 7(5–6), 496–512. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJETM.2007.015627

Hair, F. J., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2010). Multivariate data analysis. A global perspective. Prentice Hall, Pearson Education.

Hussain, N., Rigoni, U., & Orij, R. P. (2018). Corporate governance and sustainability performance: Analysis of triple bottom line performance. Journal of Business Ethics, 149, 411–432. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3099-5

Ionescu, G. H., Firoiu, D., Pirvu, R., & Vilag, R. D. (2019). The impact of ESG factors on market value of companies from travel and tourism industry. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 25(5), 820–849. https://doi.org/10.3846/tede.2019.10294

International Organization for Standardization. (2013). Environmental management – Environmental performance evaluation – Guidelines (ISO 14031:2013). https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso:14031:ed-2:v1:en

Ittner, D. C., & Larcker, D. F. (2001). Assessing empirical research in managerial accounting: A value-based management perspective. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 32(1–3), 349–410. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-4101(01)00026-X

Jawahar, I. M., & McLaughlin, G. L. (2001). Toward a descriptive stakeholder theory: An organizational life cycle approach. Academy of Management Review, 26(3), 397–414. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2001.4845803

Jensen, C. M. (2001). Value maximization, stakeholder theory, and the corporate objective function. Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, 14(3), 8–21. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6622.2001.tb00434.x

Kamble, S. S., Gunasekaran, A., & Gawankar, S. A. (2018). Sustainable industry 4.0 framework: A systematic literature review identifying the current trends and future perspectives. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 117, 408–425. https://doi:10.1016/j.psep.2018.05.009

Kashmanian, M. R., Wells, R. P., & Keenan, C. (2011). Corporate environmental sustainability strategy. The Journal of Corporate Citizenship, 44, 107–130.

Khaksar, E., Abbasnejad, T., Esmaeili, A., & Tamošaitienė, J. (2016). The effect of green supply chain management practices on environmental performance and competitive advantage: A case study of the cement industry. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 22(2), 293–308. https://doi.org/10.3846/20294913.2015.1065521

Kocmanová, A. (2015). Integrované hodnocení udržitelné výkonnosti podniku [Integrated evaluation of sustainable corporate performance]. VUTIUM, Brno.

Kocmanová, A., Pavláková Dočekalová, M., Škapa, S., & Smolíková, L. (2016). Measuring corporate sustainability and environmental, social, and corporate governance value added. Sustainability, 8(9), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8090945

Konar, S., & Cohen, M. A. (2001). Does the market value environmental performance? Review of Economics and Statistics, 83(2), 281–289. https://doi.org/10.1162/00346530151143815

Kruse, C., & Lundbergh, S. (2010). The governance of corporate sustainability. Rotman International Journal of Pension Management, 3(2), 46–51. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1750-y

Kuosmanen, T., & Kuosmanen, N. (2009). How not to measure sustainable value (and how one might). Ecological Economics, 69(2), 235–243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2009.08.008

Lev, B., & Gu, F. (2016). The end of accounting and the path forward for investors and managers. John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119270041

Lisi, I. (2018). Determinants and performance effects of social performance measurement systems. Journal of Business Ethics, 152(1), 225–251. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3287-3

Lu, J., Ren, L., Zhang, C., Qiao, J., Kovacova, M., & Streimikis, J. (2020). Assessment of corporate social responsibility and its impacts on corporate reputation of companies in selected Balkan Countries former Yugoslavia States. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 26(2), 504–524. https://doi.org/10.3846/tede.2020.12069

Malmi, T., & Granlund, M. (2009). In search of management accounting theory. European Accounting Review, 18(3), 597–620. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638180902863779

Margolis, D. J., Elfenbein, H. A., & Walsh, J. P. (2009). Does it pay to be good...and does it matter? A meta-analysis of the relationship between corporate social and financial performance. SSRN. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1866371

Munir, A., Khan, F. U., Usman, M., & Khuram, S. (2019). Relationship between corporate governance, corporate sustainability and financial performance. Pakistan Journal of Commerce and Social Sciences, 13(4), 915–933.

Nirino, N., Santoro, G., Miglietta, N., & Quaglia, R. (2021). Corporate controversies and company’s financial performance: Exploring the moderating role of ESG practices. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 162, 120341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120341

OECD. (2017). Země G20/OECD Principy správy a řízení společností. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264274075-cs

Orlitzky, M., Schmidt, F. L., & Rynes, S. L. (2003). Corporate social and financial performance: A meta-analysis. Organization Studies, 24(3), 403–441. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840603024003910

Pagano, M., & Volpin, P. F. (2005). Managers, workers, and corporate control. Journal of Finance, 60(2), 841–868. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.2005.00748.x

Pavláková Dočekalová, M., & Kocmanová, A. (2016). Composite indicator for measuring corporate sustainability. Ecological Indicators, 61, 612–623. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.10.012

Pavláková Dočekalová, M., & Kocmanová, A. (2018). Comparison of sustainable environmental, social, and corporate governance value added models for investors decision making. Sustainability, 10(3), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10030649

Perrini, F., Russo, A., Tencati, A., & Vurro, C. (2011). Deconstructing the relationship between corporate social and financial performance. Journal of Business Ethics, 102, 59–76. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-1194-1

Potts, J., Lynch, M., Wilkings, A., Huppé, G., Cunningham, M., & Voora, V. (2014). The state of sustainability initiatives review 2014: Standards and the green economy. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/pdf/2014/ssi_2014.pdf

Raimo, N., de Nuccio, E., Giakoumelou, A., Petruzzella, F., & Vitolla, F. (2020). Non-financial information and cost of equity capital: An empirical analysis in the food and beverage industry. British Food Journal, 123(1), 49–65. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-03-2020-0278

Rao, P., & Holt, D. (2005). Do green supply chains lead to competitiveness and economic performance? International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 25(9), 898–916. https://doi.org/10.1108/01443570510613956

Ren, S., Wei, W., Sun, H., Hu, Y., & Chen, X. (2020). Can mandatory environmental information disclosure achieve a win-win for a firm’s envi-ronmental and economic performance? Journal of Cleaner Production, 250, 119530. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119530

Schaltegger, S., & Synnestvedtb, T. (2002). The link between “green” and economic success: Environmental management as the crucial trigger between environmental and economic performance. Journal of Environmental Management, 65(4), 339–346. https://doi.org/10.1006/jema.2002.0555

Schaltegger, S., Bennett, M., & Buritt, R. (2006). Sustainability accounting and reporting. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4974-3

Schreiber, B. J., Amaury, N., Stage, F. K., Barlow, E. A., & King, J. (2006). Reporting structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analysis results: A review. The Journal of Educational Research, 99(6), 323–338. https://doi.org/10.3200/JOER.99.6.323-338

Spirig, K. (2006). Social performance and competitiveness, a socio-competitive framework. In S. Schaltegger & M. Wagner (Eds.), Managing the business case for sustainability (pp. 82–106). Greenleaf Publishing.

Stewart, G. B. (1991). The quest for value. HarperCollins Publishers.

Surroca, J., & Tribó, J. A. (2008). Managerial entrenchment and corporate social performance. Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, 35(5–6), 748–789. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5957.2008.02090.x

Tapaninaho, R., & Kujala, J. (2019). Reviewing the stakeholder value creation literature: Towards a sustainability approach. In Leal Filho, W. (Eds), World sustainability series. Social responsibility and sustainability (pp. 3–36). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03562-4

United Nations. (2017). Global indicator framework for the Sustainable Development Goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/indicators/Global%20Indicator%20Framework_A.RES.71.313%20Annex.pdf

United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). (2011). The ten principles of the UN Global Compact. https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/mission/principles

United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). (2016). The 2030 agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals: Achieving the industry-related goals and targets. https://www.unido.org/sites/default/files/2015-12/ISID_SDG_brochure_final_0.pdf

Vance, S. (1975). Are socially responsible firms good investment risks? Management Review, 64, 18–24.

van Marrewijk, M., & Were, M. (2003). Multiple levels of corporate sustainability. Journal of Business Ethics, 44(2–3), 107–119. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023383229086

Wagner, M. (2010). The role of corporate sustainability performance for economic performance: A firm-level analysis of moderation effects. Ecological Economics, 69(7), 1553-1560. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2010.02.017

Wood, J. D., & Jones, R. E. (1995). Stakeholder mismatching: A theoretical problem in empirical research on corporate social performance. Inter-national Journal of Organizational Analysis, 3(3), 229–267. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb028831