We study the quantity of ESG disclosure of 1,963 large-cap companies headquartered in 49 countries. Using the Bloomberg ESG disclosure score as the measure of disclosure quantity, we find that firm characteristics explain most of the variation in firms' ESG disclosure, whereas variations in country factors such as corruption and political rights explain less. We empirically examine and extend the theoretical framework of the liability of foreignness in capital markets. Our results support the notion that cross-listed firms disclose more ESG data than those only listed in their home market to mitigate the liability of foreignness in external capital markets. We also find that an increased percentage of foreign ownership does not augment ESG disclosure. Companies which opt to increase foreign equity ownership at home do not encounter the challenges of foreignness. Our findings suggest that cross-listed status is likely to reduce the importance of country factors for variations in ESG disclosure quantity.

我们研究了总部位于49个国家/地区的1,963家大型公司的ESG披露数量。使用彭博社的ESG披露得分作为披露数量的量度，我们发现公司特征解释了公司ESG披露的大部分差异，而国家因素（例如腐败和政治权利）的差异解释较少。我们从经验上考察并扩展了资本市场中外国责任的理论框架。我们的结果支持以下观点：交叉上市公司披露的ESG数据要多于仅在本国市场上市的公司，以减轻外国资本市场中外国债务的负担。我们还发现，外国所有权比例的增加不会增加ESG的披露。选择在国内增加外资股权的公司不会遇到外国挑战。我们的研究结果表明，交叉列出身份可能会降低国家因素对ESG披露数量变化的重要性。