Purpose

This paper aims to examine the association between the strength of auditing and reporting standards (SARS, hereafter) and sustainability and investigates whether ethical behavior of firms moderates relationship between SARS and sustainability.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample consists of 500 country-year observations over the period of 2014–2017. Sustainability is collected from the Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index Reports for 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, while SARS and ethical behaviors are collected from the Global Competitiveness Reports for the same years.

Findings

The findings of this study suggest that the SARS is associated with sustainability. Similarly, ethical behavior of firms has a positive and significant effect on sustainability. When testing for the moderating effect of ethical behavior of firms on the association between SARS and sustainability, the results show that the positive association SARS becomes positive and more significant for countries where firms operate with high ethical behaviors, while the association becomes insignificant for settings where firms operate with low ethical behaviors.

Originality/value

The findings emphasize the role played by SARS and business ethics in improving sustainability. These results may have policy implications for governments aiming to improve sustainability by strengthening auditing and reporting standards and enforcing laws obliging firms to act ethically.

中文翻译：

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审计和报告标准的强度、公司的道德行为和可持续性：跨国调查

目的

本文旨在检验审计和报告标准（SARS，下称）的强度与可持续性之间的关联，并调查公司的道德行为是否会调节 SARS 与可持续性之间的关系。

设计/方法/方法

样本包含 2014-2017 年期间的 500 个国家/地区年度观察结果。可持续性是从 2014、2015、2016 和 2017 年的全球可持续竞争力指数报告中收集的，而 SARS 和道德行为是从同年的全球竞争力报告中收集的。

发现

这项研究的结果表明，非典与可持续性有关。同样，公司的道德行为对可持续性有积极而显着的影响。在检验企业道德行为对 SARS 与可持续性之间关联的调节作用时，结果表明，正相关 SARS 在企业以高道德行为经营的国家变得更显着，而在企业经营道德行为高的国家，这种关联变得不显着。公司以低道德行为经营。

原创性/价值

调查结果强调了 SARS 和商业道德在提高可持续性方面所起的作用。这些结果可能对旨在通过加强审计和报告标准以及强制公司遵守道德行为的法律来提高可持续性的政府产生政策影响。