Purpose

This study explores the levels of and trends in corporate environmental disclosure (CED) among a sample of Sri Lankan listed companies from 2015 to 2019. Furthermore, this article examines the firm-level determinants of CED, including corporate governance (CG) mechanisms, in Sri Lanka from a multi-theoretical perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a sample of 205 firm-year observations, this paper distinctively applies a panel quantile regression (PQR) model to examine the determinants of CED in Sri Lanka. This method was supported by estimating a two-step generalized method of moment (GMM) model to tackle any possible existence of endogeneity concerns.

Findings

The authors’ findings indicate an increasing trend in CED practice among the sampled companies (i.e. 41 firms, the only adopters of the GRI framework) in Sri Lanka from 2015 to 2019. However, it is still considered at an early stage compared with other developed counterparts. Furthermore, this study suggests that board size, board independence, board meetings, industry type, profitability and firm size are positively associated with CED level. In contrast, and consistent with our expectation, CEO duality is negatively attributed to the disclosed amount of environmental information in the Sri Lankan context.

Research limitations/implications

The authors’ empirical evidence reiterates the crucial need to propagate and promote further substantive CG reforms, mandating CED in Sri Lanka.

Originality/value

The authors’ findings provide much-needed insights for indigenous companies, operating across similar emerging economies, to understand how CED can be incorporated into their reporting process based on the GRI framework in order to enhance their firm value, reduce legitimacy gaps and mitigate other operational risks.

中文翻译：

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斯里兰卡公司环境披露的决定因素：公司治理的作用

目的

本研究探讨了 2015 年至 2019 年斯里兰卡上市公司样本的企业环境信息披露 (CED) 水平和趋势。此外，本文还考察了企业层面的 CED 决定因素，包括公司治理 (CG) 机制，从多理论的角度看斯里兰卡。

设计/方法/方法

本文使用 205 个公司年观察样本，独特地应用面板分位数回归 (PQR) 模型来检查斯里兰卡 CED 的决定因素。这种方法得到了估计两步广义矩方法 (GMM) 模型的支持，以解决任何可能存在的内生性问题。

发现

作者的研究结果表明，从 2015 年到 2019 年，斯里兰卡的抽样公司（即 41 家公司，GRI 框架的唯一采用者）的 CED 实践呈上升趋势。但与其他发达国家相比，它仍处于早期阶段。同行。此外，这项研究表明，董事会规模、董事会独立性、董事会会议、行业类型、盈利能力和公司规模与 CED 水平呈正相关。相比之下，与我们的预期一致，首席执行官的双重身份被负面归因于斯里兰卡环境中披露的环境信息量。

研究限制/影响

作者的经验证据重申了宣传和促进进一步实质性 CG 改革的关键需要，在斯里兰卡强制执行 CED。

原创性/价值

作者的发现为在类似新兴经济体中运营的本土公司提供了急需的见解，以了解如何将 CED 纳入基于 GRI 框架的报告流程，以提高其公司价值、缩小合法性差距并减少其他运营风险。