Exploring How Corporate Maturity Moderates the Value Relevance of ESG Disclosures in Sustainable Reporting: Evidence from Bangladesh’s Developing Market

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🔬研究者:This paper offers a novel framework for understanding how firm lifecycle stage influences the valuation effects of ESG disclosures, relevant for scholars in ESG finance and corporate governance.

🏢実務担当者:Corporate sustainability teams can use these insights to tailor ESG reporting strategies based on firm maturity, and investors can adjust evaluation criteria for younger vs. mature firms.

🏛政策担当者:Regulators in developing markets can consider lifecycle-adjusted disclosure requirements to maximize the impact of ESG reporting on firm value.

This study investigated how corporate maturity—measured through firm age and lifecycle stage—moderates the value relevance of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosures in a frontier market context, using Bangladesh as a case study. Drawing on panel data from 2011–2012 to 2023–2024 for 86 publicly listed non-financial firms, the study employed a modified Ohlson valuation framework, panel regression analysis, and multiple robustness techniques (2SLS, PSM). ESG disclosure was measured using a researcher-developed index aligned with international reporting standards (GRI, SASB, TCFD, UN SDGs). ESG disclosures are positively associated with firm value, but this relationship is significantly moderated by corporate maturity. Younger firms exhibit a stronger valuation effect from ESG transparency, driven by higher signaling and legitimacy needs. In contrast, mature firms experience a diminished marginal benefit, reflecting routine compliance rather than strategic differentiation. These findings challenge the uniform application of ESG assessment models and suggest the need for lifecycle-adjusted disclosure ratings, particularly in nascent regulatory environments like Bangladesh. Investors and regulators should tailor ESG evaluation criteria by firm age and industry sustainability exposure. Younger firms, often overlooked, may carry outsized ESG signaling value in emerging markets. Enhancing ESG transparency among younger firms can foster greater stakeholder trust, support inclusive growth, and strengthen social accountability in emerging economies. This study contributes to the ESG literature by introducing corporate maturity as a key moderating variable in value relevance analysis. It provides new empirical insights from a developing economy and proposes lifecycle-based adaptations to global ESG rating methodologies.

• openaire https://doi.org/10.3390/su17135936first seen 2026-05-05 19:08:27