THE IMPACT OF ESG DISCLOSURE ON FIRM PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM LISTED MANUFACTURING COMPANIES IN NIGERIA

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Contributes to the ESG-performance literature by providing evidence from an African emerging market, extending stakeholder and legitimacy theory.

🏢実務担当者:Supports corporate sustainability teams in emerging economies to justify increased ESG transparency to management.

🏛政策担当者:Encourages regulators in developing countries to adopt or strengthen ESG reporting frameworks aligned with global standards.

The growing emphasis on sustainability reporting around the world has heightened interest in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) among researchers and regulators. Disclosure as a determinant of business performance. In accordance with current sustainability reporting advancements led by the International Sustainability Standards Board, firms in emerging economies are under rising pressure to expand transparency beyond standard financial indicators. However, there is still insufficient and conflicting empirical data regarding the relationship between ESG performances in Sub-Saharan Africa. The study examined the impact of ESG disclosure on the financial performance of Nigerian listed manufacturing firms. The study uses balanced panel data from the annual and sustainability reports of manufacturing companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group between 2016 and 2025, using an ex-post facto research design. ESG disclosure is measured through a content analysis–based index constructed in accordance with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards, while firm performance is peroxide by Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE), and Tobin’s Q. To account for Heteroskedasticity and unobserved firm-specific effects, the study uses panel regression techniques, such as fixed and random effects models with robust standard errors. Control variables include firm size, leverage, and firm age. The research findings show that overall ESG disclosure has a statistically significant and positive impact on a company's financial performance, indicating that increased sustainability transparency raises market value and profitability. Disaggregated data show that while environmental and social disclosures have moderate but positive benefits, governance disclosure has the strongest correlation with performance indicators. The outcomes hold up well when using different model specifications and performance proxies. The research enhances the sustainability accounting literature by offering evidence from a growing African market, therefore broadening stakeholder and legitimacy theory perspectives within the ESG performance. This provides useful insights for regulators, investors, and corporate executives, urging the enhancement of ESG reporting frameworks and alignment with global sustainability standards to foster long-term wealth generation and sustainable industrial advancement in Nigeria.

• semanticscholar https://doi.org/10.70382/bejmse.v11i7.074first seen 2026-05-05 23:04:05