SEAAのブラックボックスを破る：真正なESGパフォーマンスの内部ドライバー

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🔬研究者:ESGパフォーマンスの内部規定要因をSlack Resources・Agency・Stewardship理論で統合し、U字型関係を実証した点が理論的貢献。

🏢実務担当者:サステナビリティ委員会設置や長期機関投資家との対話が、表面的スコアを超えた真正なESG投資の規律づけに有効であることを示す。

🏛政策担当者:ESG評価・監査の枠組み設計において、開示スコアだけでなくガバナンス・所有構造を考慮する必要性を示唆する。

In response to calls for more critical paradigms in Social and Environmental Accounting and Accountability (SEAA), this study challenges the treatment of corporate sustainability as a “black box.” We investigate the internal mechanisms that drive authentic Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance by developing and testing an integrated model of financial capacity, governance architecture, and ownership structure. We integrate Slack Resources Theory with principles from Agency and Stewardship theories to hypothesize a non-linear relationship between financial slack and ESG outcomes, moderated by corporate governance and ownership. The framework is tested on a panel of 383 European listed firms from 2015 to 2023 using a dynamic panel System GMM estimator to address endogeneity and persistence. Our results challenge the conventional inverted U-shaped paradigm. We find robust evidence of a traditional U-shaped (convex) relationship between financial slack and ESG performance, supporting a “too-little-of-a-good-thing” (TLGT) effect where substantive ESG investment requires a critical threshold of resources. We further find that board independence and dedicated sustainability committees are positively associated with ESG performance. Notably, long-term institutional ownership moderates this relationship, disciplining slack allocation and fostering value-enhancing sustainability initiatives. The findings should be interpreted in light of some main limitations. First, the analysis focuses on large listed European firms, which may limit the generalizability of the results to SMEs, unlisted firms, or non-European institutional settings. Second, although our composite measure of financial slack captures multiple financial dimensions, it does not distinguish among alternative forms of slack that may affect ESG performance differently. Finally, an additional path for future research could be to delve into the sectoral heterogeneity that emerged in our study, investigating why the “materiality” and effectiveness of specific governance mechanisms differ across industries. The findings offer a toolkit for investors and auditors to critically assess sustainability disclosures beyond surface-level scores. By analyzing the interplay of slack, governance, and ownership, stakeholders can better identify authentic commitment. The study advances theory by synthesizing Slack Resources, Agency, and Stewardship perspectives to explain ESG performance. The paper's primary contribution is the empirical validation of a new paradigm for the slack-ESG relationship. By demonstrating the systemic interplay between financial means, governance oversight, and ownership structure, we provide a nuanced framework for distinguishing genuine sustainability from “greenwashing”, offering a valuable toolkit for investors, boards, and regulators.

• semanticscholar https://doi.org/10.1108/jaar-10-2025-0576first seen 2026-09-12 05:55:30 · last seen 2026-09-13 05:22:43