Peer Review Report For: Multi capital disclosure and sustainability performance in Bangladeshi financial institutions using Deep Machine Learning [version 1; peer review: 1 approved]

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

🔬研究者:Provides empirical evidence on the triadic disclosure construct and the relative importance of intellectual capital disclosure, validated with deep learning.

🏢実務担当者:Highlights that improving disclosure quality, especially intellectual capital, can enhance sustainability performance and stakeholder trust.

🏛政策担当者:Suggests that regulations should emphasize substantive disclosure over mere green credit volume to improve sustainability outcomes.

Purpose This study empirically investigates the joint and independent effects of intellectual capital disclosure (ICD), human capital disclosure (HCD), and natural capital disclosure (NCD) on the sustainability performance (SUSP) of listed financial institutions in Bangladesh, a bank-centric, climate-vulnerable emerging economy. Design methodology approach Drawing from a composite theoretical framework based on the Resource-Based View, Signalling Theory and the Legitimacy/Stakeholder approaches, the study engages a balanced sample of 62 listed financial institutions, including 30 commercial banks, 22 non-bank financial institutions and 10 insurance companies, providing 1,178 firm-year observations over 2005-2023. Analysis is conducted through panel (firm- and year-fixed effects) regressions, dynamic system generalized method of moments (system-GMM) and a supplementary multi-layer perceptron deep learning model. Findings We find that ICD, HCD, and NCD have positive and substantive effects on SUSP (at the 1% significance level), with the impact of intellectual capital disclosure as the leading predictor, followed by human and natural capital disclosures. Relationships remain robust under winsorisation, lagged regressors, sub-sample data, pandemic-free data, and a non-linear deep-learning framework (out-of-sample R 2 = 0.932), thereby validating a substantive (but not nominal) disclosure act. Board independence is consistently positive, while green funding intensity demonstrates directionally positive but statistically subordinate effects, indicating that disclosure quality supersedes green-credit volume in shaping sustainability outcomes. Originality value The results contribute to the integrated reporting discourse by confirming the triadic disclosure construct and provide recommendations for policy-makers, banks and climate finance practitioners in institutionally constrained emerging-market settings.

• openalex https://doi.org/10.5256/f1000research.202919.r501708first seen 2026-08-07 05:08:27