Environmental Information Disclosure and Profitability: The Environmental Certification Influence

Abstract

Pressures to disclose social and environmental impact in business sector have grown over the last few decades. Literature suggests environmental information disclosure tends to increase with Environmental Management System implementation. In this context, this study aims to develop and analyze a theoretical model which seeks to measure the relationship between environmental certification, level of environmental information disclosure, and profitability of Portuguese companies listed on stock exchange. Using content analysis technique, we have developed two Environmental Disclosure Indices (EDIs) to assess environmental information disclosure level in companies’ annual reports and sustainability reports from 2015 to 2017. In theoretical model analysis, we applied the Process Macro of SPSS software. Based on a sample of 30 Portuguese listed companies, results show that companies are increasingly involved in responding to stakeholder pressures. In addition, we find that IDA is a mediating variable in relationship between environmental certification and profitability. The main study limitation is the sample size and period of analysis, which is relatively limited (2015–2017). The context of environmental information disclosure is analyzed to explain influences on environmental reporting practice, as well as certification environmental influence on IDA and business performance.