Relationship between sustainability disclosure and corporate reputation: Evidence from a meta-analysis

Abstract

Previous studies on the connection between sustainability disclosure (SD) and corporate reputation (CR) yielded varying results. This study presents a quantitative analysis of the impact of SD on CR, based on previous empirical studies, while determining the influence of substantive (SD and CR measures), methodological (unit and type of analysis), and extrinsic (number of countries, country legal system, country development, and continents) moderators. Specifically, by employing a meta-analytical approach grounded in a systematic review of the literature, a total of 92 empirical research articles were analyzed. The results confirmed a significant positive correlation between SD and CR, which was greatly affected by the moderation exercised by the measures of reputation of the entity, contextual country differences, and methodological characteristics.