Environmental, social, and governance practices and financial performance of Armenian commercial banks

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure becomes vital for banks to be transparent and accountable for their investments and lending decisions to shareholders, regulators, and society. The potential enhancement of shareholder value through ESG disclosure is still inconsistent. Empirical studies on the association between ESG disclosure and financial performance are mixed and limited in emerging economies. This study aims to examine whether ESG disclosure impacts the financial performance of 24 Vietnamese commercial banks in terms of return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), and net interest margin (NIM). The study uses the feasible generalized least squares estimation method based on panel data from 2018 to 2022. The study employs content analysis on 12 themes related to environmental, social, and governance pillars to score policy disclosure based on the Fair Finance Guide Methodology. The results highlight the positive effects of ESG policy disclosure, individual environment disclosure (E), and individual governance disclosure (G) on bank financial performance. Notably, ESG, E, and G have the largest influence on ROE, with coefficients of 0.051, 0.036, and 0.027, respectively, at a 5% significance level. However, the study does not provide evidence of a statistically significant association between social disclosure and financial performance. These results provide empirical evidence for regulators and bank managers to shape ESG policies and practices aligning with international standards.

Acknowledgment
ESG disclosure score of 11 banks as primary data in this study is conducted under the project coordinated by the Fair Finance Vietnam coalition, as part of Fair Finance International.

The primary objective of this study is to examine the connection between Generation Z Indonesian consumers’ perceptions of value for green products and their purchase intentions, with a supplementary investigation into how environmental concerns moderate the influence of perceived green value on their intention to purchase green products. Between June and December 2021, a probability sampling technique, specifically stratified random sampling, was used to select a sample of 543 Indonesian Generation Z consumers. The data were analyzed using a variance-based method, namely partial least squares, within the context of structural equation modeling. The analysis reveals that functional value, conditional value, and environmental concern significantly and positively affect the intention to purchase green products. This indicates that Generation Z consumers are more inclined to choose green products when they perceive them to have good functional value, when specific conditions or requirements support the purchase, and when they have a high environmental concern. Moreover, environmental concern moderates the effect of social value on the intention to purchase green products. This suggests that more environmentally conscious consumers are more likely to be influenced by social value benefits when deciding to buy green products, highlighting the complex interplay between environmental and social motivations in shaping consumer behavior towards sustainability.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting plays a key role in management control, particularly in light of the increased demand for non-financial reporting after the financial crisis of 2008–2009. This literature review evaluates 47 empirical studies that concentrate on the influence of several board composition variables on the quantity and quality of CSR reporting. The author briefly introduces the research framework that underpins current empirical studies in this field. This is followed by a discussion of the main variables of board composition: (1) committees (audit and CSR committees), (2) board independence, (3) board expertise, (4) CEO duality, (5) board diversity (gender and foreign diversity), (6) board activity, and (7) board size. The author, then, summarizes the key findings, discusses the limitations of the existing research and offers useful recommendations for researchers, firm practice and regulators.