The marketing implications of ESG disclosure: The mediating role of value-based competitive advantage in driving sales growth

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Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Environmental, social, and governance disclosure is increasingly used as a strategic communication tool, yet its immediate marketing consequences remain unclear in emerging markets. The study evaluates the marketing implications of environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure by testing the relationship between the disclosure and value based competitive advantage through its impact on sales growth. A total of 30 Jordanian industrial firms were selected during the time frame (2019-2023) for analysis, yielding 150 firm-year data. ESG disclosure is computed as the arithmetic mean of the disclosure ratios of environmental, social and governance data, and value-based competitive advantage is calculated as return on invested capital minus the weighted average cost of capital. The panel regression results show that ESG disclosure has a positive but statistically insignificant effect on value-based competitive advantage (coefficient = 0.340; standard error = 0.299) and sales growth (coefficient = 13.159; standard error = 23.899). After including value-based competitive advantage in the sales-growth model, its coefficient remains positive but statistically insignificant (coefficient = 29.675; standard error = 19.160). The estimated indirect effect is 10.102, with a 95% bootstrap confidence interval ranging from −8.441 to 23.688, indicating that the mediating effect is not statistically supported. The environmental, social, and governance dimensions are also statistically insignificant. The results suggest that during the period of study this ESG disclosure was not associated with an immediate increase in sales via the proposed value-based channel. The study makes a contribution by exploring a marketing-oriented ESG pathway in an emerging industrial market, and by differentiating between the anticipated strategic gains of sustainability disclosure and the actual observed market impacts of ESG disclosure.

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    • Table 1. Variable definitions
    • Table 2. Descriptive statistics
    • Table 3. Pearson correlations
    • Table 4. Regression results (clustered SEs in parentheses)
    • Table 5. Bootstrap mediation analysis
    • Conceptualization
      Mohammad Fawzi Shubita, Moade Fawzi Shubita, Mohammad Ahmad Alqam
    • Funding acquisition
      Mohammad Fawzi Shubita, Moade Fawzi Shubita, Mohammad Ahmad Alqam, Dua’a Shubita, Mohamed Saad
    • Investigation
      Mohammad Fawzi Shubita
    • Methodology
      Mohammad Fawzi Shubita, Moade Fawzi Shubita
    • Resources
      Mohammad Fawzi Shubita, Mohammad Ahmad Alqam, Dua’a Shubita, Mohamed Saad
    • Supervision
      Mohammad Fawzi Shubita, Moade Fawzi Shubita, Dua’a Shubita
    • Writing – original draft
      Mohammad Fawzi Shubita, Mohammad Ahmad Alqam, Dua’a Shubita
    • Writing – review & editing
      Mohammad Fawzi Shubita, Mohammad Ahmad Alqam
    • Validation
      Dua’a Shubita
    • Project administration
      Mohamed Saad