Record Details

Relationship between sustainable development initiatives and improved company financial performance: A South African perspective

Acta Commercii

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Relationship between sustainable development initiatives and improved company financial performance: A South African perspective
 
Creator Groenewald, Darelle Powell, Jonathan
 
Subject — Canonical correlation analysis; Sustainability reporting; Sustainability development; Financial performance; South African listed companies
Description Orientation: Companies are under ever-increasing pressure from both internal and external stakeholders to consider the environmental and social impacts of their operations and to mitigate these impacts. This necessitates an investigation into the effect of sustainability initiatives on the financial performance (FP) of a company.Research purpose: The study analysed the relationship between sustainability performance and FP in South African listed companies.Motivation for the study: Some South African listed companies acknowledge in their sustainability reports that there is a link between sustainability development and long-term shareholder value. This implies that FP is linked to sustainable development performance. This relationship has not been researched for South African listed companies and therefore needs to be investigated.Research design, approach and method: A similar research method was used as for an international study. Forty-five listed South African companies were selected as the sample. Their sustainable development reports were used for analysis. Data were analysed with the use of content and a canonical correlation analysis.Main findings: The results of the study revealed that an overall positive relationship exists between sustainability performance and FP. Practical implications: South African companies that have a high involvement and focus on specific sustainable development initiatives that are integrated into overall sustainable development strategy can deliver improved FP for the organisation and deliver long-term value to its shareholders.Contribution: Six sustainable development aspects were found to be significantly correlated with improved FP and if incorporated into a company’s sustainable development strategy can lead to increased successes.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2016-05-31
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/octet-stream text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/ac.v16i1.298
 
Source Acta Commercii; Vol 16, No 1 (2016); 14 pages 1684-1999 2413-1903
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://actacommercii.co.za/index.php/acta/article/view/298/504 https://actacommercii.co.za/index.php/acta/article/view/298/505 https://actacommercii.co.za/index.php/acta/article/view/298/502 https://actacommercii.co.za/index.php/acta/article/view/298/497
 
Coverage — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2016 Darelle Groenewald, Jonathan Powell https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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