Investment on environmental social and governance activities and its impact on achieving sustainable development goals: evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms

Figures & data

Table 1. Measurement of investment of environmental issues.

Variables	Items	Statements	Source
Investment in Environmental Issues	IEI1	“My organization is interested in investments that consider the environment.”	(de Zwaan et al., 2015)
	IEI2	“I think superannuation funds should consider environmental factors when they choose their investments.”
	IEI3	“I think considering the environment when investing makes good financial sense.”
	IEI4	“I want my superannuation to be invested in a way that does not harm the environment.”
	IEI5	“If a superannuation fund considered environmental issues, I think more highly of them.”
	IEI6	“I understand how my superannuation fund can consider the environment.”
	IEI7	“I believe changing the way I invest in my superannuation can help improve the environment.”
	IEI8	“I feel good when I take the environment into Consideration.”
	IEI9	“I am concerned about global warming.”
	IEI10	“I think considering environmental issues will negatively impact financial performance.”
	IEI11	“I am less concerned about environmental issues given the current state of the economy.”

Table 2. Measurement of investment of social issues.

Variables	Items	Statements	Source
Investment in Social Issues	ISI1	“I am interested in investments that consider Society.”	(de Zwaan et al., 2015)
	ISI2	“I think superannuation funds should consider social factors when they choose their investments.”
	ISI3	“I think considering society when investing makes good financial sense.”
	ISI4	“I want my superannuation to be invested in a way that does not harm society.”
	ISI5	“If a superannuation fund considered social issues, I think more highly of them.”
	ISI6	“I understand how my superannuation fund can consider social issues.”
	ISI7	“I believe changing the way I invest in my superannuation can help improve society.”
	ISI8	“I feel good when I take the society into Consideration.”
	ISI9	“I think considering social issues will negatively impact financial performance.”
	ISI10	“I am less concerned about social issues given the current state of the economy.”

Table 3. Measurement of investment in governance issues.

Variables	Items	Statements	Source
Investment in Governance Issues	IGI1	“I am interested in investments that consider a company's corporate governance.”	(de Zwaan et al., 2015)
	IGI2	“I think superannuation funds should consider governance factors when they choose their investments.”
	IGI3	“I think considering corporate governance when investing makes good financial sense.”
	IGI4	“I want my superannuation to be invested in a way that encourages good corporate governance.”
	IGI5	“If a superannuation fund considers corporate governance issues, I think more highly of them.”
	IGI6	“I understand how my superannuation fund can consider corporate governance issues.
	IGI7	“I believe changing the way I invest in my superannuation can help improve corporate governance.”
	IGI8	“I think considering corporate governance issues will negatively impact financial performance.”
	IGI9	“I am less concerned about corporate governance issues given the current state of the economy.”

Table 4. Measurement of organizational effectiveness.

Variables	Items	Statements	Source
Organizational Effectiveness	OE1	“Our mission helps us to monitor performance.”	(Ng, 2018)
	OE2	“Our mission helps us to make a better decision.”
	OE3	“I understand how my job helps achieve our mission.”
	OE4	“Our mission statement helps me to understand how my organization sets priorities.”
	OE5	“Strategy is an important element in our mission.”
	OE6	“Our strategy is achievable.”
	OE7	“My day-to-day duties help us to achieve our mission.”
	OE8	“My co-workers’ day-to-day duties help us to achieve our mission.”
	OE9	“Our mission is the driving force for this organization.”
	OE10	“Our organization’s actions are consistent with our mission.”
	OE11	“Our organization’s actions are consistent with our vision.”
	OE12	“Our organization’s actions are consistent with our core values.”
	OE13	“We consistently meet the foundation for performance established in our mission statement.”
	OE14	“We consistently meet the criteria for performance established in our vision statement.”
	OE15	“We consistently meet the criteria for performance established in our values statement.”
	OE16	“We are effective at cost-saving.”
	OE17	“We maintain low expenses.”
	OE18	“We work well with other nonprofits.”
	OE19	“We have sufficient funds to provide service programs.”
	OE20	“We can appropriately allocate our financial resources across programs.”

Table 5. Measurement of SDGs.

Variables	Items	Statements	Source
Sustainable Development Goals	SDG1	“My organization takes part in poverty reduction.”	(Zamora-Polo et al., 2019)
	SDG2	“My organization plays a significant role in hunger reduction.”
	SDG3	“My organization is working for health care and wellness.”
	SDG4	“My company also provides quality education to their employees and employees’ family.”
	SDG5	“My firm always works for gender equality.”
	SDG6	“I have access to clean water and sewerage.”
	SDG7	“My firm has the accessible and non-polluting energy.”
	SDG8	“My firm takes part in decent work and economic growth.”
	SDG9	“My firm has the innovation and effective infrastructure.”
	SDG10	“My firm always works for reducing inequalities.”
	SDG11	“My firm is creating sustainable cities and communities.”
	SDG12	“My firm has the ability of responsible consumption and production.”
	SDG13	“My organization always considers the weather care.”
	SDG14	“My firm always cares about underwater life.”
	SDG15	“My firm always cares for life in terrestrial ecosystems.”
	SDG16	“My firm takes part in peacebuilding, justice, and corruption-free institutions.”
	SDG17	“My organization strives to build alliances to achieve the above goals.”

Figure 1. Theoretical framework.

Source: authors estimation.

Table 6. Convergent validity.

Constructs	Items	Loadings	Alpha	CR	AVE
Investment on Environmental Issues	IEI1	0.923	0.950	0.961	0.720
	IEI10	0.942
	IEI11	0.921
	IEI2	0.930
	IEI4	0.934
	IEI5	0.939
	IEI7	0.923
	IEI9	0.930
Investment on Governance Issues	IGI1	0.773	0.943	0.950	0.679
	IGI2	0.732
	IGI3	0.784
	IGI4	0.858
	IGI5	0.825
	IGI6	0.863
	IGI7	0.864
	IGI8	0.880
	IGI9	0.828
Investment on Social Issues	ISI1	0.825	0.935	0.946	0.663
	ISI10	0.578
	ISI2	0.861
	ISI3	0.849
	ISI4	0.822
	ISI5	0.870
	ISI7	0.861
	ISI8	0.851
	ISI9	0.771
Organizational Effectiveness	OE1	0.845	0.969	0.972	0.643
	OE10	0.791
	OE11	0.765
	OE12	0.829
	OE14	0.800
	OE15	0.831
	OE16	0.813
	OE17	0.803
	OE18	0.712
	OE19	0.786
	OE2	0.824
	OE20	0.767
	OE3	0.797
	OE4	0.848
	OE5	0.839
	OE6	0.826
	OE7	0.832
	OE8	0.805
	OE9	0.711
Sustainable Development Goals	SDG1	0.665	0.937	0.942	0.543
	SDG11	0.864
	SDG12	0.785
	SDG14	0.865
	SDG15	0.862
	SDG16	0.782
	SDG17	0.862
	SDG2	0.657
	SDG3	0.624
	SDG4	0.649
	SDG5	0.614
	SDG6	0.657
	SDG7	0.635
	SDG9	0.705

Source: authors estimation.

Table 7. Fornell Larcker.

	IEI	IGI	ISI	OE	SDG
IEI	0.930
IGI	0.337	0.824
ISI	0.429	0.211	0.814
OE	0.491	0.164	0.457	0.802
SDG	0.546	0.187	0.473	0.642	0.737

Source: authors estimation.

Table 8. Cross-loadings.

	IEI	IGI	ISI	OE	SDG
IEI1	0.923	0.350	0.402	0.457	0.503
IEI10	0.942	0.302	0.417	0.459	0.504
IEI11	0.921	0.291	0.370	0.444	0.519
IEI2	0.930	0.296	0.428	0.463	0.489
IEI4	0.934	0.346	0.396	0.464	0.511
IEI5	0.939	0.306	0.413	0.457	0.509
IEI7	0.923	0.284	0.371	0.447	0.522
IEI9	0.930	0.335	0.393	0.460	0.508
IGI1	0.287	0.773	0.271	0.171	0.202
IGI2	0.310	0.732	0.164	0.140	0.182
IGI3	0.289	0.784	0.263	0.174	0.201
IGI4	0.291	0.858	0.130	0.066	0.109
IGI5	0.212	0.825	0.119	0.134	0.124
IGI6	0.287	0.863	0.111	0.121	0.119
IGI7	0.297	0.864	0.120	0.062	0.116
IGI8	0.272	0.880	0.109	0.109	0.104
IGI9	0.208	0.828	0.124	0.138	0.122
ISI1	0.351	0.191	0.825	0.324	0.359
ISI10	0.185	0.057	0.578	0.263	0.303
ISI2	0.354	0.148	0.861	0.398	0.397
ISI3	0.346	0.184	0.849	0.370	0.362
ISI4	0.379	0.194	0.822	0.400	0.387
ISI5	0.369	0.213	0.870	0.394	0.385
ISI7	0.376	0.175	0.861	0.415	0.426
ISI8	0.392	0.178	0.851	0.405	0.451
ISI9	0.352	0.182	0.771	0.346	0.377
OE1	0.405	0.151	0.375	0.845	0.725
OE10	0.393	0.129	0.360	0.791	0.641
OE11	0.386	0.170	0.353	0.765	0.643
OE12	0.353	0.104	0.397	0.829	0.652
OE14	0.324	0.079	0.354	0.800	0.595
OE15	0.452	0.158	0.351	0.831	0.752
OE16	0.435	0.141	0.379	0.813	0.778
OE17	0.451	0.117	0.369	0.803	0.710
OE18	0.315	0.102	0.350	0.712	0.527
OE19	0.398	0.124	0.367	0.786	0.638
OE2	0.351	0.103	0.399	0.824	0.653
OE20	0.380	0.165	0.352	0.767	0.641
OE3	0.326	0.069	0.359	0.797	0.592
OE4	0.395	0.166	0.372	0.848	0.718
OE5	0.425	0.148	0.385	0.839	0.754
OE6	0.415	0.147	0.374	0.826	0.735
OE7	0.442	0.169	0.349	0.832	0.749
OE8	0.456	0.122	0.376	0.805	0.703
OE9	0.314	0.105	0.347	0.711	0.518
SDG1	0.429	0.125	0.367	0.476	0.665
SDG11	0.460	0.143	0.353	0.791	0.864
SDG12	0.442	0.132	0.394	0.815	0.785
SDG14	0.463	0.134	0.355	0.783	0.865
SDG15	0.462	0.146	0.355	0.799	0.862
SDG16	0.444	0.131	0.396	0.814	0.782
SDG17	0.458	0.132	0.353	0.789	0.862
SDG2	0.344	0.198	0.360	0.428	0.657
SDG3	0.403	0.183	0.340	0.442	0.624
SDG4	0.306	0.112	0.314	0.380	0.649
SDG5	0.322	0.095	0.353	0.384	0.614
SDG6	0.332	0.144	0.357	0.417	0.657
SDG7	0.307	0.174	0.322	0.375	0.635
SDG9	0.398	0.152	0.344	0.465	0.705

Source: authors estimation.

Table 9. Heterotrait Monotrait ratio.

	IEI	IGI	ISI	OE	SDG
IEI
IGI	0.343
ISI	0.445	0.202
OE	0.500	0.157	0.479
SDG	0.562	0.187	0.511	0.820

Source: authors estimation.

Figure 2. Measurement model assessment.

Source: authors estimation.

Figure 3. Structural model assessment.

Source: authors estimation.

Table 10. Path analysis.

Relationships	Beta	S.D.	T Statistics	P Values	L.L.	U.L.
IEI -> SDG	0.157	0.043	3.634	0.000	0.087	0.219
IGI -> SDG	−0.001	0.035	0.026	0.490	−0.059	0.056
ISI -> SDG	0.072	0.039	1.852	0.034	0.014	0.141
OE -> SDG	0.732	0.033	22.108	0.000	0.670	0.782
IGI -> OE -> SDG	−0.018	0.035	0.505	0.308	−0.058	0.054
ISI -> OE -> SDG	0.222	0.052	4.267	0.000	0.133	0.312
IEI -> OE -> SDG	0.270	0.044	6.080	0.000	0.197	0.337

Source: authors estimation.

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