Influence of country governance factors and national culture on corporate sustainability practice: an inter-Country study

Figures & data

Table 1. Measurement of variables and source

S/N	Variable Name	Definition	Measurement/	Supporting literature	Source of Data
1	CSP	Corporate Sustainability Practice	ESG index ranging from 0 (lowest score) to 100 (highest score obtainable)	Hawn & Ioannou, 2016	Refinitiv/DataStream
2	Country-level Governance Factors
	VCA	Voice & Accountability	Score ranges from 1(low) to 100 (high); has positive polarity	Harun et al., 2020; Kamarudin et al., 2021; Zaman et al., 2020	World Governance Indicators
	POS	Political Stability and Lack of Violence	Score ranges from 1(low) to 100 (high); has positive polarity		World Governance Indicators
	GVT	Government Effectiveness	Score ranges from 1(low) to 100 (high); has positive polarity		World Governance Indicators
	RGP	Regulatory Quality	Score ranges from 1(low) to 100 (high); has positive polarity		World Governance Indicators
	ROL	Rule of Law	Score ranges from 1(low) to 100 (high); has positive polarity		World Governance Indicators
	CRP	Control of Corruption	Score ranges from 1(low control of corruption) to 100 (high control of corruption)		Corruption perception index; Transparency International
3	National Culture Factors/dimensions
	PWD	Power distance	Score ranges from 1(low) to 100 (high)	Disli et al., 2022	Hofstede insights
	INDV	Individualism	Score ranges from 1(low) to 100 (high)		Hofstede insights
	MAS	Masculinity	Score ranges from 1(low) to 100 (high)		Hofstede insights
	UAD	Uncertainty avoidance	Score ranges from 1(low) to 100 (high)		Hofstede insights
	LGT	long-term orientation	Score ranges from 1(low) to 100 (high)		Hofstede insights
	INDG	Indulgence	Score ranges from 1(low) to 100 (high)		Hofstede insights
4	Control Variable
	LGDP	Level of Economic Development	Measured by GDP (alternatively, use natural logarithm of GDP)	Harun et al., 2020; Lu & Wang, 2021.	World Bank

Table 2. Descriptive statistics on variables of study

N		Minimum	Maximum	Mean	Std. Deviation
ESG	1566	.19	90.15	45.7167	21.88900
GDP	1566	1188.86	102913.45	42653.8119	18702.17923
Country-Level Governance factors
CRP	1566	28.00	88.00	63.2682	14.90990
VCA	1566	4.83	100.00	73.3122	24.03750
POS	1566	5.19	97.64	58.5792	24.33062
GVT	1566	31.73	100.00	82.9273	14.90508
RGP	1566	24.04	100.00	80.6769	18.58719
ROL	1566	22.60	100.00	79.9967	19.71760
National culture factors
PWD	1566	11.00	100.00	49.3359	17.46345
INDV	1566	14.00	91.00	67.4061	26.17659
MAS	1566	5.00	95.00	54.5524	14.45609
UAD	1566	8.00	100.00	56.8455	19.09818
LGT	1566	.00	100.00	43.1992	22.25426
INDG	1566	.00	97.00	56.2050	18.24363
Valid N (listwise)	1566

Table 3. Robustness of Corporate Sustainability Practice Across Countries

Country	Mean	N	Std. Deviation	Minimum	Maximum
Argentina	40.8173	15	22.27224	5.58	63.42
Australia	36.3404	85	20.90312	.31	76.87
Austria	78.4780	10	2.15963	75.94	81.48
Brazil	48.3787	46	22.90723	14.13	83.12
Canada	35.9801	331	18.49187	5.03	83.40
Chile	28.9850	20	21.29894	.19	62.21
China	45.5412	40	11.48618	21.56	62.33
Finland	72.9920	10	3.77898	68.88	78.66
France	69.4553	19	20.66375	30.15	89.85
Greece	49.3310	10	7.07757	42.14	68.43
Hungary	65.4220	10	5.10776	55.77	74.53
India	61.1431	64	15.29842	19.77	82.29
Indonesia	37.8533	6	12.43496	23.61	52.61
Israel	10.7570	10	3.56256	6.30	16.95
Italy	67.4110	20	15.33718	43.90	87.17
Japan	54.8585	46	14.59659	15.15	76.66
Malaysia	46.2020	10	21.81055	13.04	73.96
Mexico	49.2600	2	11.80868	40.91	57.61
New Zealand	35.6623	13	9.51048	25.61	58.80
Norway	50.7079	24	28.03044	13.35	81.34
Pakistan	24.1040	5	2.61843	19.91	26.89
Poland	45.6540	20	9.75530	30.06	61.44
Portugal	64.2220	10	7.75327	57.29	75.65
Qatar	20.2300	3	2.30909	18.33	22.80
Russia	46.1000	70	19.56521	16.13	83.31
Saudi Arabia	33.4100	1	.	33.41	33.41
Singapore	17.6850	2	1.33643	16.74	18.63
South Korea	61.8065	72	21.95796	7.50	84.31
Spain	79.2390	10	4.72857	73.67	88.19
Sweden	45.8446	13	18.62401	9.49	65.97
Taiwan	37.6690	10	12.69347	17.88	56.07
Thailand	64.1508	50	14.57962	11.17	85.70
Turkey	66.2446	13	6.12625	57.04	78.04
UAE	49.1400	1	.	49.14	49.14
UK	59.8218	72	19.27477	22.46	90.15
US	40.9927	423	20.69887	5.51	87.80
Total	45.7167	1566	21.88900	.19	90.15

Table 4. Correlations matrix (checking for multicollinearity)

	ESG	CRP	VCA	POS	GVT	RGP	ROL	PWD	INDV	MAS	UAD	LGT	INDG	LGDP
ESG	1
CRP	−0.161*	1
VCA	−0.138*	0.875*	1
POS	−0.142*	0.792*	0.805*	1
GVT	−0.147*	0.912*	0.743*	0.733*	1
RGP	−0.182*	0.959*	0.848*	0.749*	0.930*	1
ROL	−0.147*	0.952*	0.835*	0.718*	0.922*	0.975*	1
PWD	0.181*	−0.826*	−0.798*	−0.573*	−0.710*	0.834*	−0.828*	1
INDV	−0.222*	0.647*	0.615*	0.335*	0.553*	0.664*	0.620*	−0.754*	1
MAS	−0.031	0.171*	0.100*	0.049	0.158*	0.198*	0.203*	−0.232*	0.384*	1
UAD	0.168*	−0.428*	−0.264*	−0.144*	−0.447*	0.412*	−0.453*	0.476*	−0.587*	−0.182*	1
LGT	0.253*	−0.319*	−0.368*	−0.087*	−0.200*	0.392*	−0.384*	0.552*	−0.680*	−0.071*	0.486*	1
INDG	−0.226*	0.677*	0.668*	0.452*	0.527*	0.7	0.676*	−0.742*	0.751*	0.170*	−0.556*	−0.704*	1
LGDP	−0.194*	0.675*	0.430*	0.502*	0.635*	0.660*	0.601*	−0.592*	0.562*	0.176*	−0.208*	−0.179*	0.496*	1

*.Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Table 5. Regression results

	B	Std. Error	z	Sig.
Constant	41.102	40.154	1.02	0.306
Country-Level Governance Factors
CRP	−0.142	0.041	−3.43	0.001***
VCA	0.134	0.015	8.77	0.000***
POS	−0.155	0.124	−1.26	0.209
GVT	−0.192	0.165	−1.16	0.245
RGP	−0.633	0.113	−5.58	0.000***
ROL	0.792	0.292	2.72	0.007***
National Culture Factors
PWD	0.003	0.229	0.01	0.989
INDV	0.038	0.023	1.66	0.097*
MAS	−0.035	0.174	−0.20	0.843
UAD	0.066	0.049	1.35	0.177
LGT	0.288	0.083	3.46	0.001***
INDG	−0.009	0.051	−0.18	0.854

Dependent Variable: ESG

Predictors: (Constant), CRP, VCA, POS, GVT, RGP, ROL, PWD, INDV, MAS, UAD, LGT, INDG

Table 6. Regression results (controlling for LGDP)

	B	Std. Error	z		Sig.
Constant	4.679	0.625	7.49		0.000
Country-Level Governance Factors
CRP	0.003	0.005	0.64		0.525
VCA	-0.005	0.001	-9.60		0.000***
POS	-0.001	0.002	-0.40		0.688
GVT	-0.002	0.002	-0.83		0.407
RGP	-0.018	0.001	-15.51		0.000***
ROL	0.020	0.000	67.64		0.000***
National Culture Factors
PWD	-0.003	0.004	-0.82		0.415
INDV	0.005	0.000	59.81		0.000***
MAS	-0.003	0.003	-0.91		0.361
UAD	0.005	0.001	4.60		0.000***
LGT	0.008	0.000	705.19		0.000***
INDG	0.003	0.000	9.94		0.000***
Control Variable
LGDP	-0.323	0.015	-21.31		0.000***

Dependent Variable: ESG

Predictors: (Constant), LGDP, CRP, VCA, POS, GVT, RGP, ROL, PWD, INDV, MAS, UAD, LGT, INDG

Table A1. number of firms and country of origin

S/N	Country	Number of firms
1	Argentina	3
2	Australia	10
3	Austria	1
4	Brazil	6
5	Canada	39
6	Chile	3
7	China	4
8	Finland	1
9	France	2
10	Greece	1
11	Hungary	1
12	India	8
13	Indonesia	1
14	Israel	1
15	Italy	2
16	Japan	7
17	Malaysia	1
18	Mexico	1
19	New Zealand	2
20	Norway	3
21	Pakistan	1
22	Poland	2
23	Portugal	1
24	Qatar	1
25	Russia	7
26	Saudi Arabia	1
27	Singapore	1
28	South Korea	8
29	Spain	1
30	Sweden	3
31	Taiwan	1
32	Thailand	10
33	Turkey	2
34	UAE	1
35	United Kingdom	10
36	United States	57
	Total	204

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