Drawing from the circular economy, which prioritizes resource optimization, waste reduction, and operational efficiency, the objective of this study is to investigate the influence of environmental regulations on Green Financial Management (GFM), the role of GFM as a mediator between environmental regulations and corporate performance, and the moderating effect of Top Management’s Environmental Awareness (TMEA). Using the questionnaires from 684 Chinese green enterprises, the structural equation analysis is used to verify the results. The empirical findings indicate that environmental regulation has a positive effect on GFM and that GFM acts as a mediator between environmental regulation and corporate performance. However, it is found that TMEA does not have a significant moderating effect between environmental regulation and GFM. This study contributes to the broader discussion around resource efficiency and sustainability in the circular economy by emphasizing the importance of companies complying with environmental regulations and adopting GFM strategies to improve performance. Policymakers can consider the role of GFM in promoting sustainable business development, and prioritize the development and implementation of strong environmental regulations.

This study aims to: (1) investigate the amount of corporate social and environmental responsibility (CSR) spending, awards, and activities of listed companies in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) and in the Market for Alternative Investment (MAI); (2) test the impact of CSR spending, awards, and financial performance activities; and (3) examine the amount of CSR spending, awards, and activities between companies with and without a CSR committee. The sample included all the listed companies in the resource industry from the SET and the MAI. The data were collected from the companies’ annual reports from 2015 to 2019. Descriptive analysis, an independent-sample t-test, a correlation matrix, and an unbalanced panel data analysis were used to analyze the data. The average level of spending per activity was 2.2964 million baht. There were, on average, 2.1741 awards and 11.4178 activities during the studied period. Moreover, there was a significant negative impact of CSR spending, and a positive impact of CSR awards and activities, on corporate financial performance. Finally, there was a significantly different amount of CSR spending, awards, and activities between the companies with and without a CSR committee. The findings of this study demonstrate that legitimacy theory can be used to explain the benefit of CSR to Thai-listed companies, although CSR is still a voluntary corporate responsibility in Thailand.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance and firm performance within China's manufacturing sector, with a novel focus on the mediating effect of green technology innovation and the moderating influence of corporate reputation. Using a 2011-2022 dataset from A-share listed manufacturing companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges, the study employs multiple regression analysis with a two-way fixed-effects model to examine these relationships. Findings indicate that robust ESG practices significantly enhance company performance, mediated by green technological innovation. However, a negative moderating effect of corporate reputation suggests that higher corporate reputation weakens the ESG-financial performance relationship. Further analyses reveal that privately-owned firms, those in China's eastern region, and environmentally sustainable industries benefit most from strong ESG initiatives. This study addresses the challenge of disentangling key variables by analyzing their interconnected effects. The findings fill a gap in the existing literature by contributing to a deeper understanding of the relationship between ESG and corporate success, particularly through the mediating role of innovation and the moderating influence of reputation. Additionally, the study provides practical recommendations for managers and policymakers to enhance ESG strategies, promote growth, and support sustainable development. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2024-08-06-021 Full Text: PDF

This study explores the relationship between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance and enterprise value in Chinese tourism companies, with differing degrees of media attention and green innovation as the multiple-chained mediating factors. In this study, we adopted a quantitative approach to collect survey data from 804 samples selected from China’s A-level tourist attractions, star-rated hotels, and travel agencies. Through rigorous statistical analysis and hypothesis testing, our results reveal a significant positive relationship between ESG performance and enterprise value in tourism companies. Media attention and green innovation demonstrate crucial chained mediating effects in this relationship. The findings expand the understanding of ESG performance’s influence on enterprise value in the tourism sector, highlighting how media visibility and innovation initiatives amplify ESG’s positive effects. This study offers practical implications for tourism companies, emphasizing the importance of integrating ESG principles into core business strategies, engaging with media, and investing in green innovation to enhance firm value. In addition, it suggests that policymakers create incentive structures to promote sustainable practices and encourage media–tourism company collaborations to communicate ESG efforts effectively.

Despite growing scholarly interest in digital transformation, few studies have systematically explored the mechanisms linking digital transformation capability to firm performance. This study examines both the direct and indirect effects of digital transformation capability on firm performance, offering novel insights by incorporating organizational strategic intuition and digital leadership as mediating variables. These mediators align with the emerging emphasis on strategic risk management in the literature. A survey was conducted among 620 high-tech enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta using a structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using SPSS 23.0 for descriptive and correlational statistics, SmartPLS 4.0 for structural equation modeling (SEM), and PROCESS 4.2 for mediation analysis. The results reveal a significant direct effect of digital transformation capability on firm performance. Mediation analysis further shows that organizational strategic intuition and digital leadership each significantly mediate this relationship, and a chain mediation pathway involving both variables is also confirmed. These findings deepen our understanding of how digital transformation capability drives performance outcomes and offer practical guidance for high-tech firms seeking sustainable competitive advantages in dynamic digital environments. This study advances the theoretical discourse by clarifying the pathways through which digital transformation capability affects firm performance and provides empirical evidence to inform strategic decision-making in high-tech management.

This study investigated and compared energy conservation levels between listed companies in energy-intensive industries and non-energy-intensive industries in Thai capital markets. It also tested the impact of energy conservation on firm performance using companies in the two industries. The sample for the study was sourced from 552 companies in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) and 169 companies in the Market for Alternative Investment (MAI). The data was collected from the companies' annual reports spanning the period from 2016 to 2020. Descriptive analysis, independent sample t-test, and unbalanced panel data analysis were used to analyze data. The findings revealed that energy conservation scores for Thai-listed companies were generally stable, averaging between 0.45 and 0.46. It was also revealed that the energy conservation of companies in energy-intensive industries was significantly greater than that of companies in non-energy-intensive industries, with average scores of 0.55 and 0.43, respectively. Additionally, the study found that energy conservation has a positive impact on the firm performance of energy-intensive industries, while no significant impact in energy-intensive industries was recorded. The findings demonstrate that stakeholder and legitimacy theories can help explain how energy conservation benefits companies in terms of increased firm performance.