Background: Environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors have become topical in recent years because of climate change existential threat to humanity. There is, however, a limited understanding of how the firm’s ESG efforts affect firm outcomes. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between firm’s ESG indicators and the financial performance. Setting: The sample is drawn from Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listed companies based on data availability. South Africa is not only plagued by social ills and governance failures, but it is also one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases, making it an ideal laboratory for studying the ESG and firm performance nexus. Method: We utilized a dataset spanning the years 2012–2022, covering 67 JSE-listed firms. These panel data were analyzed using the two-step system generalised method of moments (GMM). Results: We found that the disaggregated ESG indexes have a positive, albeit insignificant impact on the financial performance. These findings hold even when financial and non-financial firms are examined separately. Conclusion: Policymakers, including standard setters and regulators, should encourage firms to be sincere on ESG efforts and avoid greenwashing. Contribution: The study employs a relatively robust estimation technique (two-step system GMM) over a relatively long period (2012–2012). Furthermore, the sectoral analysis of financial and non-financial firms adds to the body of literature and policy development.

The South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences (SAJEMS) is a leading South African-based publication for interdisciplinary research in the economic and management sciences. The journal publishes and disseminates high-quality academic articles that contribute to the better understanding of the interaction between economic, environmental and social perspectives as applicable to the broader management sciences in an African environment.

China is now Africa's largest trading partner, having surpassed the United States (US) in 2008. This is a vital development because trade facilitates capital injection as well as knowledge and technology spillovers in developing economies like Africa. However, the China-Africa trade has been extensively criticized, with China alleged of exploiting Africa's natural resources while dumping low-quality products on the continent. The dumping narrative is worth investigating given that the trade balance has favoured China since 2012, and the mix of China's exports to Africa remains contentious. This study argues that, if the narrative is exaggerated, Africa’s backward value chain integration with China must contribute decisively to manufacturing output, industrial jobs, and/or total factor productivity (TFP), signifying a fair representation of intermediate inputs in China's exports to Africa, which the continent assembles for its export markets. The investigation is conducted in comparison to the US, as Africa’s traditional trading partner, based on evidence from 23 Sub-Saharan African countries over the period 2005–2018. Our two-step system GMM estimates indicate that the dumping narrative cannot be ruled out, and thus African governments must take appropriate action to stop the practice. Backward value chain integration with the US, on the other hand, boosts manufacturing output, indicating that the US has fared relatively well in maintaining its shares of foreign value added (FVA) in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This study uses a vector of FDI-weighted real gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates as proxy for the output growth of China, the European Union (EU), and the United States (US). Using a two-stage least squares estimator over a sample of 42 sub-Saharan African countries for the period 2003-2012, our findings reveal that only the EU's output spillovers have a significant impact on sub-Saharan Africa's growth: a 1% increase (decrease) in the EU's output growth can lead to a 0.02% increase (decrease) in sub-Saharan Africa's real GDP per capita. The results obtained from the panel threshold regression analysis indicate that this linkage is not conditional on the availability of natural resources, unlike the output spillovers from the US and China, which bear a positive impact only in countries with resource rents of at least 24.3% and 24.1%, respectively. These are mostly oil-abundant countries, implying that China's motive for natural resources in Africa is not different from that of the US. While the resource rents threshold level of 24.3% can serve as the benchmark for natural resource management policies to benefit from both China and the US output spillovers, a diversified FDI is also encouraged to minimize the risk associated with the resource growth paradigm.