This study investigates the impact of corporate governance factors and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) regulations on environmental performance and emissions in Saudi Arabian companies to explore whether these companies are in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Using a pooled panel data approach for 51 Saudi-listed firms over the period from 2016 to 2023, the study examines the role of various governance mechanisms, such as audit committees, internal audits, audit quality, and leverage, in influencing companies’ environmental outcomes. The results indicate that ESG regulations have a promotive and statistically significant impact on reducing environmental emissions and improving environmental performance, particularly when supported by robust governance audit mechanisms. The results show that audit committee expertise, internal auditing, and audit tenure after ESG regulations exhibit a positive and significant effect on reducing environmental emissions and improving environmental performance. The findings have important policy, managerial, and theoretical implications, emphasizing the role of government regulations in shaping corporate sustainability practices, the need for improved corporate governance, and the theoretical link between governance and environmental performance. The study bridges an existing gap in the context of the impact of ESG regulations in emerging economies. The study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on ESG practices in emerging markets, particularly in the context of Saudi Arabia’s regulatory landscape.

This study empirically examines how information technology (IT) governance and digital financial transformation interact to influence economic sustainability performance. The research instrument used in the current study is a questionnaire survey. The data were collected from different government authorities in Oman. The study used convenience and snowball sampling to collect the data. Online questionnaire platforms, such as Google Forms, were used to collect data for the current study. The data collected for the current study were from 104 respondents. The results indicate that IT governance has a significant positive effect on digital financial transformation. Further, digital financial transformation has effectively and significantly enhanced the level of economic sustainability performance. However, IT governance does not have a direct effect on economic sustainability performance; rather, it has an indirect effect on economic sustainability performance through the mediating effect of digital financial transformation. These findings provide actionable implications for policymakers and practitioners to enhance awareness and integration of governance across different aspects in the context of digital financial transformation. The present study contributes to the literature and offers a unique perspective to the existing body of knowledge by highlighting the importance of IT governance as a key driver for digital financial transformation and economic sustainability performance.