This study investigates the interlinkages between the dimensions of corporate social responsibility (CSR-economic, environmental, social), financial performance (ROA, ROE), and corporate governance (CG), by applying the structural equation modeling technique (SEM). It is based on a sample of 614 large companies from the European Economic Area, covering specific indicators published by the Thomson Reuters database, for the years 2013–2017. The equation models are structured starting from isolated dependencies between variables, up to the global ones (direct, indirect, and total dependencies). The mixed results obtained imply that the nature and heterogenous content of CSR lead to different statistical dependencies for each of the two financial performance indicators. ROA is positively influenced by the economic dimension of CSR, but, the level of this rate does not necessarily contribute to an increase in the involvement of the company in this type of CSR actions. At the same time, ROA is influenced and affects in a negative way the environmental and social dimensions of CSR. In the case of ROE, it is influenced and impacts the economic and social dimensions in a positive way. The environmental dimension of CSR influences ROE positively, but it is negatively affected by this profitability rate. Corporate governance exerts a positive impact on all of the model’s variables, both as a direct and indirect factor of influence.

In recent years, sustainable growth has become an important issue in the business field. Environment, social, and governance (ESG) actions of companies have come to represent key elements in adopting decisions by stakeholders. The question is to what extent they validate the companies’ environmental behaviour, as profitability varies over time. The answer can be obtained by analysing the relationship between environmental performance (EP) and financial performance (FP) of the firms. The paper proposes a new perspective of this relationship, namely, the separate assessment of the EP–FP in the case of positive and negative FP (expressed through accounting returns). A survey on 299 companies in the European Economic Area (EEA), operating in extractives and minerals processing and health care, was conducted. The data were extracted from the Refinitiv database for the period 2009–2018. The findings showed a significant EP–FP correlation in the case of the extractives and minerals processing industry, but their dependency slightly varied on the positive and negative returns’ scenario. As for the healthcare industry, the best result was a moderate correlation between EP and the negative return. Our findings support a managerial design of environmental policy, as well as the future academic research of the EP–FP relationship.