Sustainability reporting and agriculture industries’ performance: worldwide evidence

Purpose This study investigates the impact of sustainability reporting on agriculture industries’ performance (operational, financial and market). Design/methodology/approach Using data culled from 1426 observations from 31 different countries for ten years (2008–2017), an independent variable derived from the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) score is regressed against dependent manufacture performance indicator variables return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE) and Tobin's Q (TQ). Two types of control variables complete the regression analysis in this study: firm-specific and macroeconomic. Findings The findings elicited from the empirical results demonstrate that there is no significant relationship between ESG and operational performance (ROA), financial performance (ROE) and market performance (TQ). Surprisingly, when each component of ESG is regressed separately against the performance, the results reveal that governance disclosure has a positive impact on market performance. Research limitations/implications This study captures only quantity rather than the quality of ESG disclosure. Therefore, the results of this study may not necessarily give the “true” motivation for firms to disclose sustainability activities. Originality/value This study highlights the agriculture industry management lacunae manifesting in terms of the weak nexus between each component of ESG and agriculture industries’ performance.