Purpose

This study aims to investigate the equity market reaction to sustainability disclosure measures derived from firms' inaugural sustainability reports following the implementation of mandatory sustainability reporting in Singapore.

Design/methodology/approach

This study explores the equity market reaction to first-time sustainability reports of mandatory adopters and compares the reactions between voluntary and mandatory adopters. To mitigate any imbalanced distribution effects, entropy balancing techniques are employed.

Findings

The author observes a significant equity market reaction when mandatory adopters adhere to a reporting framework and release sustainability reports as standalone documents. Additionally, the study indicates that government regulation amplifies the equity market reaction for companies that include a board statement within their sustainability reports and present them as standalone publications.

Research limitations/implications

The lack of quantitative information disclosed in the first-time sustainability reports may restrict the generalizability of the findings.

Practical implications

The findings provide valuable insights for organizations and managers to evaluate the market's response to sustainability disclosures and improve communication effectiveness with investors. Furthermore, the study has direct policy implications for global standard-setting organizations in sustainability reporting. The findings support the notion that investors value market-led and investor-focused sustainability disclosures.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the limited body of research that examines the capital market effects of mandatory sustainability disclosures. To the author’s knowledge, this is among a few studies to directly investigate the equity market reaction to mandatory sustainability disclosures at the firm level.

中文翻译：

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市场对强制性可持续发展信息披露的反应：来自新加坡的证据

目的

本研究旨在调查新加坡实施强制性可持续发展报告后，股票市场对企业首次可持续发展报告中的可持续发展披露措施的反应。

设计/方法论/途径

本研究探讨了股票市场对强制采用者首次可持续发展报告的反应，并比较了自愿采用者和强制采用者之间的反应。为了减轻任何不平衡的分布效应，采用了熵平衡技术。

发现

作者观察到，当强制采用者遵守报告框架并将可持续发展报告作为独立文件发布时，股市会做出重大反应。此外，研究表明，政府监管会放大股票市场对那些在可持续发展报告中包含董事会声明并将其作为独立出版物呈现的公司的反应。

研究局限性/影响

首次可持续发展报告中缺乏定量信息可能会限制研究结果的普遍性。

实际影响

研究结果为组织和管理者评估市场对可持续发展信息披露的反应并提高与投资者的沟通效率提供了宝贵的见解。此外，该研究对可持续发展报告方面的全球标准制定组织具有直接的政策影响。研究结果支持了投资者重视市场主导和以投资者为中心的可持续发展信息披露的观点。

原创性/价值

该研究为探讨强制性可持续性披露对资本市场影响的有限研究做出了贡献。据作者所知，这是直接调查股票市场对公司层面强制可持续发展信息披露反应的少数研究之一。