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CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL DISCLOSURE QUALITY AMONG LISTED NIGERIAN NON-FINANCIAL FIRMS: A SECTORAL APPROACH
Muhammed Kamaldeen Usman, Mubaraq Sanni
Abstract:
The demand for transparency in how firms manage their environmental impact has grown substantially, especially in non-financial sectors where resource use and environmental footprints are more pronounced. Despite the destructive effects of these companies' operations, there appears to be reluctance to disclose quality information about the extent of their environmental impact. This study offers empirical evidence through a sectoral analysis of corporate environmental disclosure quality (CEDQ) among Nigerian listed non-financial firms. The study adopted a positivist paradigm and an ex-post facto research design, targeting a population of 105 environmentally sensitive non-financial firms listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) from 2013 to 2023. Through purposive sampling, fifty-eight (58) firms were chosen based on predefined criteria. Anchoring on legitimacy theory, CEDQ was calculated using the GRI 4 Environmental Disclosure checklist, coupled with a framework for quality factor measurement derived from the work of Sebrina et al. (2023). The results of the Kruskal-Wallis test revealed sectoral differences in environmental disclosure, with the Consumer Goods sector having the highest rank sum (60,699.00), indicating that companies within this sector tend to have higher CEDQ scores, while the Natural Resources sector exhibits the lowest rank sum (2,883.50), reflecting relatively lower CEDQ scores. The study concluded that significant variations exist in corporate environmental disclosure quality among sectors and recommends a sector-specific approach to environmental disclosure, as Industries such as consumer goods, which face greater public scrutiny, should continue to prioritize transparency in their environmental disclosures.
Keywords:
Corporate Environmental Disclosure Quality (CEDQ), Sectoral Analysis, Non-Financial Firms, Kruskal-Wallis
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