Table 1 Variables, acronyms, measurement...

Table 1

Variables, acronyms, measurement

Variable	Parameters	Symbol	Definition	Source	Reference
Dependent
	Firm Performance	ROA_it	The ratio of net income to total assets of firm i in year t	CSMAR	Chen et al. (2023a, b), Elamer and Boulhaga (2024), Khan (2022)
		ROE_it	Natural logarithm of (Revenue divided by total carbon emissions) of firm i in year t	CSMAR	Prashar (2023), Truong (2024), Zimon et al. (2022)
		TobinsQ_it	The ratio of firm market value to the asset’s replacement value of firm i in year t	CSMAR	Khan (2022), Truong (2024), Zimon et al. (2022)
Independent
	ESG score	ESG_it	The ESG average score assigned to each firm is based on the Environmental, Social, and Governance pillars. Range from 0–100 score	CNRDS	Bae et al. (2021), Dossa (2025), Shakil (2021)
	Environmental score	Env_it	It represents the weighted average of all key issues that fall under the environment pillar performance	CNRDS	Bae et al. (2021), Dossa (2025), Shakil (2021)
	Social score	Soc_it	It represents the weighted average of all key issues that fall under the social pillar performance	CNRDS	Bae et al. (2021), Dossa (2025), Shakil (2021)
	Governance score	Gov_it	It represents the weighted average of all key issues that fall under the governance pillar performance	CNRDS	Bae et al. (2021), Dossa (2025), Shakil (2021)
Controls
	Size	Size_it	Natural logarithm of total asset	CSMAR	Chen et al. (2023a, b), Ding and Lee (2024), Veeravel et al. (2024)
	Leverage	Lev_it	The ratio of total liabilities to total assets	CSMAR	Casciello et al. (2024), Díaz et al. (2021)
	Cash asset ratio	CAR_it	Cash and cash equivalent/Total asset	CSMAR	Agnese et al. (2024), Azmi et al. (2021), Zhang et al. (2024)
	Firms’ growth	GRW_it	The sales growth of the firm is calculated as (Sales_t – Sales_t-1)/Sales_t-1	CSMAR	Díaz et al. (2021), Ding and Lee (2024), Zhang et al. (2024)
	Firm Age	Age_it	Natural logarithm of years since firms have been established	CSMAR	Díaz et al. (2021), Ding and Lee (2024), Zhang et al. (2024)
	Board size	Bsize_it	Natural logarithm of total number of board members in firm i in year t	CSMAR	Veeravel et al. (2024), Zhang et al. (2024)
	Independent Directors (board independence)	B_indp_it	The proportion of independent directors is measured by the number of independent directors divided by the total number of directors on the board	CSMAR	Chen et al. (2023a, b), Khan (2022), Lu and Cheng (2023)
	Liquidity ratio	Liq_it	Current assets/Current liabilities in firm i in year t	CSMAR	Gregory (2022), Qu and Zhang (2023)
	Equity concentration	Top1_it	The shareholding ratio of the largest shareholder measures the concentration of equity	CSMAR	Yuan et al. (2022), Q. Zhang et al. (2023)
	CEO Duality	Duality_it	A dummy variable that takes the value of 1 if the CEO also serves as the Chairman and 0 if they are separate positions	CSMAR	Khan (2022), Zhang et al. (2024), Zhang et al. (2024)
	Board gender	Bgender_it	The proportion of women on the board of directors is measured by the number of women on the board divided by the total number of directors	CSMAR	Khan (2022), Zhang et al. (2024), Zhang et al. (2024)

Variable	Parameters	Symbol	Definition	Source	Reference
Dependent
	Firm Performance	ROA_it	The ratio of net income to total assets of firm i in year t	CSMAR	Chen et al. (2023a, b), Elamer and Boulhaga (2024), Khan (2022)
		ROE_it	Natural logarithm of (Revenue divided by total carbon emissions) of firm i in year t	CSMAR	Prashar (2023), Truong (2024), Zimon et al. (2022)
		TobinsQ_it	The ratio of firm market value to the asset’s replacement value of firm i in year t	CSMAR	Khan (2022), Truong (2024), Zimon et al. (2022)
Independent
	ESG score	ESG_it	The ESG average score assigned to each firm is based on the Environmental, Social, and Governance pillars. Range from 0–100 score	CNRDS	Bae et al. (2021), Dossa (2025), Shakil (2021)
	Environmental score	Env_it	It represents the weighted average of all key issues that fall under the environment pillar performance	CNRDS	Bae et al. (2021), Dossa (2025), Shakil (2021)
	Social score	Soc_it	It represents the weighted average of all key issues that fall under the social pillar performance	CNRDS	Bae et al. (2021), Dossa (2025), Shakil (2021)
	Governance score	Gov_it	It represents the weighted average of all key issues that fall under the governance pillar performance	CNRDS	Bae et al. (2021), Dossa (2025), Shakil (2021)
Controls
	Size	Size_it	Natural logarithm of total asset	CSMAR	Chen et al. (2023a, b), Ding and Lee (2024), Veeravel et al. (2024)
	Leverage	Lev_it	The ratio of total liabilities to total assets	CSMAR	Casciello et al. (2024), Díaz et al. (2021)
	Cash asset ratio	CAR_it	Cash and cash equivalent/Total asset	CSMAR	Agnese et al. (2024), Azmi et al. (2021), Zhang et al. (2024)
	Firms’ growth	GRW_it	The sales growth of the firm is calculated as (Sales_t – Sales_t-1)/Sales_t-1	CSMAR	Díaz et al. (2021), Ding and Lee (2024), Zhang et al. (2024)
	Firm Age	Age_it	Natural logarithm of years since firms have been established	CSMAR	Díaz et al. (2021), Ding and Lee (2024), Zhang et al. (2024)
	Board size	Bsize_it	Natural logarithm of total number of board members in firm i in year t	CSMAR	Veeravel et al. (2024), Zhang et al. (2024)
	Independent Directors (board independence)	B_indp_it	The proportion of independent directors is measured by the number of independent directors divided by the total number of directors on the board	CSMAR	Chen et al. (2023a, b), Khan (2022), Lu and Cheng (2023)
	Liquidity ratio	Liq_it	Current assets/Current liabilities in firm i in year t	CSMAR	Gregory (2022), Qu and Zhang (2023)
	Equity concentration	Top1_it	The shareholding ratio of the largest shareholder measures the concentration of equity	CSMAR	Yuan et al. (2022), Q. Zhang et al. (2023)
	CEO Duality	Duality_it	A dummy variable that takes the value of 1 if the CEO also serves as the Chairman and 0 if they are separate positions	CSMAR	Khan (2022), Zhang et al. (2024), Zhang et al. (2024)
	Board gender	Bgender_it	The proportion of women on the board of directors is measured by the number of women on the board divided by the total number of directors	CSMAR	Khan (2022), Zhang et al. (2024), Zhang et al. (2024)

Note(s): This table presents the definitions and data sources of the variables used in the analysis

Source(s): Authors’ own work

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