Collaborative culture for carbon emission disclosure quality among electricity sectors

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Carbon emission disclosure is an important mechanism for environmental accountability. However, disclosure quality in Asia remains relatively low despite the region’s large contribution to global carbon emissions. While extant literature has predominantly examined governance, regulation, and demographic characteristics, the critical role of organizational culture remains comparatively underexplored. The study objectives were to examine the association between collaborative culture and carbon emission disclosure quality in electricity companies operating in carbon-intensive Asian economies.METHODS: This study analyzed ۲۱۰ firm-year observations from ۴۵ publicly listed electricity companies in China, India, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea during ۲۰۱۶–۲۰۲۳. Drawing upon the quality principles of the Global Reporting Initiative, a carbon emission disclosure quality index (CEDQI) was constructed and subsequently validated via expert review, yielding a robust Cohen’s kappa coefficient of ۰.۹۷. Collaborative culture was measured by sustainability collaboration activities. The analysis employed ordinary least squares, fixed-effects, cluster-robust, and two-stage least squares estimations.FINDINGS: Collaborative culture shows a positive and statistically significant association with carbon emission disclosure quality across all estimation models. The coefficient of collaborative culture reaches ۳.۷۴۹ (p < ۰.۰۱) under ordinary least squares, ۱.۷۲۳ (p < ۰.۰۵) under fixed effects model, and ۴.۱۰۷ (p < ۰.۰۱) under two-stage least squares estimation. Under the fixed-effects model, sustainability reporting experience exerted a positive and statistically significant effect (۲.۲۴۱, p < ۰.۰۵), highlighting the critical role of accumulated reporting capabilities within firms. Institutional ownership, firm age, and financial performance do not have significant effects. Furthermore, robustness checks employing an alternative metric for disclosure quality corroborate both the direction and statistical significance of the primary empirical findings.CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that collaborative culture contributes positively to carbon emission disclosure quality. This study contributes a context-specific disclosure quality index and extends empirical evidence on the role of organizational capital in enhancing environmental transparency. Higher disclosure quality, however, should not be interpreted as lower carbon emissions. Improving corporate reporting credibility and reducing greenwashing exposure necessitates regulatory intervention to strengthen disclosure quality, standardize science-based metrics, and formalize third-party assurance protocols.

کلیدواژه ها:

Carbon emission disclosure ، Climate accountability ، Collaborative culture ، Disclosure quality index ، Resource-Based View ، Sustainability reporting.