ESG Disclosure and Economic Value of Listed Insurance Companies in Nigeria

This study examined how Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosure affects economic value added (EVA) among Nigerian listed insurance companies. The inquiry was triggered by the continuing volatility in business value in developing nations, which still face considerable obstacles from weak institutions, regulatory inefficiencies and infrastructural restrictions. The study used EVA as a value-based measure to examine the question of whether ESG disclosure leads to economic value creation in emerging insurance markets. The study design adopted was ex post facto. The study covered the ۲۳ insurance businesses listed on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) from ۲۰۱۳ to ۲۰۲۳ using a census technique. Data were acquired from public annual reports, and the connection between ESG disclosure and EVA was tested using Panel-Corrected Standard Errors (PCSE) regression. The results reveal that ESG disclosure has a low explanatory power for EVA among the listed Nigerian insurance firms and the economic significance of the ESG metrics is negligible. Only environmental disclosure was significantly related to EVA and the association was negative. Social and governance disclosure had no significant effect. Among the control variables, profitability and firm age were positively and significantly associated with EVA, whereas firm size and leverage were not significant. ESG integration in the sector therefore appears to be at an early stage, contributing little economically meaningful value beyond the influence of profitability and firm age. Previous studies have largely relied on accounting-based or market-based performance measures, with limited use of EVA. Few have also examined the individual ESG components in the Nigerian insurance context. By applying EVA as a superior measure of economic value and analysing the ESG components separately, this study provides more refined evidence on ESG–value relationships in a developing economy.

کلیدواژه ها:

Economic Value ، environmental disclosure ، ESG disclosure ، social disclosure ، Governance Disclosure