The Relationship Between Corporate Environmental Disclosure Volume and the Equity Capital Growth of Manufacturing Companies Listed in the FTSE/JSE RI Index
Keywords:
Corporate environmental disclosure; Return on equity; Equity capital growth; sustainability reports and stakeholders; integrated annual reportAbstract
Corporate environmental disclosure (CED) has a lot of implications for companies. This is because investors value companies that take Corporate Environmental Disclosure (CED) seriously. Furthermore, companies that invest in corporate environmental disclosure enjoy long lasting relationship with their stakeholders. Therefore, this article is based on research conducted on selected Johannesburg Listed manufacturing Companies. The aim of the study was to examine the effect of the quantity of corporate environmental disclosure on South African Johannesburg Stock Exchange FTSE/JSE RI Index-listed manufacturing companies’ equity capital growth. The study used the quantitative research method. The multiple linear regression analysis, which utilised the panel data, was applied to analyse the integrated annual reports of 10 Johannesburg Stock Exchange listed manufacturing organisations for the period 2014 to 2023. The researcher discovered a positive impact of CED on equity capital growth, which suggests that corporate environmental investment benefits the economy and facilitates the relief of environmental harms, thereby develop the SA economy and enhance the competitiveness of local companies. These results will encourage listed companies to enhance and improve their environmental information disclosure policies, which would help them to improve their return on equity for shareholders. The researcher recommends that future researchers should use all Johannesburg Stock Exchange socially responsible investment Index listed organisations to assess the influence of corporate environmental disclosure on organisations’ financial performance. Moreover, the researchers recommend that societies in which companies operate ought to get involved in such companies to advance the socio-economic chances that they propose. This would assist in strengthening community security as they would receive support from the corporate environmental challenges faced by the surrounding societies.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Kgorompe Michael Moswatsi, Collins Ngwakwe, Itumeleng Pleasure Mongale

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