Sustainable Business Models and ESG Reporting Quality? Evidence from Serial Mediation Model of Technology Adoption and Triple Bottom Line Performance
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64169/djb.259Keywords:
ESG reporting quality, PLS-SEM, serial mediation, stakeholder theory, sustainable business models, technology adoption, triple bottom lineAbstract
This study examines how sustainable business models (SBM) shape the quality of environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting, and whether technology adoption and triple bottom line (TBL) performance sequentially mediate this relationship. Drawing on the natural resource-based view, stakeholder theory and the technology–organization–environment framework, survey data from 350 auditors, accountants and ESG managers across six industry sectors were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling to test nine hypotheses. SBM exerts strong direct effects on ESG reporting quality, technology adoption and TBL performance. The serial path running from SBM through technology adoption and TBL performance to ESG reporting quality is significant, whereas the direct effect of technology adoption on reporting quality is not, indicating that technology improves disclosure quality indirectly through realised sustainability performance rather than directly. The study provides the first empirical test of a serial mediation model linking SBM to ESG reporting quality through technology adoption and TBL performance. The findings imply that firms should embed sustainability within their business model architecture and align technology investment with sustainability performance rather than treating technology as a stand-alone reporting solution.
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