Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Elsevier BV  

DOI： 10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.127123

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Authorship：Lead author   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：MDPI AG  

The sustainable development of society requires the incorporation of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles. While ESG assessments are widely used in corporate settings, their application in healthcare settings, such as hospitals, remains underexplored. This study aimed to develop a comprehensive evaluation framework integrating ESG and digital transformation (DX) with traditional hospital efficiency and effectiveness assessments. Using open data, financial reports, and hospital website scraping, we applied a slack-based model (SBM) of data envelopment analysis (DEA) and super-efficiency SBM-DEA to calculate sustainability scores across four dimensions: overall sustainability, efficiency, effectiveness, and ESG/DX performance. Results showed that all three components—efficiency, effectiveness, and ESG/DX—were positively associated with overall sustainability. However, ESG/DX performance negatively impacted profitability in smaller hospitals, and improved effectiveness in rehabilitation hospitals was linked to higher operational costs. These findings suggest that while ESG and DX contribute to long-term sustainability, their short-term financial burden may challenge certain hospital types. The proposed index provides valuable insights for hospital management and policy development, aiming to advance ESG and DX initiatives in healthcare.

DOI： 10.3390/su17198787

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Authorship：Lead author   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Springer Science and Business Media LLC  

DOI： 10.1038/s41598-025-18332-z

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Other Link： https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-18332-z

Authorship：Lead author   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Wiley  

ABSTRACT

This study explores the relationship between ESG practices and corporate financial outcomes across 38 economies from 2013 to 2022, with a focus on the moderating role of regional sustainability, proxied by inclusive wealth. The findings reveal significant disparities in ESG performance, with European firms leading globally while those in Asia, particularly Southeast Asia, lag in ESG scores but exhibit stronger financial benefits from ESG engagement. Inclusive wealth plays a critical moderating role in the ESG‐finance relationship, serving as key regional sustainability indicators. Specifically, human and natural capital positively moderate the financial impact of corporate environmental efforts. These results suggest that inclusive wealth captures structural conditions that shape ESG effectiveness and can inform region‐specific sustainability strategies. This study highlights the importance of integrating long‐term, multidimensional sustainability indicators into ESG evaluation frameworks to better align corporate strategies with economic and institutional contexts, thereby enhancing both firm performance and broader sustainable development outcomes.

DOI： 10.1111/aepr.70006

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Wiley  

ABSTRACT

Climate change and its related policies have significant impacts on energy industries, leading to a considerable number of stranded assets and poor financial performance. Using a global sample of 1147 listed oil and gas firms from 2000 to 2021, this paper investigates whether mergers and acquisitions (M&As) mitigate climate policy shocks, focusing on the consequential financial impacts. Taking the Paris Agreement as the major climate policy shock, we first confirm the negative impacts of climate policy on the financial performance of oil and gas firms, after which we demonstrate M&As can alleviate the adverse effects. Mechanism analysis reveals that the financial benefits of M&As are stronger in upstream firms, those with better corporate governance and sufficient cash flows. Firms in countries with high‐level economic development and carbon risk can benefit from M&As. Furthermore, conglomerate M&As increased following the Paris Agreement, indicating that these energy firms responded to climate policy shocks through diversification. These findings can help us understand the global impacts of climate policies and have important implications for how the energy sector should respond to policy shocks.

DOI： 10.1002/csr.3108

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Public Library of Science (PLoS)  

This study advances the inclusive wealth accounting of human capital (HC) to improve global research on the valuation of HC for sustainability. By innovatively integrating complex population dynamics, including schooling and labor force participation, and using a net present value (NPV) valuation method aligned with capital budgeting principles, we quantitatively measure HC in 165 countries. As a methodological advancement, we use a unified framework that incorporates education, health and economic participation via the measurement of life expectancy in different life stages to inform sustainable development investments. Our analysis from 1990 to 2020 reveals significant differences in HC development across countries. While education is strongly correlated with GDP growth, disparities in health and economic participation are critical barriers to long-term HC accumulation. Our findings argue for a comprehensive policy approach that goes beyond investing in education for its financial benefits and includes substantial improvements in health and economic opportunities to promote more equitable HC growth. We emphasize the need to incorporate complex population dynamics into HC assessments to better understand and strengthen the interdependencies between these critical factors, with the aim of reducing global development gaps.

DOI： 10.1371/journal.pone.0315166

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Wiley  

Abstract

This study examines the financial implications of corporate environmental disclosure and performance across 34 countries, with a particular focus on industry‐specific materiality following the SASB accounting metrics. A multilevel regression model was applied to a global sample spanning 2015 to 2022 to investigate the firm‐level impacts while controlling for country‐level effects to account for the heterogeneity in business environments. The analysis revealed a positive relationship between corporate environmental performance, both overall and materiality‐based, and financial performance, including ROA and Tobin's Q. Notably, better environmental performance was significantly associated with decreased capital costs, particularly the cost of equity. However, materiality‐based environmental scores exhibited weaker impacts, likely due to the limited data availability and inconsistent global integration of materiality concepts. The research findings indicate that investors tend to favor companies with accountable environmental performance over those that rely solely on disclosure. These findings provide valuable insights for investors and business practitioners, emphasizing the importance of considering environmental materiality in corporate reporting and operations.

DOI： 10.1002/csr.3062

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Springer Science and Business Media LLC  

Background: Understanding emotional stress stability in populations is crucial because stress is a key factor in causing depression, and it worsens well-being. Method: In this study, using repeated cross-sectional data from 149 countries from 2007 to 2021 (N = 2,450,043), we examined time trends of psychological stress in populations worldwide. Results: Over half of the population experienced emotional stress in 20 countries, and 85% of the countries reported worse psychological stress in 2020 compared with 2008. We found that psychological well-being declined most rapidly among young people compared with other age groups. Individuals living and working in all types of locations (rural/farm, town/village, large city, and suburban areas) and employment (full-time, self-employed, part-time, and unemployed), respectively, experienced continuously worsening emotional stress when comparing three time periods (2008–2011, 2012–2019, and 2020–2021). Furthermore, reducing physical pain and increasing income were noted to be more important than solving health problems for the purpose of decreasing stress. Conclusion: Emotional stress continuously worsened worldwide over the past few decades, but the trend varied among countries. Our findings highlight the significance of improving people’s living environments to reduce their likelihood of experiencing emotional stress.

DOI： 10.1186/s12889-024-20961-4

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Other Link： https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-024-20961-4/fulltext.html

Authorship：Lead author   Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Gender in Management  

<jats:sec>
<jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Purpose</jats:title>
<jats:p>Following the job demands-resources theory, this study aims to investigate the role of female managers in enhancing employee well-being in terms of psychological health via workplace resources.</jats:p>
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<jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Design/methodology/approach</jats:title>
<jats:p>Based on a large-scale job stress survey of approximately 96,000 employee-year observations ranging from 2017 to 2019, this study applies structural equation modeling to construct latent workplace resources at the task, group and worksite levels and then examines the impact of female managers on employee well-being, including occupational stress, job satisfaction, work engagement and workplace cohesiveness.</jats:p>
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<jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Findings</jats:title>
<jats:p>The findings provide supporting evidence for the transformational leadership behaviors of female managers. The presence of women in management is associated with improved workplace resources and employee well-being, particularly workplace cohesiveness, work engagement and reduced occupational stress. These relationships are significantly mediated by workplace resources, which elucidates the underlying mechanisms involved. Notably, the positive indirect effects via workplace resources could counteract the negative direct effects of female managers. Compared with top managers, female middle managers have more substantial impacts.</jats:p>
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<jats:sec>
<jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Practical implications</jats:title>
<jats:p>In practice, it is recommended to promote female representation at the management level and strengthen policies that support female middle managers to ensure favorable effects on workplace resources. In a gender-diverse management team, it is important to share female managers’ experiences in improving employee psychological well-being.</jats:p>
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<jats:title content-type="abstract-subheading">Originality/value</jats:title>
<jats:p>This study provides new empirical evidence to support the transformational leadership behaviors of female managers and elucidates the mechanism of female managers’ influence on employee well-being by introducing workplace resources as mediators.</jats:p>
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DOI： 10.1108/GM-09-2023-0307

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Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Wiley  

Abstract

Japan has been at the forefront of global efforts to accelerate climate change mitigation. Japanese firms have led in the development of decarbonization technologies and have positively disclosed climate change‐related information based on the Task Force on Climate‐related Financial Disclosures recommendations to address climate change. We explore the relationship between corporate climate change mitigation actions and the cost of capital for 2100 Japanese listed companies from 2017 to 2021. The results reveal that a higher carbon intensity correlates with an increased cost of equity, debt, and weighted average cost of capital. Interestingly, although climate‐related information disclosure is associated with an increased cost of debt, it concurrently lowers the cost of equity and overall capital. This research recommends strategic approaches for firms to reduce their costs of capital while proactively combating climate change, highlighting the divergent responses of equity and bond markets to decarbonization initiatives.

DOI： 10.1002/csr.2853

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Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Wiley  

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This study quantifies the initiatives of local governments' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and examines their impacts on regional corporate social sustainability practices. Our analysis reveals statistically significant results for corporate action on the following government initiatives on SDGs: BOD/COD effluent standard (6. clean water and sanitation and 14. life below water); number of students per personal computer (PC) (4. quality education); percent of female prefectural assembly members (5. gender equality and 16. peace, justice, and strong institutions); and minimum wage (1. no poverty and 2. zero hunger). These results are robust after controlling for peer effects by other firms in the surrounding regions. The evidence also indicates that these trends are more pronounced in footloose industries than in heavy industries.

DOI： 10.1002/bse.3780

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Authorship：Lead author   Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Wiley  

Although the consideration of financial materiality is important for securing shareholders' interests, the degree of financial materiality that is considered for existing sustainability ratings is still questionable. In this study, we hand-mapped the financial materiality of environmental information based on Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) industry-specific accounting metrics to reassess environmental performance. Based on the SASB-based environmental score, we tested whether investors price environmental risk. The results show significant pricing anomalies related to environmental risk. Companies with lower SASB-based environmental scores experience higher environmental risk. Additionally, a premium in the cross-section of stock returns compensates for this risk. Our findings suggest that integrating financial materiality based on the SASB could be an effective way to capture corporate environmental risk.

DOI： 10.1002/csr.2524

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Authorship：Lead author   Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Springer Science and Business Media {LLC}  

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant changes in work and lifestyle, impacting occupational mental health. This study examines the time and individual heterogeneity in the pandemic's effects on occupational mental health using panel data from job stress checks spanning 2018 to 2021. On average, there was an initial alleviation of high-stress risk in 2020, followed by a deterioration in 2021. Based on the job demand-resource theory, we identify the group of employees most affected by the pandemic. The findings highlight that employees in unfavorable workplace conditions are more likely to experience substantial adverse impacts. Adequate workplace support, including factors like interpersonal relationships, managerial support, job meaning, control, and work-life balance, is crucial for mitigating high-stress risk. Additionally, during the early phase of the pandemic, engaged employees experienced a slight decline in occupational mental health, while those lacking job resources at their worksite faced higher levels of occupational stress in the subsequent year. These findings offer practical suggestions for person-centered coping strategies to mitigate the pandemic's adverse impact.</jats:p>

DOI： 10.1038/s41598-023-36493-7

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Authorship：Lead author   Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Springer Science and Business Media {LLC}  

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Based on a unique and extensive dataset of top executives, this study explores the effect of top executives’ attributes on firm performance through strategic choices for capital structure and investments. The big five personalities and top executives’ other four essential personal attributes are identified from over 970,000 observations in Japanese firms. We applied structural equational modeling to test the hypothesized mediation models and the differences across large, medium, and small-sized firms. The results show that top executives in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) present stronger linkages with strategic choices, significantly mediating the relationship between top executives’ attributes and firm performance. Specifically, top executives with higher <jats:italic>conscientiousness</jats:italic>, <jats:italic>decisiveness</jats:italic>, and <jats:italic>financial prudence</jats:italic> tend to choose conservative strategies, while those with higher <jats:italic>neuroticism, openness</jats:italic>, and <jats:italic>agreeableness</jats:italic> tend to adopt risky and innovative strategies. In contrast, top executives’ attributes can hardly predict firm strategies and outcomes for large firms, and neither fails to predict firm outcomes in SMEs given the inconsistent mediation.</jats:p>

DOI： 10.1057/s41599-023-01628-8

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Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Frontiers Media {SA}  

<jats:p>During the past two decades, the world has seen exponential growth in the number of companies reporting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data, and various ESG metrics have been proposed and are now in use. ESG metrics play a crucial role as an enabler of investment strategies that consider ESG factors, which are often referred to as “ESG investments”. The ESG metrics and investment market are evolving rapidly, as investors, corporations, and the public are giving more priority to the “S” in ESG, including social equity issues, such as diversity, income inequality, worker safety, systemic racism, and companies' broader role in society. In this critical, systematic review, utilizing in-depth assessments, we investigate and compare the approaches employed in major ESG metrics and studies, then, we shed light on the “S” aspect by reviewing existing approaches used to assess social equity to clarify commensurability with ESG. Through the systematic review, this paper confirms that ESG investments can be expected to provide stable and high returns especially over the long term. This paper also clarifies how elements considered in social equity studies are largely reflected in major ESG metrics.</jats:p>

DOI： 10.3389/frsus.2022.920955

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Springer Science and Business Media {LLC}  

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Background</jats:title>
<jats:p>This study provides objective evidence on the impact of COVID-19 based on employee occupational stress reported from 13 different industries, and examines the determinants of employee psychological well-being. As the economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue, governments should consider industry-level differences when making support decisions concerning public resource allocation to corporations. However, little evidence exists regarding the differences in occupational stress across industries.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Methods</jats:title>
<jats:p>Employee occupational stress data (<jats:italic>N</jats:italic> = 673,071) was derived from workers in Japan from 2018 to 2020. The sample comprises workers from 13 industries, including civil services, service industry (other), real estate, medical/welfare, wholesale/retail, academic research, and accommodation/restaurant business. A logit model is employed to investigate the differences in employees’ psychological well-being before and during the pandemic.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Results</jats:title>
<jats:p>In 2020, 11 out of 12 industries had significantly worse occupational stress compared to employees engaged in civil services. Over 23% of employees from the wholesale/retail and accommodation/restaurant industries were observed as high-stress employees. Improved compensation policies supporting these industries are suggested. In contrast, reduced occupational stress was found among employees in the transportation/postal and information/communication industries. Among the 13 industries, aside from high job demands, tough inter-person relationships in the workplace became the most significant stressors during the pandemic.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title>
<jats:p>The results confirm that the pandemic has had a heterogeneous effect on employee occupational stress across industries, thus suggesting that the level of compensation given to different industries during the COVID-19 pandemic should be discussed and approved by the Japanese government. Additionally, support for the wholesale/retail and accommodation/restaurant industries during the pandemic should be improved.</jats:p>
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DOI： 10.1186/s12889-022-13257-y

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Springer Science and Business Media {LLC}  

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Background</jats:title>
<jats:p>Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) engagement is expected to benefit corporations in terms of their efficiency and sustainability. The transformative change in management practices would not only provide support for employees but also bring about additional workload, which may affect employee psychological well-being. However, the examination of the relationship between corporate ESG activities and occupational stress is scarce; hence, this study aims to fill this knowledge gap.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Methods</jats:title>
<jats:p>In total, 110,351 observations were collected from 41,998 employees regarding occupational stress to reflect employee psychological well-being. The data were derived from 11 corporations in Japan from 2017 to 2019. Data on ESG activities were collected from the MSCI ESG database from 2015 to 2017. The effect of 1-year lagged corporate ESG activities on employee psychological well-being was investigated using a lagged variable linear regression model.</jats:p>
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<jats:title>Results</jats:title>
<jats:p>Positive and negative relationships were found between corporate environmental activities and occupational stress. Activities that reduce water stress during operation and adopt clean technology were found to benefit employees’ psychological well-being. On the contrary, the program for reducing toxic emissions and waste lowered employees’ occupational stress levels significantly. Regarding corporate social activities, the improvement of job satisfaction or work-life balance was associated with occupational stress. However, corporate governance activities were found to have unfavorable effects on employees’ psychological well-being.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title>
<jats:p>The effects of corporate ESG activities on employees’ psychological well-being are found. The managerial implications suggest that caring for employees’ occupational stress during the implementation of environmental activities is necessary, and the adoption of social activities could enhance employees’ psychological well-being. Notably, corporate governance activities are a stressor for employees; top management teams should pay attention to it.</jats:p>
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DOI： 10.1186/s12889-021-12350-y

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Authorship：Lead author   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)  

DOI： 10.1002/csr.1945

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Authorship：Lead author   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Wiley  

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between corporate efficiency and corporate sustainability to determine whether firms concerned about environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues can also be efficient and profitable. We applied data envelopment analysis to estimate corporate efficiency and investigated the nonlinear relationship between corporate efficiency and ESG disclosure. Evidence shows that corporate transparency regarding ESG information has a positive association with corporate efficiency at the moderate disclosure level, rather than at the high or low disclosure level. Governance information disclosure has the strongest positive linkage with corporate efficiency, followed by social and environmental information disclosure. Moreover, we explored the relationship between particular ESG activities and corporate financial performance (CFP), including corporate efficiency, return on assets, and market value. We found that most of the ESG activities reveal a nonnegative relationship with CFP. These findings may provide evidence about voluntary corporate social responsibility strategy choices for enhancing corporate sustainability.

DOI： 10.1002/bse.2224

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Language：Japanese  

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Publisher：Research Square Platform LLC  

Abstract

Human capital is widely acknowledged as an inclusive resource that encompasses the knowledge and expertise of citizens, which propels economic development. This research integrates education data with demographic, health, and socioeconomic factors to construct a cross-country human capital monetary accounting framework. We evaluate the levels of educational attainment and the total adult population by stage of life expectancy. Subsequently, we assess education returns based on lifetime income and educational attainment. This accounting tracks the level and changes of human capital in 166 countries from 1990 to 2020, providing multiple indicators to measure human capital for sustainability. The primary findings indicate that globally, the growth trajectory of human capital has declined over the past decade, suggesting a threshold for human capital growth under current investment levels. Based on these findings, it is recommended that policymakers consider this shift and align long-term human capital investment with sustainable growth paths.

DOI： 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2594686/v1

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Other Link： https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-2594686/v1.html

Publisher：{UNESCO} {MGIEP}  

DOI： 10.56383/qknp4119

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