CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND SUSTAINABILITY DISCLOSURE QUALITY IN EMERGING MARKETS

Abstract

Background: Disclosure volume can increase without improving comparability, balance, connectivity to financial information, or oversight of material sustainability risks. Aim: The current analysis explains how the relationship between the focal practices and sustainability disclosure quality operates in firms in emerging markets preparing sustainability disclosures for investors, regulators, lenders, employees, and communities. Method: A conceptual narrative synthesis draws on selected scholarly and institutional publications. Published findings is coded by mechanism, boundary condition, practice development risk, and practical implication. Results: The synthesis identifies six linked mechanisms: board oversight and competence, materiality governance, internal controls over nonfinancial information, stakeholder accountability, assurance readiness, connectivity with strategy and financial reporting. The synthesis indicates that outcomes depend less on nominal adoption than on practice development quality, governance, learning, and fit with local capacity. Conclusion: Decision makers should define the expected outcome, assign responsibility, establish a small set of auditable indicators, and revise the intervention when published findings contradicts its assumptions. Contribution: The synthesis provides a conditional framework without claiming primary data that were not collected.