This paper examines the mutually reinforcing relationship between corporate Anti-Bribery and Corruption (ABC) systems and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) frameworks. While research and reporting recognize anti-corruption as a key pillar of ESG, they have not clearly defined how effective ABC systems contribute to ESG. Nor have they explored how ESG's sustainability logic could reshape ABC's design, operations, and communications. This paper draws on academic literature, expert guidance, and regulatory developments. It presents an integrated perspective on sustainable ABC governance, reporting, and performance measurement. First, it explains how strong anti-corruption mechanisms support governance, lower risks, and help achieve environmental and social goals. Next, it analyses how ESG-based principles like leadership commitment, stakeholder engagement, and open reporting can improve the effectiveness and credibility of ABC systems. Drawing on the idea of stakeholder reactivity, it argues that conventional ABC metrics and disclosures may not communicate effectively to all stakeholders, who differ in their analytical skills and motivations. Therefore, it proposes a model for sustainable ABC metrics that blends activity- and impact-based indicators and connects anti-corruption measurement to ESG's governance logic. The paper concludes that more stakeholder-sensitive ABC metrics can improve clarity, accountability, and trust in ABC-related reporting for sustainability governance.
Four main heterogeneous preferences emerged from our analysis: long-term economic outcomes, environmental factors, ethical and religious preferences, and societal welfare. The primary drivers identified were cultural values, religious values, herding bias, and selective perception bias. Our findings show significant differences in ESG motivations, especially in the weight given to ethical, religious, and societal factors, between value-based investor behavior in emerging economies and that in Central Europe.
The results confirm statistically significant links between selected business ethics aspects and perceptions of the main ESG objective. The top factors influencing ESG perceptions are: (1) positive attitudes toward ethical business principles, (2) the presence of ethical codes, and (3) management's support for ethical decision-making and moral integrity. On the other hand, anti-corruption measures did not show a statistically significant impact in either country. These findings provide practical advice for SME managers and ESG policy-makers, highlighting the importance of integrating specific ethical considerations, such as internal attitudes, ethical codes, and leadership support, into ESG strategies. The research demonstrates that business ethics strongly impact sustainability perceptions and that embedding these ethics within corporate culture supports effective ESG implementation.
This study examines sustainability strategies among ethical SMEs in the manufacturing sector, navigating tensions between moral imperatives and market pressures. Drawing on paradox theory, a PLS-SEM approach was adopted to test the conceptual framework, using valid survey data from 415 manufacturing SME respondents across Ghana. Findings indicated that three of the hypotheses were significant, while the moderating hypothesis (organizational slack) was insignificant. Extending the contribution, these findings are systematically compared with empirical evidence from Central European countries. This cross-regional comparison reveals both convergences, such as the primacy of cognitive abilities over resource abundance in driving sustainability strategies, and divergences, including the dominant role of regulatory pressure in Central Europe versus moral imperatives in Ghana. The comparison also confirms that the non-significant moderation of slack resources holds across both contexts, reinforcing paradox theory's claim that cognitive navigation of tensions matters more than resource munificence. Results advance theory by integrating cognitive ability as a mediator in emerging-market contexts and by identifying institutional contingencies across African and European post-transition economies. Practical guidance is offered to policymakers on prioritizing ethical principles and cognitive capacity-building. Limitations include cross-sectional design and self-reports, suggesting the need for longitudinal and multi-country validations.
