From ambiguity to transparency: influence of environmental information disclosure on financial performance in the context of internationalization

Environmental sustainability is an important strategy for firms to expand market reach and space in pursuit of profitable growth. In the context of internationalization, environment information disclosure (EID) is considered an environmental signal released by a firm to external stakeholders. Using a sample of Chinese construction firms listed in the global Engineering News-Record (ENR), two periods, from 2008 to 2014 and 2015 to 2019, were set up from the perspective of the EID guideline changes. The regression results illustrate a negative relationship between EID and financial performance in the first period. The moderating effect of internationalization on the relationship between EID and financial performance changes from negative to positive over time. Quantile regressions further reveal how EID and internationalization affect firms at different levels of financial performance. This study proposed a periodic contingency perspective to reconcile the changes in the influence of EID on financial performance within the context of internationalization.