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IJFS
Special Issues
Corporate Financial Performance and Sustainability Practices
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Corporate Financial Performance and Sustainability Practices

A special issue of International Journal of Financial Studies (ISSN 2227-7072).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 1791

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Murad Harasheh

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Management, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Interests: corporate valuation; corporate finance; energy finance; sustainability finance
Dr. Giovanni Cardillo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Management, Yunus Social Business Centre of Bologna, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Interests: banking strategies; corporate governance; analysis of macroeconomic scenarios; impact and sustainability finance

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This special issue examines the dynamic intersection between corporate sustainability practices and financial performance, exploring how environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives impact firm value and competitiveness. Research has yielded mixed findings regarding this relationship, with some studies showing positive correlations between sustainability and profitability, while others reveal contingent or negative effects that depend on specific contextual factors.

This Issue welcomes empirical and theoretical contributions that investigate the impact of carbon reduction initiatives on operational efficiency, the role of sustainable supply chain management in achieving competitive advantage, and the financial returns from social responsibility investments. We encourage research examining how the quality of sustainability reporting affects investor perceptions and market valuations, alongside studies analyzing the moderating effects of corporate governance mechanisms and regulatory frameworks.

Methodological innovations that address endogeneity concerns and challenges to causal inference are particularly encouraged. We seek papers that explore the temporal dynamics—whether sustainability investments generate short-term costs versus long-term benefits—and sector-specific patterns across capital-intensive and service industries.

Emerging themes include green finance mechanisms, sustainable business model innovation, stakeholder engagement strategies, and the influence of technological disruption on the sustainability–performance nexus. Comparative studies of developed and emerging markets are also encouraged.

This Special Issue aims to advance scholarly understanding while providing actionable insights for aligning sustainability commitments with financial objectives.

Dr. Murad Harasheh
Dr. Giovanni Cardillo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Financial Studies is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainability performance
  • ESG integration
  • financial returns
  • stakeholder value
  • corporate responsibility

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 1268 KB  
Article
Financial and Collaborative Drivers of Green Innovation Investment Quality in Heavily Polluting Firms: A Quadruple Helix Configuration Analysis
by Puxuan Wang, Shuangjin Wang, Maggie Foley and Jingjing Li
Int. J. Financial Stud. 2026, 14(4), 94; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijfs14040094 - 3 Apr 2026
Viewed by 466
Abstract
Green innovation is central to industrial ecological transition, yet heavily polluting firms often exhibit low-quality green innovation investment. Grounded in the government–enterprise–research–intermediary Quadruple Helix innovation ecosystem framework, this study integrates Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to examine [...] Read more.
Green innovation is central to industrial ecological transition, yet heavily polluting firms often exhibit low-quality green innovation investment. Grounded in the government–enterprise–research–intermediary Quadruple Helix innovation ecosystem framework, this study integrates Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to examine 66 publicly listed heavily polluting manufacturing firms in China. The results show that fiscal subsidies and environmental taxes are necessary but not sufficient conditions for achieving high-quality green innovation investment. Moreover, high-quality outcomes arise through three equifinal pathways: the Government–Intermediary Dual-Drive Model, the Government–Enterprise–Intermediary Co-Directional Model, and the Government–Enterprise Symbiotic Model. Six configurations lead to non-high-quality green innovation investment, which cluster into Resource-Scarcity and Regulatory-Constrained models. A favorable macro environment further strengthens high-quality outcomes. These findings clarify how policy instruments and multi-actor collaboration jointly shape green innovation investment quality and provide actionable implications for heavily polluting firms and policymakers seeking sustainable development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Corporate Financial Performance and Sustainability Practices)
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15 pages, 298 KB  
Article
Liquidity, Leverage and Financial Performance Nexus: Insights from Sub-Saharan Africa’s Healthcare Sector
by Ayuba Zakka Dangs, Stephen Aanu Ojeka, Ahmad Bukola Uthman and Lucky O. Onmonya
Int. J. Financial Stud. 2026, 14(3), 55; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijfs14030055 - 2 Mar 2026
Viewed by 740
Abstract
This study investigates how liquidity and leverage shape financial performance in sub-Saharan Africa’s listed healthcare firms and concludes that internal liquidity capacity is a more reliable driver of performance than debt. Using an ex post facto design, the study examines 60 firm year [...] Read more.
This study investigates how liquidity and leverage shape financial performance in sub-Saharan Africa’s listed healthcare firms and concludes that internal liquidity capacity is a more reliable driver of performance than debt. Using an ex post facto design, the study examines 60 firm year observations for 12 listed healthcare and pharmaceutical firms across six countries over 2020–2024. It measures performance with return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), and Tobin’s Q, while liquidity and leverage are proxied by current and debt–equity ratios. Fixed-effects panel regression with robust standard errors is employed after confirming heteroskedasticity and overall model significance through Wald tests. Liquidity exerts a positive and statistically significant impact on ROA (β = 0.003706, p < 0.01) and reinforces ROE in complementary estimations, demonstrating that stronger liquidity positions consistently enhance accounting-based financial performance in this capital-constrained sector. By contrast, leverage shows negative and statistically insignificant effects on ROA (β = 0.113666, p = 0.257), ROE (β = −1.42683, p = 0.109), and Tobin’s Q (β = −0.64563, p = 0.612), providing no evidence that higher debt improves either accounting returns or market valuation. Collectively, these results strongly support the primacy of internal financial flexibility over external borrowing for sustaining performance in sub-Saharan African healthcare firms and offer robust, region-wide empirical grounding for refining resource-based, pecking order, and trade-off arguments in healthcare capital structure debates. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Corporate Financial Performance and Sustainability Practices)
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