The predictive roles of financial indicators and governance scores on firms' emission performance in the tourism and hospitality industry

Abstract

The tourism and hospitality (T&H) industry can significantly impact the environment by using natural resources and waste generation. Measuring and improving firms’ emission performance in this industry is becoming increasingly important. However, the prediction of financial indicators and governance scores on firms’ emission performance is still poorly established. Drawing on the agency and stakeholders’ theory, our research explores whether financial indicators and governance scores predict firms’ emission performance in the T&H industry. Data on all companies that are publicly traded was acquired from Thomson Reuters Eikon using 485 publicly traded tourism firms as of the end of the fiscal year 2021. Our findings suggest that governance pillar score (GP), management score (MS), board size (BS), and market capitalization (MC) are the best four predictors of carbon emission reduction scores in T&H companies. Theoretical and practical implications are presented, and directions for further research are provided.