기업 특성이 ESG 보고의 중대성 공시품질에 미치는 영향 : 환경, 제도 및 재무적 특성을 중심으로

[Purpose] This study examines the MDQ(Materiality Disclosure Quality) in ESG sustainabilityreporting and empirically analyzes the effect of firm characteristics (environmental, disclosurestandards and financial) on MDQ. [Methodology] This study constructs MDQ metrics based on the materiality assessmentcriteria of the EU and GRI. Furthermore, it conducts regression analysis to examinethe impact of a company’s industry characteristics (environmental sensitive industry),environmental performance (Scope 3 disclosure), adoption of materiality disclosure standards(double materiality, GRI 2021), and financial characteristics (leverage) on MDQ. The analysisfocuses on ESG reports of 111 domestic companies in Korea, publicly disclosed on theKorea Exchange in 2022. [Findings] The empirical results of firm characteristics that affect MDQ are as follows. First,among the environmental characteristics variables, environmental performance measured bythe presence of Scope 3 disclosure, rather than the presence of environmentally sensitiveindustries, is significantly and positively related to MDQ. Second, the adoption of disclosurestandards is positively related to MDQ for both ‘double materiality’ and ‘GRI 2021’ standards,with the impact of double materiality being stronger. Third, leverage has a significant nonmonotoniceffect on MDQ. Groups with low and high leverage are significantly negatively associated, while the intermediate leverage group is significantly positively associated. [Implications] This study represents the first attempt to analyze the impact of Scope 3carbon emissions disclosure and the adoption of double materiality assessment on themateriality disclosure quality of ESG sustainability reporting. In addition, while previousstudies have shown mixed results on the effect of leverage on sustainability disclosure, thisstudy provides empirical evidence that materiality disclosure incentives vary depending onthe level of leverage faced by the firm.