Mandatory environmental, social and governance disclosure has become a central regulatory response to concerns about corporate accountability, transparency and responsible business conduct. This issue is particularly timely in Australia, where mandatory climate-related financial disclosure requirements have recently been introduced for large businesses and financial institutions. These reforms form part of a broader international movement towards sustainability-related corporate reporting and raise an important question: do mandatory disclosure requirements improve corporate behaviour, or do they mainly expand reporting compliance?
This project examines whether mandatory ESG disclosure reduces corporate misconduct. Governments and standard-setters increasingly assume that requiring firms to disclose ESG-related information will improve transparency, strengthen external monitoring and discourage irresponsible corporate behaviour. However, this assumption remains insufficiently tested. Existing research has largely examined whether ESG disclosure mandates affect reporting quality, capital market outcomes, stakeholder perceptions and sustainability ratings. Far less is known about whether such regulations change firms’ underlying conduct.
Aim
The primary aim of this project is to examine whether, how and under what conditions mandatory ESG disclosure regulation reduces corporate misconduct. Specifically, the project will investigate whether firms subject to ESG disclosure mandates experience subsequent changes in regulatory enforcement outcomes, including both the likelihood of misconduct-related penalties and the magnitude of penalties imposed.
A secondary aim is to assess whether the deterrence effect of mandatory ESG disclosure depends on regulatory and institutional design. ESG disclosure regimes vary across countries in their scope, issuing authority, compliance model and enforcement strength. This variation provides an opportunity to examine whether more stringent and credible disclosure regimes are more effective in discouraging corporate misconduct than weaker or less enforceable forms of regulation.
Objectives
The project has four main objectives:
- To develop a conceptual framework that explains how mandatory ESG disclosure may influence corporate misconduct through transparency, external monitoring, reputational discipline and regulatory scrutiny.
- To construct a firm-level empirical setting that links mandatory ESG disclosure regimes to regulatory penalty outcomes across countries and over time.
- To examine whether the introduction of mandatory ESG disclosure is associated with changes in misconduct-related enforcement outcomes, including the likelihood and magnitude of regulatory penalties.
- To assess whether the relationship between mandatory ESG disclosure and corporate misconduct varies across regulatory settings, enforcement conditions and types of misconduct.
Significance
This project will make a significant contribution by shifting attention from ESG disclosure outputs to behavioural outcomes. It will provide evidence on whether mandatory ESG disclosure operates as a substantive governance mechanism or primarily as a symbolic compliance requirement. This distinction is important for evaluating the real-world effectiveness of ESG regulation.
The project is directly relevant to Australia’s evolving sustainability reporting landscape. As Australian firms adapt to mandatory climate-related disclosure requirements, regulators, investors and policymakers require evidence on whether disclosure-based regulation can improve corporate accountability. By examining international evidence on ESG disclosure mandates and corporate misconduct, the project will generate insights that are relevant to Australian regulatory practice while also contributing to global debates on sustainability reporting.
The project also builds on published research using regulatory penalty data to examine corporate misconduct and stakeholder violations. Prior evidence shows that regulatory penalties are economically meaningful indicators of irresponsible corporate behaviour and that firm characteristics, executive incentives and governance mechanisms are associated with variation in misconduct-related fines and stakeholder violations (Zaman, 2024; Jain, Zaman, & Harjoto, 2024). This provides a strong foundation for extending the analysis from firm-level determinants of misconduct to the broader regulatory question of whether mandatory ESG disclosure can deter such behaviour.
The findings will be relevant to accounting researchers, corporate governance scholars, regulators, investors and policymakers seeking to evaluate whether ESG disclosure mandates deliver substantive improvements in corporate accountability and legally compliant corporate behaviour.
Ideal Candidate
We are seeking a self-motivated PhD candidate with strong organisational, analytical and project management skills. The ideal applicant will have a background in accounting, finance, corporate governance, sustainability, economics, or a related business discipline. Strong quantitative skills are desirable, including familiarity with archival research methods, panel data analysis, and statistical software such as Stata, R or Python. An interest in ESG regulation, corporate misconduct, regulatory enforcement, and responsible business practice is also expected. Additionally, the applicants should meet the eligibility criteria for entry into a PhD program at Curtin University.
This project is open to International and Domestic applicants.
Scholarship
If you are identified as the preferred candidate for this project, you may be considered for an RTP scholarship.
Enquires and How to Apply
For enquires about this opportunity contact Dr Rashid Zaman at Rashid.Zaman@curtin.edu.au
To formally apply submit an Expression of Interest to Dr Rashid Zaman during the Central Scholarship round (July 1st – July 31st 2026)