Governance, firm engagements and united nations sustainable development goals in africa
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Date
2023
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KNUST
Abstract
Over the past seven years, the advancement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is gaining increasing attention in the African context. Consistent with this effort, the first paper reviews the existing literature systematically and further ascertains whether governance and firm engagement drive SDGs. Using the 2020 PRISMA of 583 usable papers retrieved from Scopus, WOS, and seven recognized publishers and digital libraries for analysis, the study identifies nine clusters where the advancing of the SDGs in Africa was not progressing. The study then conducts a second paper using the R Studio software to analyze 200 papers on SDGs in Africa. The results reveal that SDGs literature in Africa is an imminent study area, and there are two main strands of literature advancing SDGs in Africa including governance and firm engagement. The third paper thus, analyzes 46 African countries using multivariate analysis and an ordered probit model to examine the nexus between governance and the SDGs. The study reports a significant and positive relationship between governance and the scores of SDGs indicating that Africans are getting ahead and tend to exhibit enhanced environmental, social, and economic sustainability. Additional evidence supports the significance of governance in promoting SDGs in Africa focusing on quality education (SDG 4), gender equality (SDG 5), climate mitigation efforts (SDG 13), and partnership for the goals (SDG 17). Finally, the last paper shows how firms in Africa are also advancing the 17 SDGs. The comprehensive content analysis of 223 corporate reports shows that firms in Africa are also advancing quality education (SDG 4), industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9), reduced inequality (SDG 10), responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), and partnership for the goals (SDG 17). Implications for theory and practice are discussed in each paper.
Description
A thesis submitted to department of accounting and finance, kwame nkrumah university of science and technology, kumasi in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of doctor of philosophy business and management (accounting option)