Sustainability Disclosure, Tobin's Q, and Revenue Growth in Nigerian Listed Manufacturing Firms.

This article examines the effect of sustainability disclosures on the value of publicly listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria, with specific focus on Tobin's Q and revenue growth as firm value proxies. Anchored on the ex-post facto research design, secondary data were sourced from the annual reports and accounts of twenty (20) listed industrial and consumer goods companies in Nigeria between 2013 and 2023, yielding two hundred and twenty (220) firm-year observations. Sustainability disclosure was proxied by the sustainability disclosure index (SDI) and disclosure on environmental laws and regulations (DELR), while firm value was measured using Tobin's Q (TBQ) and revenue growth (REVGROW). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, regression diagnostics, and fixed/random effects panel regression. Findings revealed that sustainability disclosure variables (SDI and DELR) had a statistically insignificant effect on Tobin's Q (Wald Chi2 = 0.45; p = 0.7966 > 0.05), leading to the acceptance of the null hypothesis. Conversely, sustainability disclosure variables exerted a statistically significant effect on revenue growth (Wald Chi2 = 43.10; p = 0.0000 < 0.05), leading to the rejection of the null hypothesis. The contrasting results suggest that the value-relevance of sustainability disclosure in Nigerian manufacturing firms is measure-dependent: while the market-based Tobin's Q proxy appears insensitive to sustainability disclosure, the accounting-based revenue growth proxy responds significantly to it. The study recommends that management of listed manufacturing companies pay closer attention to sustainability reporting practices that drive turnover and revenue performance, while further research should investigate why market-based value proxies remain unresponsive to sustainability disclosure in the Nigerian context.