The Role of Environmental Information Disclosure Systems and Their Impact on Firm Performance

In response to the call for more research on impactful green IS, this paper examines one country-level environmental information disclosure system (EIDs), the U.S. Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), as a strategic tool or infrastructure of green IS and empirically tests the impact of environmental performance on financial performance in the chemical industry using both real financial and forward-looking measures. In particular, the study explores EDIs-inspired environmental managerial efforts and their influence on firms´ financial performance. The study´s finding that firms with better environmental performance also show greater cost competitiveness challenges the view that environmental managerial activities constitute an additional burden irrespective of firms´ business operations. Instead, it suggests, these can be innovative activities that improve a firm´s production efficiency, material resource management, and financial performance and sustainability.