Earning management practices and the disclosure of sustainability reporting in Jordanian family business: how COVID-19 plays a part?

Purpose This study explores the moderating role of the COVID-19 crisis on the association between ESG scores and “Earnings Management (EM)” practices. Design/methodology/approach The developed hypotheses were tested using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression based on data from 50 Jordanian family businesses in the finance industry between 2010 and 2024. Furthermore, this investigation assessed the analytic results by employing a variety of robustness tests, such as the generalised method of moments (GMM) regression. Findings Multivariate regression shows that Jordanian family firms with stronger EM procedures have higher ESG sustainability scores during crisis period. For COVID-19’s moderating effects on each ESG component, “environmental and social” disclosure maximizes company capitalization and ESG disclosure as a whole boosts market value. However, governance factors unrelated to stakeholder interests play no significant role. Practical implications This study impacts enterprises, administrations and stakeholders. The moderating COVID-19 component increased the beneficial connection between EM practices and ESG scores. Thus, the findings encourage legislators and regulators to pass sustainable practice monitoring and company transparency and engagement laws. After COVID-19, businesses must rebuild the economy and accelerate and hold themselves accountable for adopting environmentally friendly decisions into their planning and governance control. The findings may help regulatory bodies and policymakers boost ESG reporting credibility by providing assurance from an impartial third party with strong duties. Developing ESG reporting dependability and comparability requires institutional support and professional pressure. Jordan may increase punishments for prohibited ESG building and combine federal direction with voluntary industry efforts to maximise economies of scale and reduce transformation costs. Originality/value This study examines whether EM procedures improve ESG sustainability scores and whether the COVID-19 pandemic caused this. This is novel when examined in a family business. Developmental Jordanian data makes this study important. Growing global economic trends and fundamental societal differences between wealthy and developing countries require more CSR/ESG research. ESG sustainability disclosure has been studied less than how the COVID-19 pandemic affected a company’s finances and non-financials. EM procedures directly affect ESG sustainability disclosure in Jordanian family firms, but COVID-19 moderates this link.