Do sustainability ethics explain the impact of country-level corporate governance on financial stability in developing economies?

ABSTRACT The study presents an empirical evidence on how sustainability ethics affect the relationship between country-level corporate governance and financial stability in developing countries. Employing the dynamic system Generalized Method of Moments on a panel dataset of 137 developing countries over the period, 2006–2019, the study found that the positive effect of country-level corporate governance framework on financial stability is not instantaneous. We find that internal and external corporate governance frameworks have a strong positive synergistic effect on financial stability. We confirm that corporate governance measures substitute sustainability ethics to yield a desirable outcome of financial stability. Finally, the study finds evidence to support that sustainability ethics reduce the negative impact of country-level corporate governance on financial stability. The study recommends that the build-up of quality sustainability ethics can help tame the reductive effect of the country-level corporate governance framework on financial stability in developing countries.