Leverage, Firm Size and Gross Domestic Product as Drivers Of ESG Disclosure

Abstract

Corporate commitment to sustainability is now widely gauged through Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance, yet disclosure practice among Indonesian firms remains far from uniform. This paper traces how far leverage, firm size, and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) shape the extent of ESG disclosure among manufacturing issuers on the Indonesia Stock Exchange across 2021-2024, drawing on a quantitative design built from secondary data in annual and sustainability reports. Eighty-four observation points were drawn through purposive sampling and processed with panel data regression under the Random Effect Model (REM). Neither firm size nor leverage was found to move ESG disclosure in any statistically meaningful way, in contrast to GDP, which registered a positive and significant effect; tested jointly, the three variables still leave a discernible mark on ESG disclosure. The findings indicate that only Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has a positive and statistically significant effect on ESG disclosure, whereas leverage and firm size do not have a statistically significant effect.