Talking out loud on sustainable development goals (SDGs): what is the role of sustainability performance and national culture within CEO-speak?

The language CEOs use in their communications, i.e., CEO-speak, is a complex phenomenon, likely to be influenced by the need to provide information and the strategic intention of managing the impressions of the firm’s audience. This work is the first to specifically address CEO-speak regarding firms’ commitment to SDGs. It investigates whether and how sustainability performance and national culture influence such disclosure. Drawing on legitimacy theory and employing a Poisson regression, we examine the content of 443 CEO-signed texts of European listed firms. The results indicate that sustainability performance and certain Hofstede’s cultural dimensions influence SDG-related sentences within CEO-speak. These are more prevalent in sustainable firms situated in countries characterised by effective management of social inequalities, a tendency to avoid unknown or ambiguous situations, a strong focus on future prospects, and a high restriction on human duties. Our work shows that CEOs express their commitment to sustainable development, aligning with stakeholders’ values while converging with firms’ performance.