Exploring the nexus between past financial performance and voluntary GRI adoption: The role of environmental certification.

• This study examines the nexus between past financial performance and the adoption of the global reporting initiative (GRI) in China. • Explores the moderating effects of environmental certification on this relationship. • Finds that the effect of financial performance on GRI standard adoption is pronounced in the context of low information transparency. • Offers new insights into the motivations behind voluntary GRI adoption in the context of China, addressing a gap in the existing literature. Numerous firms have adopted the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards to enhance sustainability. Using panel data from 2008 to 2020, we employ logit, probit, complementary log-log, and Cox survival analysis models to explore the factors which affect the adoption of the GRI standards in the context of voluntary disclosure in China. Our findings indicate that past financial performance significantly influences decisions on GRI adoption. Environmental certification moderates the effect of financial performance on GRI adoption. Notably, the cross-sectional test reveals that financial performance plays a stronger role in GRI adoption among companies with low information transparency compared to those with high information transparency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]