Exploring the implementation of sustainable development goals: a comparison between private and state-owned enterprises in Indonesia

This study explores the extent of the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (UN SDGs) implementations by listed companies in Indonesia. It also evaluates whether the SDG practices differ between state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and private companies listed in the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX). The main contributions of this paper are twofold: (1) it compares SGD reports and disclosures of listed SOEs vis-a-vis listed private companies in a developing country, and (2) it evaluates and compares the SGDs disclosures before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thirty-four listed companies produced sustainability reports consecutively from 2016 to 2020, resulting in 170 reports were used and analyzed in this study. A content analysis was applied to observe the SDGs disclosures in these reports. The findings show that overall, the listed companies in the study performed moderately well in their SDGs practice, with an overall disclosure index of 74% during the observed period. While a private company was a clear leader in its SDGs disclosure, overall, listed SOEs performed better to some extent than their private companies counterparts at a combined level. These indicate some aspect of legitimacy to maintain a good reputation in the community and also implies some level of coercive isomorphism, especially for the SOEs. At the level of sustainable development targets, however, the study finds indications to strongly propose that the achievements of the SDG targets were not yet significant. This study also finds slightly less but no significant difference in the SDGs practice during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the practice before the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of this study contribute to enriching the currently limited literature in this area and providing insights to relevant users, investors, and policymakers concerning the UN SDGs practices in Indonesia.