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This study aims to explore the role of mobile tracing applications as part of e-government services in combating the COVID-19 pandemic effects in Africa by analyzing the moderating role of sustainable development. This study also investigated the role of the political and economic systems in mitigating the negative consequences of COVID-19 and how e-government interacts in this relationship.

This study included the COVID-19 performance index for 94 countries belonging to different regions, including 20 African countries. Multiple linear regression was used for data analysis via Stata software. The study was conducted from the start of the pandemic to March 13, 2021.

The results show that less economically and technologically developed countries with generally authoritarian political systems, including African countries, could limit the spread of the pandemic better than some democratic, economically and technologically developed countries in the first wave of the pandemic. The promotion of sustainable development goals moderates the relationship between mobile tracing applications as part of the e-government service and the fight against COVID-19.

This study provides insight into the role of mobile application technology as an e-governance service in mitigating the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in a context characterized by economic limitations, fragile public health infrastructure and relatively high political instability, especially in Africa. The findings shed light on some of the difficulties African countries may face in incorporating technology into their development projects.

The purpose of this paper was to study the direct impact of audit quality on environmental, social and governance (ESG) transparency. It aimed also to investigate the moderating effect of media coverage on the relationship between audit quality and ESG transparency in the USA.

The sample consisted of US companies listed in the Standard and Poor’s 500 Stock Index between 2010 and 2019. The Thomson Reuters database was used to collect ESG disclosure scores and governance information. The authors applied multiple panel data regressions.

The results showed that audit quality has a direct positive effect on ESG transparency. The findings also showed that the high exposure to public media by firms, the more they commit to high audit quality leading to disclose more transparent ESG information.

The results illustrated the significance of an external audit on an organization’s ESG report. Second, improving data quality has significant consequences not only for rating agencies but also for investors, businesses and researchers. These steps are required to increase the information content of ESG ratings.

The findings demonstrated that third-party external verification improves the dependability of nonfinancial reporting, hence bridging the confidence gap between corporations and the market regarding sustainability reporting.

The COVID-19 outbreak and its confinement resulted in an unexpected stock market crash, hence the interest in environmental, social and governance (hereafter, ESG) policies. This paper aims to examine the association between ESG performance and stock market volatility before and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper examined 500 US companies listed in the S&P 500. The window period volatility refers to March 18, 2020, when the US President signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. Here, the Thomson Reuters database was used to collect ESG data and daily market information.

The findings suggest that companies with high ESG performance have lower stock price volatility than companies with poor ESG performance. In other words, strong ESG performance reduces stock price volatility resulting from the COVID-19 shock and promotes resilience and stock price stability.

This research contributes to current debates on emerging pandemics and unexpected risks and highlights the need to invest more in improving corporate sustainability.

The results have substantial implications for managers and investors, as it highlights the relevance of customer and investor loyalty to the durability of ESG stocks.