Corporate SDG adoption in discretionary goods: Evidence from industry segments and regions

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have become a central reference in corporate sustainability reporting; however, firms do not engage with all 17 goals uniformly. This disparity is particularly pronounced in the discretionary goods sector, where industries exhibit substantial variation in production systems, supply chain structures, labor conditions, and sustainability pressures. This study investigates patterns of SDG adoption among discretionary goods firms, focusing on overall adoption, temporal trends, industry segment differences, regional variation, and the interaction between industry segment and region. Drawing on Refinitiv/Datastream firm-level data, the analysis covers 3,798 firm-year observations from 2019 to 2024. The study employs descriptive statistics, Kruskal–Wallis tests with epsilon-squared effect sizes, chi-square tests with Cramér’s V, linear probability trend models, and two-way ANOVA. The findings indicate that SDG adoption is selective rather than uniformly distributed across the 17 goals. SDG 12 (35.0%), SDG 8 (34.0%), and SDG 13 (33.6%) are most frequently adopted, whereas SDG 2 (7.2%), SDG 14 (9.5%), and SDG 1 (11.4%) exhibit the lowest adoption rates. Adoption rates increase over time for all 17 goals, with the most pronounced temporal trends for SDG 12, SDG 13, and SDG 8. The analysis reveals statistically significant differences across industry segments and regions, as well as significant interaction effects for all SDGs. These results demonstrate that SDG adoption in the discretionary goods sector is dynamic yet uneven, offering valuable evidence for managers, investors, and regulators interpreting corporate SDG engagement within sectoral and regional contexts.