An Extractive Sector Perspective of Risk Management and Its Influence on Corporate Sustainability: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

This study explores how risk management (RM), affects shareholder value (SV) and corporate sustainability (CS) in extractive-sector (ES) firms. Employees of Australia’s top 20 mining and oil-and-gas (O&G) firms were surveyed about their firm’s risk profile, risk attitudes, and RM practices. The survey drew 496 responses from 987 employees. The literature review raised several gaps: Does RM enhance SV and CS of ES firms; How similar is RM across ES firms; Are mining and O&G risks sufficiently different to warrant splitting them? The survey findings suggest that ES-firm risk profiles, risk attitudes, and RM practices are: Broader than in non-ES firms; Important to SV via CS; and Similar within and across mining and O&G. Survey responses suggest that ES employees recognize the nature of RM and of the importance of the ES sector via employment, investment, and raw-material flows. This study affirms that mining- and O&G-firmRM practices are converging and is a benchmark for future studies, as high-carbon energy (coal mining and O&G) is supplanted by nuclear and non-ES-renewable energy.