EXPRESS: Financial Health, Corporate Governance, and the ESG Disclosure-Performance Gap: Performance Implications in the Hospitality Industry

By integrating complementary organizational and market-signaling theories, this study examines how financial health and corporate governance relate to the ESG disclosure-performance gap, interpreted as an indicator of potential greenwashing intensity, and its associations with firm performance. Using panel data on U.S. publicly traded hospitality firms, financially healthy firms are associated with a narrower ESG disclosure-performance gap, with this association becoming less pronounced as CEO ownership increases, while CEO short-term compensation shows no significant moderating effect. The ESG disclosure-performance gap is positively associated with Tobin's q across short- and long-term models, even when disclosure is not fully aligned with ESG performance, with limited and delayed associations for ROA and ROI at the three-year lag. These findings clarify the boundary conditions of the ESG disclosure-performance gap and reveal nuanced performance associations. Practical implications are offered for managers, investors, and policymakers to strengthen ESG disclosure credibility in hospitality.