Managerial Intentionality: Linking Earnings Quality and Sustainability

While earnings quality and sustainability performance have been extensively researched as independent domains, their synchronized analysis as an indicator of managerial intentionality remains an open question. This study operationalizes earnings quality through earnings persistence and examines its synchronized presence with ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) quality and the temporal stability of ESG performance. Focusing on the period between 2011 and 2019 – a window free from major global economic shocks – these dimensions are analyzed using a filtered panel dataset of 460 listed companies. Results reveal a moderate positive correlation between earnings persistence and overall ESG scores (r = 0.10), as well as ESG persistence (r = 0.11), demonstrating the concurrent presence of financial and non-financial stability within the sample. A management-oriented interpretation of these findings suggests that the convergence of persistence patterns serves as an empirical indicator of conscious strategic coordination. An empirical framework is provided for measuring corporate strategic coherence through the synchronized stability of financial and sustainability outcomes.