IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/corsem/v30y2023i4p1712-1722.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corporate social responsibility performance and the cost of capital in BRICS countries. The problem of selectivity using environmental, social and governance scores

Author

Listed:
  • Paola Fandella
  • Bruno S. Sergi
  • Emiliano Sironi

Abstract

The paper aims to test whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance affects the costs of debt, equity, and a weighted average of those two components in BRICS countries. Theoretically, a decline in the cost of capital is linked to a decrease in the firm risk. We measure CSR performance using the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) combined score from the Thomson Reuters EIKON database for non‐financial enterprises between 2014 and 2019. A panel regression analysis has been run in order to test whether (1) the inclusion in the ESG combined ranking or (2) the level of the scores for ESG combines is linked to a decline in the cost of capital. Empirical evidence suggests that the level of the ESG combined score does not affect the firm's financial risk. Inclusion in the ESG combined index decreases the cost of equity and the average cost of capital instead. Firms that received an ESG combined score pay lower returns to investors.

Suggested Citation

  • Paola Fandella & Bruno S. Sergi & Emiliano Sironi, 2023. "Corporate social responsibility performance and the cost of capital in BRICS countries. The problem of selectivity using environmental, social and governance scores," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(4), pages 1712-1722, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:30:y:2023:i:4:p:1712-1722
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.2447
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2447
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/csr.2447?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lei Ruan & Heng Liu, 2021. "Environmental, Social, Governance Activities and Firm Performance: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-16, January.
    2. Maha Faisal Alsayegh & Rashidah Abdul Rahman & Saeid Homayoun, 2020. "Corporate Economic, Environmental, and Social Sustainability Performance Transformation through ESG Disclosure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-20, May.
    3. Seungwoo Oh & Ahreum Hong & Junseok Hwang, 2017. "An Analysis of CSR on Firm Financial Performance in Stakeholder Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-12, June.
    4. Remmer Sassen & Anne-Kathrin Hinze & Inga Hardeck, 2016. "Impact of ESG factors on firm risk in Europe," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 86(8), pages 867-904, November.
    5. JULES H. Van BINSBERGEN & JOHN R. GRAHAM & JIE YANG, 2010. "The Cost of Debt," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(6), pages 2089-2136, December.
    6. Rafaela Gjergji & Luigi Vena & Salvatore Sciascia & Alessandro Cortesi, 2021. "The effects of environmental, social and governance disclosure on the cost of capital in small and medium enterprises: The role of family business status," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 683-693, January.
    7. Robert G. Eccles & Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim, 2014. "The Impact of Corporate Sustainability on Organizational Processes and Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(11), pages 2835-2857, November.
    8. Wong, Woei Chyuan & Batten, Jonathan A. & Ahmad, Abd Halim & Mohamed-Arshad, Shamsul Bahrain & Nordin, Sabariah & Adzis, Azira Abdul, 2021. "Does ESG certification add firm value?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    9. Nirino, Niccolò & Santoro, Gabriele & Miglietta, Nicola & Quaglia, Roberto, 2021. "Corporate controversies and company's financial performance: Exploring the moderating role of ESG practices," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    10. Michael L. Lemmon & Michael R. Roberts & Jaime F. Zender, 2008. "Back to the Beginning: Persistence and the Cross‐Section of Corporate Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(4), pages 1575-1608, August.
    11. Gunnar Friede & Timo Busch & Alexander Bassen, 2015. "ESG and financial performance: aggregated evidence from more than 2000 empirical studies," Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(4), pages 210-233, October.
    12. Carmen Lorca & Juan Sánchez-Ballesta & Emma García-Meca, 2011. "Board Effectiveness and Cost of Debt," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 100(4), pages 613-631, June.
    13. Fabrizio Crespi & Milena Migliavacca, 2020. "The Determinants of ESG Rating in the Financial Industry: The Same Old Story or a Different Tale?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-20, August.
    14. Nicola Raimo & Alessandra Caragnano & Marianna Zito & Filippo Vitolla & Massimo Mariani, 2021. "Extending the benefits of ESG disclosure: The effect on the cost of debt financing," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(4), pages 1412-1421, July.
    15. William F. Sharpe, 1964. "Capital Asset Prices: A Theory Of Market Equilibrium Under Conditions Of Risk," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 19(3), pages 425-442, September.
    16. Ng, Anthony C. & Rezaee, Zabihollah, 2015. "Business sustainability performance and cost of equity capital," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 128-149.
    17. Ortiz-Molina, Hernán & Phillips, Gordon M., 2014. "Real Asset Illiquidity and the Cost of Capital," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(1), pages 1-32, February.
    18. Azmi, Wajahat & Hassan, M. Kabir & Houston, Reza & Karim, Mohammad Sydul, 2021. "ESG activities and banking performance: International evidence from emerging economies," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    19. Eliwa, Yasser & Aboud, Ahmed & Saleh, Ahmed, 2021. "ESG practices and the cost of debt: Evidence from EU countries," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    20. Guido Abate & Ignazio Basile & Pierpaolo Ferrari, 2021. "The level of sustainability and mutual fund performance in Europe: An empirical analysis using ESG ratings," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5), pages 1446-1455, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vilija Aleknevièiene & Sandra Stralkute, 2023. "Impact of corporate social responsibility on cost of debt in Scandinavian public companies," Oeconomia Copernicana, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 14(2), pages 585-608, June.
    2. Duarte Alonso, Abel & Vu, Oanh Thi Kim & Nguyen, Trung Q. & McClelland, Robert & Nguyen, Ngan M. & Huynh, Hoa Thi Ngoc & Tran, Thanh Duc, 2024. "Industry 4.0 involvement and knowledge management across industries: A qualitative investigation from an emerging economy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    3. Wu, Zihao & Lin, Siliang & Chen, Tianhao & Luo, Chunyang & Xu, Hui, 2023. "Does effective corporate governance mitigate the negative effect of ESG controversies on firm value?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1772-1793.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Li, WeiWei & Padmanabhan, Prasad & Huang, Chia-Hsing, 2024. "ESG and debt structure: Is the nature of this relationship nonlinear?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    2. Andrieș, Alin Marius & Sprincean, Nicu, 2023. "ESG performance and banks’ funding costs," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    3. Haowen Tian & Gaoliang Tian, 2022. "Corporate sustainability and trade credit financing: Evidence from environmental, social, and governance ratings," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1896-1908, September.
    4. Chunya Ren & Irene Wei Kiong Ting & Wen‐Min Lu & Qian Long Kweh, 2022. "Nonlinear effects of ESG on energy‐adjusted firm efficiency: Evidence from the stakeholder engagement of apple incorporated," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1231-1246, September.
    5. Massimiliano Cerciello & Francesco Busato & Simone Taddeo, 2023. "The effect of sustainable business practices on profitability. Accounting for strategic disclosure," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(2), pages 802-819, March.
    6. Lai, Xiaobing & Zhang, Fan, 2022. "Can ESG certification help company get out of over-indebtedness? Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    7. Zhang, Dongyang, 2023. "Does green finance really inhibit extreme hypocritical ESG risk? A greenwashing perspective exploration," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    8. Ren, Xiaohang & Zeng, Gudian & Zhao, Yang, 2023. "Digital finance and corporate ESG performance: Empirical evidence from listed companies in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    9. Daniel Zdolšek & Sabina Taškar Beloglavec, 2023. "Sustainability Reporting Ecosystem: A Once-in-a-Lifetime Overhaul during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-22, April.
    10. Jin Zhu & Fei Huang, 2023. "Transformational Leadership, Organizational Innovation, and ESG Performance: Evidence from SMEs in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-23, March.
    11. Ho, Ly & Bai, Min & Lu, Yue & Qin, Yafeng, 2021. "The effect of corporate sustainability performance on leverage adjustments," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(5).
    12. Qian, Shuitu & Yu, Wenzhe, 2024. "Green finance and environmental, social, and governance performance," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA), pages 1185-1202.
    13. Jaime F. Lavin & Alejandro A. Montecinos-Pearce, 2022. "Heterogeneous Firms and Benefits of ESG Disclosure: Cost of Debt Financing in an Emerging Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-21, November.
    14. Xiaoling Yu & Kaitian Xiao, 2022. "Does ESG Performance Affect Firm Value? Evidence from a New ESG-Scoring Approach for Chinese Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-40, December.
    15. Ye Lim Jung & Hyoung Sun Yoo, 2023. "Environmental, social, and governance activities and firm performance: Global evidence and the moderating effect of market competition," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(6), pages 2830-2839, November.
    16. Giovanni Catello Landi & Francesca Iandolo & Antonio Renzi & Andrea Rey, 2022. "Embedding sustainability in risk management: The impact of environmental, social, and governance ratings on corporate financial risk," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(4), pages 1096-1107, July.
    17. Ge Ge & Xiang Xiao & Zhenzhu Li & Qinghui Dai, 2022. "Does ESG Performance Promote High-Quality Development of Enterprises in China? The Mediating Role of Innovation Input," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-24, March.
    18. Lei Ruan & Heng Liu, 2021. "Environmental, Social, Governance Activities and Firm Performance: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-16, January.
    19. Hai-Yen Chang & Lien-Wen Liang & Yu-Luan Liu, 2021. "Using Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) and Financial Indicators to Measure Bank Cost Efficiency in Asia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-20, October.
    20. Rajesh, R. & Rajeev, A. & Rajendran, Chandrasekharan, 2022. "Corporate social performances of firms in select developed economies: A comparative study," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:30:y:2023:i:4:p:1712-1722. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1535-3966 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.