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Natural disasters, risk salience, and corporate ESG disclosure

Author

Listed:
  • Huang, Qiping
  • Li, Yongjia
  • Lin, Meimei
  • McBrayer, Garrett A.

Abstract

We examine how natural disasters affect the corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure policies of firms located close to disaster areas. We study firms located in counties neighboring those impacted by natural disasters and find that, on average, these firms increase their ESG disclosure transparency over the period subsequent to the disaster. Given that our sample firms are located outside of the area directly impacted by the disaster, the changes in disclosure transparency after the disaster are consistent with managers increasing their preference for transparency as their risk salience increases. Further, we find that firms with a higher percentage of local institutional ownership are more likely to increase ESG disclosure after experiencing nearby disasters. The findings suggest that managers strategically react to a change in investors' risk perception by increasing ESG disclosure.

Suggested Citation

  • Huang, Qiping & Li, Yongjia & Lin, Meimei & McBrayer, Garrett A., 2022. "Natural disasters, risk salience, and corporate ESG disclosure," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:72:y:2022:i:c:s0929119921002741
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2021.102152
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