IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v60y2024ics154461232301259x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Investor attention and corporate ESG performance

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Zhaoting
  • Zhang, Lei

Abstract

ESG is an important initiative that drives corporate transformation and promotes their sustainable development. This article takes investor attention as the entry point and empirically tests whether investor attention will affect the corporate ESG performance. Empirical results indicate that investor attention can significantly improve the ESG standards of listed companies. Further analysis reveals that the enhancing effect of investor attention on the ESG performance is more pronounced in samples of private enterprises and key polluting companies. The research conclusion provides empirical evidence for regulatory authorities to continuously strengthen investor guidance and promote listed companies' active practice of ESG principles.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Zhaoting & Zhang, Lei, 2024. "Investor attention and corporate ESG performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:60:y:2024:i:c:s154461232301259x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2023.104887
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S154461232301259X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2023.104887?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tang, Wenbin & Zhu, Lili, 2017. "How security prices respond to a surge in investor attention: Evidence from Google Search of ADRs," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 38-50.
    2. Chen, Zhongfei & Xie, Guanxia, 2022. "ESG disclosure and financial performance: Moderating role of ESG investors," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    3. Hillenbrand, Adrian & Schmelzer, André, 2017. "Beyond information: Disclosure, distracted attention, and investor behavior," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 14-21.
    4. Wang, Juxian & Ma, Mengdi & Dong, Tianyi & Zhang, Zheyuan, 2023. "Do ESG ratings promote corporate green innovation? A quasi-natural experiment based on SynTao Green Finance's ESG ratings," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    5. Hirshleifer, David & Teoh, Siew Hong, 2003. "Limited attention, information disclosure, and financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1-3), pages 337-386, December.
    6. Brad M. Barber & Terrance Odean, 2008. "All That Glitters: The Effect of Attention and News on the Buying Behavior of Individual and Institutional Investors," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(2), pages 785-818, April.
    7. Huang, Hongyun & Mbanyele, William & Wang, Fengrong & Song, Malin & Wang, Yuzhang, 2022. "Climbing the quality ladder of green innovation: Does green finance matter?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    8. Duncombe, Samuel & Park, Min & Tarsalewska, Monika & Trojanowski, Grzegorz, 2023. "ESG positioning in private infrastructure fundraising," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    9. Razzaq, Asif & Sharif, Arshian & Ozturk, Ilhan & Skare, Marinko, 2023. "Asymmetric influence of digital finance, and renewable energy technology innovation on green growth in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 310-319.
    10. Zhang, Xiaoke & Zhao, Xuankai & Qu, Linshan, 2021. "Do green policies catalyze green investment? Evidence from ESG investing developments in China," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    11. Zhao, Yi & Wang, Nan & Zhang, Luyang & Sun, Baiqing & Yang, Yuchen, 2022. "The greater the investor attention, the better the post-IPO performance? A view of pre-IPO and post-IPO investor attention," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    12. Mielke, Jahel & Steudle, Gesine A., 2018. "Green Investment and Coordination Failure: An Investors' Perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 88-95.
    13. Stefano Dellavigna & Joshua M. Pollet, 2009. "Investor Inattention and Friday Earnings Announcements," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(2), pages 709-749, April.
    14. Sohag, Kazi & Hassan, M. Kabir & Bakhteyev, Stepan & Mariev, Oleg, 2023. "Do green and dirty investments hedge each other?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    15. Owen Lamont & Andrea Frazzini, 2007. "The Earnings Announcement Premium and Trading Volume," NBER Working Papers 13090, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    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. Song, Jiayi, 2024. "Corporate ESG performance and human capital investment efficiency," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PB).
    2. Lili Chen, 2024. "Data assetization and capital market information efficiency: evidence from Hidden Champion SMEs in China," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-23, December.
    3. Li, Yujie & Hua, Ziyan, 2024. "Environmental protection tax law and corporate ESG performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    4. Gao, Wang & Zhang, Hongwei, 2024. "The role of education attention on high-tech markets in an emerging economy: Evidence from QQR and NCQ techniques," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).

    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. Ramos, Sofia B. & Latoeiro, Pedro & Veiga, Helena, 2020. "Limited attention, salience of information and stock market activity," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 92-108.
    2. Zhu, Hui, 2014. "Implications of limited investor attention to customer–supplier information transfers," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 405-416.
    3. Lin, Mei-Chen & Wu, Chu-Hua & Chiang, Ming-Ti, 2014. "Investor attention and information diffusion from analyst coverage," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 235-246.
    4. Duchin, Ran & Schmidt, Breno, 2013. "Riding the merger wave: Uncertainty, reduced monitoring, and bad acquisitions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(1), pages 69-88.
    5. Michaely, Roni & Rubin, Amir & Vedrashko, Alexander, 2016. "Are Friday announcements special? Overcoming selection bias," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(1), pages 65-85.
    6. Cedric Mbanga & Ali F. Darrat & Jung Chul Park, 2019. "Investor sentiment and aggregate stock returns: the role of investor attention," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 397-428, August.
    7. Hu, Shiyang & Xiang, Cheng & Quan, Xiaofeng, 2023. "Salience theory and mutual fund flows: Empirical evidence from China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    8. Ahmad, Fawad & Oriani, Raffaele, 2022. "Investor attention, information acquisition, and value premium: A mispricing perspective," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    9. Alina Lerman, 2020. "Individual Investors' Attention to Accounting Information: Evidence from Online Financial Communities," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(4), pages 2020-2057, December.
    10. Aytekin Ertan & Stephen A. Karolyi & Peter W. Kelly & Robert Stoumbos, 2022. "Earnings announcement return extrapolation," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 185-230, March.
    11. Azi Ben-Rephael & Bruce I. Carlin & Zhi Da & Ryan D. Israelsen, 2017. "Demand for Information and Asset Pricing," NBER Working Papers 23274, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Wen, Fenghua & Xu, Longhao & Ouyang, Guangda & Kou, Gang, 2019. "Retail investor attention and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    13. Chen, Xing & Diao, Xundi & Wu, Chongfeng, 2022. "Heterogeneous investor attention and post earnings announcement drift: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    14. Qiu, Jiayue & Wu, Hai & Zhang, Lijuan, 2021. "In name only: Information spillovers among Chinese firms with similar stock names during earnings announcements," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    15. Natee Amornsiripanitch & Zeqiong Huang & David Kwon & Jinjie Lin, 2022. "Net Income Measurement, Investor Inattention, and Firm Decisions," Working Papers 22-05, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    16. Doron Israeli & Ron Kasznik & Suhas A. Sridharan, 2022. "Unexpected distractions and investor attention to corporate announcements," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 477-518, June.
    17. Noh, Suzie & So, Eric C. & Verdi, Rodrigo S., 2021. "Calendar rotations: A new approach for studying the impact of timing using earnings announcements," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(3), pages 865-893.
    18. Liu, Bibo & Wang, Huijun & Yu, Jianfeng & Zhao, Shen, 2020. "Time-varying demand for lottery: Speculation ahead of earnings announcements," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(3), pages 789-817.
    19. Jie Cao & Amit Goyal & Xiao Xiao & Xintong Zhan, 2023. "Implied Volatility Changes and Corporate Bond Returns," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(3), pages 1375-1397, March.
    20. Chakrabarty, Bidisha & Moulton, Pamela C., 2012. "Earnings announcements and attention constraints: The role of market design," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 612-634.

    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:eee:finlet:v:60:y:2024:i:c:s154461232301259x. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    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.