IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/riibaf/v70y2024ipbs0275531924001612.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

ESG rating disagreement and idiosyncratic return volatility: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Xiangqiang
  • Yang, Qingqing
  • Wei, Kai
  • Dai, Peng-Fei

Abstract

Following the increasing importance of sustainable development and the popularity of ESG investing activities, ESG ratings have grown to be crucial references for investors’ decision-making. However, there are substantial disagreements among different rating agencies. This study examines the impact of ESG rating disagreement on idiosyncratic return volatility using data from five prominent rating agencies: SynTao Green Finance, Huazheng, Hexun, Bloomberg, and Rankins ESG Ratings. The findings suggest that ESG rating disagreement will increase idiosyncratic return volatility. This relation is driven by investor attention and noise trading. Heterogeneity tests reveal that the higher analyst coverage and greater analyst forecast bias, the more pronounced the impact of ESG rating disagreement on idiosyncratic return volatility. While firms with foreign investors and more institutional investors can alleviate the interference.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Xiangqiang & Yang, Qingqing & Wei, Kai & Dai, Peng-Fei, 2024. "ESG rating disagreement and idiosyncratic return volatility: Evidence from China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PB).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:riibaf:v:70:y:2024:i:pb:s0275531924001612
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ribaf.2024.102368
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0275531924001612
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ribaf.2024.102368?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. Yexiao Xu & Burton G. Malkiel, 2003. "Investigating the Behavior of Idiosyncratic Volatility," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 76(4), pages 613-644, October.
    2. Jin, Li & Myers, Stewart C., 2006. "R2 around the world: New theory and new tests," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 257-292, February.
    3. Huang, Yuqin & Qiu, Huiyan & Wu, Zhiguo, 2016. "Local bias in investor attention: Evidence from China's Internet stock message boards," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(PA), pages 338-354.
    4. Amir Amel-Zadeh & George Serafeim, 2018. "Why and How Investors Use ESG Information: Evidence from a Global Survey," Financial Analysts Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 74(3), pages 87-103, July.
    5. Rajgopal, Shiva & Venkatachalam, Mohan, 2011. "Financial reporting quality and idiosyncratic return volatility," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1-2), pages 1-20, February.
    6. Christophe BOUCHER & Wassim LE LANN & Stéphane MATTON & Sessi TOKPAVI, 2021. "Backtesting ESG Ratings," LEO Working Papers / DR LEO 2883, Orleans Economics Laboratory / Laboratoire d'Economie d'Orleans (LEO), University of Orleans.
    7. French, Kenneth R. & Roll, Richard, 1986. "Stock return variances : The arrival of information and the reaction of traders," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 5-26, September.
    8. Ľuboš Pástor & Veronesi Pietro, 2003. "Stock Valuation and Learning about Profitability," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(5), pages 1749-1789, October.
    9. Rajgopal, Shiva & Venkatachalam, Mohan, 2011. "Financial reporting quality and idiosyncratic return volatility," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 1-20.
    10. Becchetti, Leonardo & Ciciretti, Rocco & Hasan, Iftekhar, 2015. "Corporate social responsibility, stakeholder risk, and idiosyncratic volatility," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 297-309.
    11. Rajna Gibson Brandon & Philipp Krueger & Peter Steffen Schmidt, 2021. "ESG Rating Disagreement and Stock Returns," Financial Analysts Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 77(4), pages 104-127, October.
    12. Bae, Kee-Hong & Ozoguz, Arzu & Tan, Hongping & Wirjanto, Tony S., 2012. "Do foreigners facilitate information transmission in emerging markets?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(1), pages 209-227.
    13. Guo, Kun & Bian, Yuan & Zhang, Dayong & Ji, Qiang, 2024. "ESG performance and corporate external financing in China: The role of rating disagreement," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    14. Monica Billio & Michele Costola & Iva Hristova & Carmelo Latino & Loriana Pelizzon, 2021. "Inside the ESG ratings: (Dis)agreement and performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5), pages 1426-1445, September.
    15. Gul, Ferdinand A. & Kim, Jeong-Bon & Qiu, Annie A., 2010. "Ownership concentration, foreign shareholding, audit quality, and stock price synchronicity: Evidence from China," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 425-442, March.
    16. Robert G. Eccles & George Serafeim & Michael P. Krzus, 2011. "Market Interest in Nonfinancial Information," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 23(4), pages 113-127, December.
    17. Ting Zhou & Jun Xie & Xiaolin Li, 2017. "Financial Reporting Quality and Idiosyncratic Return Volatility: Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(4), pages 835-847, April.
    18. Lu, Hai & Shin, Jee-Eun & Zhang, Mingyue, 2023. "Financial reporting and disclosure practices in China," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1).
    19. Hao Liang & Luc Renneboog, 2017. "On the Foundations of Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(2), pages 853-910, April.
    20. Zhang, Chu, 2010. "A Reexamination of the Causes of Time-Varying Stock Return Volatilities," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(3), pages 663-684, June.
    21. Aaron K. Chatterji & Rodolphe Durand & David I. Levine & Samuel Touboul, 2016. "Do ratings of firms converge? Implications for managers, investors and strategy researchers," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(8), pages 1597-1614, August.
    22. repec:bla:jfinan:v:58:y:2003:i:5:p:1749-1790 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Leuz, C & Verrecchia, RE, 2000. "The economic consequences of increased disclosure," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38, pages 91-124.
    24. Steven X. Wei & Chu Zhang, 2006. "Why Did Individual Stocks Become More Volatile?," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 79(1), pages 259-292, January.
    25. Hutton, Amy P. & Marcus, Alan J. & Tehranian, Hassan, 2009. "Opaque financial reports, R2, and crash risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 67-86, October.
    26. De Vincentiis, Paola, 2024. "ESG news, stock volatility and tactical disclosure," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    27. Florian Berg & Julian F Kölbel & Roberto Rigobon, 2022. "Aggregate Confusion: The Divergence of ESG Ratings [Corporate social responsibility and firm risk: theory and empirical evidence]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 26(6), pages 1315-1344.
    28. Hu, Xinwen & Hua, Renhai & Liu, Qingfu & Wang, Chuanjie, 2023. "The green fog: Environmental rating disagreement and corporate greenwashing," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    29. Healy, Paul M. & Palepu, Krishna G., 2001. "Information asymmetry, corporate disclosure, and the capital markets: A review of the empirical disclosure literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 405-440, September.
    30. Liu, Xufeng & Wan, Die, 2023. "Retail investor trading and ESG pricing in China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    31. Sakis Kotsantonis & Chris Pinney & George Serafeim, 2016. "ESG Integration in Investment Management: Myths and Realities," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 28(2), pages 10-16, June.
    32. Jiang, George J. & Xu, Danielle & Yao, Tong, 2009. "The Information Content of Idiosyncratic Volatility," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(1), pages 1-28, February.
    33. Avramov, Doron & Cheng, Si & Lioui, Abraham & Tarelli, Andrea, 2022. "Sustainable investing with ESG rating uncertainty," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 642-664.
    34. Robert Bloomfield & Maureen O'Hara & Gideon Saar, 2009. "How Noise Trading Affects Markets: An Experimental Analysis," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(6), pages 2275-2302, June.
    35. Mandas, Marco & Lahmar, Oumaima & Piras, Luca & De Lisa, Riccardo, 2023. "ESG in the financial industry: What matters for rating analysts?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    36. J. Anthony Cookson & Marina Niessner, 2020. "Why Don't We Agree? Evidence from a Social Network of Investors," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(1), pages 173-228, February.
    37. Brad M. Barber & Yi-Tsung Lee & Yu-Jane Liu & Terrance Odean, 2009. "Just How Much Do Individual Investors Lose by Trading?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(2), pages 609-632, February.
    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. Chen, Kan-Xiang & Erzurumlu, Yaman Omer & Gozgor, Giray & Lau, Chi Keung Marco & Turkkan, Melis, 2024. "The impact of economic uncertainty on corporate ESG performance: Global evidence," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(PB).

    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, Xiao & Shen, Dehua & Zhang, Wei, 2018. "Do Chinese internet stock message boards convey firm-specific information?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 1-14.
    2. Guo, Kun & Bian, Yuan & Zhang, Dayong & Ji, Qiang, 2024. "ESG performance and corporate external financing in China: The role of rating disagreement," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    3. Ana Isabel Ramos Domingues & António de Melo da Costa Cerqueira & Elísio Fernando Moreira Brandão, 2016. "Idiosyncratic Volatility and Earnings Quality: Evidence from United Kingdom," FEP Working Papers 579, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    4. Mostafa Monzur Hasan & Ahsan Habib, 2019. "Social capital and idiosyncratic return volatility," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 44(1), pages 3-31, February.
    5. Yu, Haixu & Liang, Chuanyu & Liu, Zhaohua & Wang, He, 2023. "News-based ESG sentiment and stock price crash risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    6. Kryzanowski, Lawrence & Mohsni, Sana, 2015. "Earnings forecasts and idiosyncratic volatilities," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 107-123.
    7. Bravo, Francisco, 2016. "Forward-looking disclosure and corporate reputation as mechanisms to reduce stock return volatility," Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 122-131.
    8. Shahzad, Farrukh & Fareed, Zeeshan & Wang, Zhenkun & Shah, Syed Ghulam Meran, 2020. "Do idiosyncratic risk, market risk, and total risk matter during different firm life cycle stages?," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 537(C).
    9. Hu, Xinwen & Hua, Renhai & Liu, Qingfu & Wang, Chuanjie, 2023. "The green fog: Environmental rating disagreement and corporate greenwashing," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    10. Xiang Zhang & Han Zhou, 2020. "Leverage structure and stock price synchronicity: Evidence from China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-15, July.
    11. Michele Rubino & Ilaria Mastrorocco & Giovanni Maria Garegnani, 2024. "The influence of market and institutional factors on ESG rating disagreement," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(5), pages 3916-3926, September.
    12. Zhang, Wei & Li, Xiao & Shen, Dehua & Teglio, Andrea, 2016. "R2 and idiosyncratic volatility: Which captures the firm-specific return variation?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 298-304.
    13. Norio Kitagawa & Shin' ya Okuda, 2013. "Management Forecasts, Idiosyncratic Risk, and Information Environment," Discussion Papers 2013-38, Kobe University, Graduate School of Business Administration, revised Jul 2013.
    14. Yiwei Fang & Iftekhar Hasan & Woon Sau Leung & Qingwei Wang, 2019. "Foreign ownership, bank information environments, and the international mobility of corporate governance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(9), pages 1566-1593, December.
    15. Kitagawa, Norio & Okuda, Shin’ya, 2016. "Management Forecasts, Idiosyncratic Risk, and the Information Environment," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 487-503.
    16. Abdelsalam, Omneya & Chantziaras, Antonios & Batten, Jonathan A. & Aysan, Ahmet Faruk, 2021. "Major shareholders’ trust and market risk: Substituting weak institutions with trust," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    17. Geng, Yuan & Chen, Jinyu & Liu, Ran, 2024. "ESG rating disagreement and corporate green innovation bubbles: Evidence from Chinese A-share listed firms," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PB).
    18. Zhu, PengCheng & Jog, Vijay & Otchere, Isaac, 2014. "Idiosyncratic volatility and mergers and acquisitions in emerging markets," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 18-48.
    19. Chue, Timothy K. & Gul, Ferdinand A. & Mian, G. Mujtaba, 2019. "Aggregate investor sentiment and stock return synchronicity," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    20. Fenghua Wen & Yujie Yuan & Wei‐Xing Zhou, 2021. "Cross‐shareholding networks and stock price synchronicity: Evidence from China," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 914-948, January.

    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:riibaf:v:70:y:2024:i:pb:s0275531924001612. 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/ribaf .

    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.