IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v16y2023i10p435-d1254304.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

American Corporate Sustainability and Extra-Financial Performance: Is There an Inverted-U Relationship

Author

Listed:
  • Nahed Zghidi

    (Commercial High School of Sfax, University of Sfax, Airport Road Km 4.5, BP 1081, Sfax 3018, Tunisia)

  • Rihab Bousnina

    (Faculty of Economics and Management of Sfax, University of Sfax, Airport Road Km 4, BP 1088, Sfax 3018, Tunisia)

  • Samarkand Mokni

    (Faculty of Economics and Management of Sfax, University of Sfax, Airport Road Km 4, BP 1088, Sfax 3018, Tunisia)

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the nexus between extra-financial performance (sustainable ESG) and firm performance within a sample of American firms from different vital sectors. In particular, we examine whether extra-financial performance has an effect on company performance. To this end, we have used a non-linear model. The study is based on a sample of 93 American companies over the period 2010–2019. We find that the association between extra-financial performance and firms’ financial performance is nonlinear, exhibiting an inverted U-shaped pattern. In particular, the results emphasize the importance of caution when pursuing ESG initiatives. Enterprise managers should monitor the effect of ESG activities on extra-financial performance and confirm the ESG threshold of their organization.

Suggested Citation

  • Nahed Zghidi & Rihab Bousnina & Samarkand Mokni, 2023. "American Corporate Sustainability and Extra-Financial Performance: Is There an Inverted-U Relationship," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-18, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:16:y:2023:i:10:p:435-:d:1254304
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/16/10/435/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/16/10/435/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jo Thori Lind & Halvor Mehlum, 2010. "With or Without U? The Appropriate Test for a U‐Shaped Relationship," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 72(1), pages 109-118, February.
    2. Milton Friedman, 1962. "The Interpolation of Time Series by Related Series," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number frie62-1.
    3. Sarkis, Joseph & Cordeiro, James J., 2001. "An empirical evaluation of environmental efficiencies and firm performance: Pollution prevention versus end-of-pipe practice," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(1), pages 102-113, November.
    4. Sandra A. Waddock & Samuel B. Graves, 1997. "The Corporate Social Performance–Financial Performance Link," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(4), pages 303-319, April.
    5. Preston, Lee E. & Sapienza, Harry J., 1990. "Stakeholder management and corporate performance," Journal of Behavioral Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 361-375.
    6. Olaf Weber, 2014. "Environmental, Social and Governance Reporting in China," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(5), pages 303-317, July.
    7. Doorman, Frans, 1990. "A social science contribution to applied agricultural research for the small farm sector: The diagnostic case study as a tool for problem identification," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 273-290.
    8. Goss, Allen & Roberts, Gordon S., 2011. "The impact of corporate social responsibility on the cost of bank loans," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1794-1810, July.
    9. Milton Friedman, 1962. "Introduction to "The Interpolation of Time Series by Related Series"," NBER Chapters, in: The Interpolation of Time Series by Related Series, pages 1-3, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Fullerton, Thomas M. & Jiménez, Alan A. & Walke, Adam G., 2015. "An econometric analysis of retail gasoline prices in a border metropolitan economy," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 450-461.
    3. Jonathan Eaton & Samuel Kortum & Brent Neiman & John Romalis, 2016. "Trade and the Global Recession," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(11), pages 3401-3438, November.
    4. Kim, Taeyeon & Kim, Hyun-Dong & Park, Kwangwoo, 2020. "CEO inside debt holdings and CSR activities," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 508-529.
    5. Barnett, William A. & Su, Liting, 2017. "Data sources for the credit-card augmented Divisia monetary aggregates," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(PB), pages 899-910.
    6. Zadrozny, Peter A., 2016. "Extended Yule–Walker identification of VARMA models with single- or mixed-frequency data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 193(2), pages 438-446.
    7. de Haen, H. & von Braun, J., 1977. "Regionale Veränderungen des Arbeitseinsatzes in der Landwirtschaft – Demographische Analyse und arbeitsmarktpolitische Schlussfolgerungen," Proceedings “Schriften der Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften des Landbaues e.V.”, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA), vol. 14.
    8. Lai Van Vo & Huong Thi Thu Le & Youngbin Kim, 2023. "Board interlocks, career prospects and corporate social responsibility," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(4), pages 4565-4595, December.
    9. Champagne, Claudia & Coggins, Frank & Sodjahin, Amos, 2022. "Can extra-financial ratings serve as an indicator of ESG risk?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    10. Alvaredo, Facundo & Atkinson, Anthony B. & Morelli, Salvatore, 2018. "Top wealth shares in the UK over more than a century," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 26-47.
    11. Thomas M. FULLERTON & Miguel MARTINEZ & Wm. Doyle SMITH & Adam WALKE, 2015. "Inflationary Dynamics in Guatemala," Journal of Economics and Political Economy, KSP Journals, vol. 2(4), pages 436-444, December.
    12. Francesco Gangi & Eugenio D'Angelo & Lucia Michela Daniele & Nicola Varrone, 2021. "Assessing the impact of socially responsible human resources management on company environmental performance and cost of debt," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5), pages 1511-1527, September.
    13. Maretno A. Harjoto & Dongshin Kim & Indrarini Laksmana & Richard C. Walton, 2019. "Corporate social responsibility and stock split," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 575-600, August.
    14. Bai Xue & Zhuang Zhang & Pingli Li, 2020. "Corporate environmental performance, environmental management and firm risk," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1074-1096, March.
    15. Boubaker, Sabri & Chebbi, Kaouther & Grira, Jocelyn, 2020. "Top management inside debt and corporate social responsibility? Evidence from the US," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 98-115.
    16. María Luisa Pajuelo Moreno & Teresa Duarte-Atoche, 2019. "Relationship between Sustainable Disclosure and Performance—An Extension of Ullmann’s Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-33, August.
    17. Sang T. Truong & Humberto Barreto, 2023. "Teaching Income Inequality with Data-Driven Visualization," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 68(1), pages 140-155, March.
    18. Peter Fuleky & Carl S. Bonham, 2013. "Forecasting with Mixed Frequency Samples: The Case of Common Trends," Working Papers 201305, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    19. Olaf Weber & Rezaul Karim Chowdury, 2020. "Corporate Sustainability in Bangladeshi Banks: Proactive or Reactive Ethical Behavior?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-18, September.
    20. Yu Jin & Wallace E. Huffman, 2016. "Measuring public agricultural research and extension and estimating their impacts on agricultural productivity: new insights from U.S. evidence," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 47(1), pages 15-31, 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:gam:jjrfmx:v:16:y:2023:i:10:p:435-:d:1254304. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.