IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2019i1p254-d302728.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Role of Sustainability in Brand Equity Value in the Financial Sector

Author

Listed:
  • Samer Ajour El Zein

    (School of Business Administration, Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona C. Jordi Girona 1-3, 08034 Barcelona, Spain)

  • Carolina Consolacion-Segura

    (School of Telecommunications Engineering, Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona C. Jordi Girona 1-3, 08034 Barcelona, Spain)

  • Ruben Huertas-Garcia

    (Economics and Business Administration Department, University of Barcelona, Avenida diagonal 690, 08034 Barcelona, Spain)

Abstract

The behavior of firms is changing as new kinds of businesses evolve. In particular, companies are now seeking to optimize their value, especially their intangible value—referred to as brand equity value—which has many behavioral drivers. The analysis of brand equity determinants in the financial sector (e.g., ethical investments, sustainability and firm behavior) has received little attention. The methodology used in this study included the collection of information from publicly listed companies, followed by the execution of a statistical analysis to study the correlations between brand equity values and their determinants. We aimed to close this gap by raising the awareness of the positive impacts of sustainable investments in the financial sector and the need for a managerial implementation model to build a sustainability-oriented brand value. The objective of this research was to examine the relationships between elements such as sustainability scores or diversity measures and firms’ brand value. Considering sectoral and regional effects, we observed a positive relationship between environmental and social governance scores and brand equity value.

Suggested Citation

  • Samer Ajour El Zein & Carolina Consolacion-Segura & Ruben Huertas-Garcia, 2019. "The Role of Sustainability in Brand Equity Value in the Financial Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-19, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2019:i:1:p:254-:d:302728
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/1/254/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/1/254/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andreas Christofi & Petros Christofi & Seleshi Sisaye, 2012. "Corporate sustainability: historical development and reporting practices," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 35(2), pages 157-172, January.
    2. Damodaran, Aswath, 2007. "Valuation Approaches and Metrics: A Survey of the Theory and Evidence," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 1(8), pages 693-784, April.
    3. 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.
    4. Arnim Wiek & Olaf Weber, 2014. "Sustainability challenges and the ambivalent role of the financial sector," Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 9-20, January.
    5. Stephen Brammer & Chris Brooks & Stephen Pavelin, 2006. "Corporate Social Performance and Stock Returns: UK Evidence from Disaggregate Measures," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 35(3), pages 97-116, September.
    6. Ivana First & Deepali Sinha Khetriwal, 2010. "Exploring the relationship between environmental orientation and brand value: is there fire or only smoke?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(2), pages 90-103, February.
    7. Shameek Konar & Mark A. Cohen, 2001. "Does The Market Value Environmental Performance?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(2), pages 281-289, May.
    8. 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.
    9. Marcus Wagner & Stefan Schaltegger, 2004. "The Effect of Corporate Environmental Strategy Choice and Environmental Performance on Competitiveness and Economic Performance," Post-Print hal-00279008, HAL.
    10. Patricia Crifo & Vanina Forget, 2013. "Think Global, Invest Responsible: Why the Private Equity Industry Goes Green," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(1), pages 21-48, August.
    11. Stephen Fowler & C. Hope, 2007. "A Critical Review of Sustainable Business Indices and their Impact," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 76(3), pages 243-252, December.
    12. Chi-Shiun Lai & Chih-Jen Chiu & Chin-Fang Yang & Da-Chang Pai, 2010. "The Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Brand Performance: The Mediating Effect of Industrial Brand Equity and Corporate Reputation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 95(3), pages 457-469, September.
    13. Ioanna Boulouta & Christos Pitelis, 2014. "Who Needs CSR? The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on National Competitiveness," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 119(3), pages 349-364, February.
    14. Seongho Kang & Won‐Moo Hur, 2012. "Investigating the Antecedents of Green Brand Equity: A Sustainable Development Perspective," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(5), pages 306-316, September.
    15. Fernandez, Pablo, 2002. "Valuation Methods and Shareholder Value Creation," Elsevier Monographs, Elsevier, edition 1, number 9780122538414.
    16. Wagner, Marcus & Schaltegger, Stefan, 2004. "The Effect of Corporate Environmental Strategy Choice and Environmental Performance on Competitiveness and Economic Performance:: An Empirical Study of EU Manufacturing," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 557-572, October.
    17. Michael Redclift, 2005. "Sustainable development (1987-2005): an oxymoron comes of age," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(4), pages 212-227.
    18. Ker-Tah Hsu, 2012. "The Advertising Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Corporate Reputation and Brand Equity: Evidence from the Life Insurance Industry in Taiwan," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(2), pages 189-201, August.
    19. Al-Tuwaijri, Sulaiman A. & Christensen, Theodore E. & Hughes, K. II, 2004. "The relations among environmental disclosure, environmental performance, and economic performance: a simultaneous equations approach," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 29(5-6), pages 447-471.
    20. Milton Friedman, 2007. "The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits," Springer Books, in: Walther Ch Zimmerli & Markus Holzinger & Klaus Richter (ed.), Corporate Ethics and Corporate Governance, pages 173-178, Springer.
    21. Dan Dumitriu & Gheorghe Militaru & Dana Corina Deselnicu & Andrei Niculescu & Mirona Ana-Maria Popescu, 2019. "A Perspective Over Modern SMEs: Managing Brand Equity, Growth and Sustainability Through Digital Marketing Tools and Techniques," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-24, April.
    22. Maria Carolina Rezende de Carvalho Ferreira & Vinicius Amorim Sobreiro & Herbert Kimura & Flavio Luiz de Moraes Barboza, 2016. "A systematic review of literature about finance and sustainability," Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(2), pages 112-147, April.
    23. Arnd Vomberg & Christian Homburg & Torsten Bornemann, 2015. "Talented people and strong brands: The contribution of human capital and brand equity to firm value," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(13), pages 2122-2131, December.
    24. Pratima Bansal, 2005. "Evolving sustainably: a longitudinal study of corporate sustainable development," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 197-218, March.
    25. Katrin Kaufer, 2014. "Social responsibility as a core business model in banking: a case study in the financial sector," Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 76-89, January.
    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. Marc Dressler & Ivan Paunovic, 2021. "The Value of Consistency: Portfolio Labeling Strategies and Impact on Winery Brand Equity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-18, January.
    2. Musaab Mousa & Judit Sági & Zoltán Zéman, 2021. "Brand and Firm Value: Evidence from Arab Emerging Markets," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-13, January.
    3. Kara, Karahan & Yalçın, Galip Cihan & Akagün Ergin, Elif & Simic, Vladimir & Pamucar, Dragan, 2024. "A neutrosophic WENSLO-ARLON model for measuring sustainable brand equity performance," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    4. Rendani Mavis Matakanye & Huibrecht Margaretha van der Poll & Binganidzo Muchara, 2021. "Do Companies in Different Industries Respond Differently to Stakeholders’ Pressures When Prioritising Environmental, Social and Governance Sustainability Performance?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-22, October.
    5. Xiaoxi Cheng & Ao Cheng, 2023. "Research on the Impact of Event Sustainability on Brand Equity in Event Activities: A Case Study of Hainan Expo," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-20, August.

    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. Nour Chams & Josep García-Blandón & Khaled Hassan, 2021. "Role Reversal! Financial Performance as an Antecedent of ESG: The Moderating Effect of Total Quality Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-18, June.
    2. Soh Young In & Young Joon Lee & Robert G. Eccles, 2024. "Looking back and looking forward: A scientometric analysis of the evolution of corporate sustainability research over 47 years," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(3), pages 2225-2259, May.
    3. Josep Garcia‐Blandon & David Castillo‐Merino & Nour Chams, 2020. "Sustainable development: The stock market's view of environmental policy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3273-3285, December.
    4. Fernando Gómez-Bezares & Wojciech Przychodzen & Justyna Przychodzen, 2016. "Corporate Sustainability and Shareholder Wealth—Evidence from British Companies and Lessons from the Crisis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-22, March.
    5. Markus Hang & Jerome Geyer‐Klingeberg & Andreas W. Rathgeber, 2019. "It is merely a matter of time: A meta‐analysis of the causality between environmental performance and financial performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 257-273, February.
    6. Eduardo Duque-Grisales & Javier Aguilera-Caracuel, 2021. "Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Scores and Financial Performance of Multilatinas: Moderating Effects of Geographic International Diversification and Financial Slack," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(2), pages 315-334, January.
    7. Rui Coelho & Shital Jayantilal & Joao J. Ferreira, 2023. "The impact of social responsibility on corporate financial performance: A systematic literature review," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(4), pages 1535-1560, July.
    8. Jieun Chung & Charles H. Cho, 2018. "Current Trends within Social and Environmental Accounting Research: A Literature Review," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(2), pages 207-239, June.
    9. Christoph Trumpp & Thomas Guenther, 2017. "Too Little or too much? Exploring U‐shaped Relationships between Corporate Environmental Performance and Corporate Financial Performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 49-68, January.
    10. Felipe Arias Fogliano de Souza Cunha & Erick Meira & Renato J. Orsato, 2021. "Sustainable finance and investment: Review and research agenda," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(8), pages 3821-3838, December.
    11. Estefanía Montoya-Cruz & José Pedro Ramos-Requena & Juan Evangelista Trinidad-Segovia & Miguel Ángel Sánchez-Granero, 2020. "Exploring Arbitrage Strategies in Corporate Social Responsibility Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-17, August.
    12. Scott J. Callan & Janet M. Thomas, 2011. "Executive compensation, corporate social responsibility, and corporate financial performance: a multi‐equation framework," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(6), pages 332-351, November.
    13. Jing Lu & Kathleen Rodenburg & Lianne Foti & Ann Pegoraro, 2022. "Are firms with better sustainability performance more resilient during crises?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 3354-3370, November.
    14. Alberto A. López-Toro & Eva María Sánchez-Teba & María Dolores Benítez-Márquez & Mercedes Rodríguez-Fernández, 2021. "Influence of ESGC Indicators on Financial Performance of Listed Pharmaceutical Companies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-16, April.
    15. Waymond Rodgers & Mouza Al Habsi & George Gamble, 2019. "Sustainability and Firm Performance: A Review and Analysis Using Algorithmic Pathways in the Throughput Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-27, July.
    16. Rajesh Kumar Bhaskaran & Irene Wei Kiong Ting & Sujit K. Sukumaran & Saraswathy Divakaran Sumod, 2020. "Environmental, social and governance initiatives and wealth creation for firms: An empirical examination," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(5), pages 710-729, July.
    17. Mandas, Marco & Lahmar, Oumaima & Piras, Luca & De Lisa, Riccardo, 2024. "ESG reputational risk and market valuation: Evidence from the European banking industry," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    18. Ramakrishnan Ramanathan, 2018. "Understanding Complexity: the Curvilinear Relationship Between Environmental Performance and Firm Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(2), pages 383-393, May.
    19. Shreekant Gupta & Bishwanath Goldar & Shubham Dang, 2019. "Environmental Performance And Capital Markets--Evidence From India," Working papers 303, Centre for Development Economics, Delhi School of Economics.

    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:jsusta:v:12:y:2019:i:1:p:254-:d:302728. 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.