IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/ceuecj/v11y2024i58p141-158n11.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Relationship Between ESG Rating and Firm Value—Evidence from Companies Listed on Polish Capital Market in the WIG-ESG Index

Author

Listed:
  • Mikołajek-Gocejna Magdalena

    (SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Institiute of Value Management, al. Niepodległości 162, 02-554 Warsaw, Poland)

Abstract

The literature are abound with studies on the impact of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors on a company‘s value, or more broadly, on its financial performance. However, most analyses concern developed markets, mainly because the largest rating agencies operate in these markets, as well as because these are markets where ESG awareness and regulations have developed much faster. In developing markets, the number of studies in this area is disproportionately smaller. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between the environmental, social, and governance ratings (ESGR) of Polish listed companies included in the WIG-ESG index and their value. This study covered 36 companies listed in WIG-ESG in the period of 2019–2023. We used market data, financial data from examined companies and ESG data provided by Refinitive. The empirical results were negative but a non-statistically significant influence of ESGR and a company’s value. Further analysis indicated that none of the sub-ratings (environmental rating (ER), social rating (SR) and governance rating (GR)) had significant impact on value. The Polish market does not seem to recognize the potential of ESG factors in building the long-term value of companies and believes that the costs of ESG factors outweigh the benefits. Investors seem to disregard or underestimate ESG criteria when valuing companies, which may seem irrational when looking at the long-term effects of ESG factors. This article contributes to the existing literature by being part of the research on ESG factors and company value. The article expands the field of analysing the relationship between ESGRs and corporate value by examining this relationship not only using the overall ESGR, but also its individual sub-ratings. We also attempt to answer the question of where the channels of transmission of ESGRs on the value of the company are located, and which areas affect ratings. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of this type for the Polish market.

Suggested Citation

  • Mikołajek-Gocejna Magdalena, 2024. "The Relationship Between ESG Rating and Firm Value—Evidence from Companies Listed on Polish Capital Market in the WIG-ESG Index," Central European Economic Journal, Sciendo, vol. 11(58), pages 141-158, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:ceuecj:v:11:y:2024:i:58:p:141-158:n:11
    DOI: 10.2478/ceej-2024-0011
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2478/ceej-2024-0011
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2478/ceej-2024-0011?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nollet, Joscha & Filis, George & Mitrokostas, Evangelos, 2016. "Corporate social responsibility and financial performance: A non-linear and disaggregated approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 52(PB), pages 400-407.
    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. Omaima A.G. Hassan & Peter Romilly, 2018. "Relations between corporate economic performance, environmental disclosure and greenhouse gas emissions: New insights," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 893-909, November.
    2. Shen, Chung-Hua & Wu, Meng-Wen & Chen, Ting-Hsuan & Fang, Hao, 2016. "To engage or not to engage in corporate social responsibility: Empirical evidence from global banking sector," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 207-225.
    3. Yang, Guang & Huang, Ruixian & Shi, Yukun & Jia, Zhehao, 2021. "Does a CEO's private reputation impede corporate governance?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    4. Camélia Radu & Nadia Smaili, 2022. "Alignment Versus Monitoring: An Examination of the Effect of the CSR Committee and CSR-Linked Executive Compensation on CSR Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(1), pages 145-163, September.
    5. Dang, Rey & Houanti, L'Hocine & Sahut, Jean-Michel & Simioni, Michel, 2021. "Do women on corporate boards influence corporate social performance? A control function approach," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    6. Łukasz Matuszak & Ewa Różańska, 2019. "A Non-Linear and Disaggregated Approach to Studying the Impact of CSR on Accounting Profitability: Evidence from the Polish Banking Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-21, January.
    7. Tello, Mario A., 2020. "Conceptualizing social impact: A geographic perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 562-571.
    8. 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.
    9. Wang, Kai & Li, Tingting & San, Ziyao & Gao, Hao, 2023. "How does corporate ESG performance affect stock liquidity? Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    10. Judita Adamkaite & Dalia Streimikiene & Kristina Rudzioniene, 2023. "The impact of social responsibility on corporate financial performance in the energy sector: Evidence from Lithuania," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(1), pages 91-104, January.
    11. Kahloul, Ines & Sbai, Hicham & Grira, Jocelyn, 2022. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility reporting improve financial performance? The moderating role of board diversity and gender composition," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 305-314.
    12. Ajay Kumar & Jyotirani Gupta & Niladri Das, 2022. "Revisiting the influence of corporate sustainability practices on corporate financial performance: An evidence from the global energy sector," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 3231-3253, November.
    13. Monica Aureliana Petcu & Maria Iulia Sobolevschi-David & Stefania Cristina Curea, 2021. "Configuration of an Integrated Quality-Social Responsibility-Performance Management System in the Hospitality Industry. Case Studies: Balneary Tourism Romania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-17, June.
    14. Maria Giuseppina Bruna & Rey Đặng & Aymen Ammari & L'Hocine Houanti, 2021. "The effect of board gender diversity on corporate social performance: An instrumental variable quantile regression approach," Post-Print hal-04455603, HAL.
    15. Tzouvanas, Panagiotis & Kizys, Renatas & Chatziantoniou, Ioannis & Sagitova, Roza, 2020. "Environmental and financial performance in the European manufacturing sector: An analysis of extreme tail dependency," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(6).
    16. Rainer Lueg, 2022. "Constructs for Assessing Integrated Reports—Testing the Predictive Validity of a Taxonomy for Organization Size, Industry, and Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-13, June.
    17. Chunying Wu & Xiong Xiong & Ya Gao, 2022. "Does ESG Certification Improve Price Efficiency in the Chinese Stock Market?," Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Springer;Japanese Association of Financial Economics and Engineering, vol. 29(1), pages 97-122, March.
    18. Yong Sun & Hui Liu & Jiwei Liu & Mingyu Sun & Qun Li, 2023. "Analysis of Factors Influencing the Corporate Performance of Listed Companies in China’s Agriculture and Forestry Sector Based on a Panel Threshold Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-21, January.
    19. Khan, Muhammad Arif, 2022. "ESG disclosure and Firm performance: A bibliometric and meta analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    20. Ben Lahouel, Béchir & Bruna, Maria-Giuseppina & Ben Zaied, Younes, 2020. "The curvilinear relationship between environmental performance and financial performance: An investigation of listed french firms using panel smooth transition model," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ESG rating; ESG; firm value; Tobin‘s Q; environment rating; social rating; governance rating;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:vrs:ceuecj:v:11:y:2024:i:58:p:141-158:n:11. 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: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.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.