IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i12p3276-d239658.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mapping the ESG Behavior of European Companies. A Holistic Kohonen Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Irina-Eugenia Iamandi

    (Faculty of International Business and Economics, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 6 Romană Square, 010374 Bucharest, Romania
    Research Center in International Business and Economics (CCREI), 6 Romană Square, 010374 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Laura-Gabriela Constantin

    (Faculty of International Business and Economics, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 6 Romană Square, 010374 Bucharest, Romania
    Research Center in International Business and Economics (CCREI), 6 Romană Square, 010374 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Sebastian Madalin Munteanu

    (Faculty of Management, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 6 Romană Square, 010374 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Bogdan Cernat-Gruici

    (Faculty of International Business and Economics, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 6 Romană Square, 010374 Bucharest, Romania)

Abstract

In the context of increased awareness for complying with the multiple requirements for sustainable development, the stakeholders need to have the proper information for analyzing the corporate behaviors from various perspectives. Thus, the purpose of this research is to investigate and map the sustainability patterns of European companies at the beginning of 2019, in order to uncover valuable insights into the corporate sustainable behaviors. The Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performances of 1165 European companies were considered by applying the Kohonen neural network for clustering purposes at three main levels: (1) ESG overall level, including country and sectoral perspectives; (2) ESG thematic level; (3) ESG four-folded innovative level (stakeholder, perspective, management level and focus views). All three analyses carried out show a three-clustering solution—Lower, Middle and Higher ESG clusters. Most firms are top ESG performers and the companies with good ESG scores also have more related controversies. The results highlight the sustainability profiles of the examined companies. Firstly, the environmental and social priorities are preferred over corporate governance targets. Secondly, companies tend to implement a business-customized ESG approach for achieving organizational efficiency and competitiveness. Thirdly, there is a higher consideration of employees, external-directed measures, operational issues and process-orientation in the corporate ESG performance and development. The ESG approach of the European reporting companies is mainly mature, strategic and long-term oriented, aimed to increase the corporate competitiveness and to support the societal well-being altogether.

Suggested Citation

  • Irina-Eugenia Iamandi & Laura-Gabriela Constantin & Sebastian Madalin Munteanu & Bogdan Cernat-Gruici, 2019. "Mapping the ESG Behavior of European Companies. A Holistic Kohonen Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-41, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:12:p:3276-:d:239658
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/12/3276/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/12/3276/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    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.
    2. Sebastian Utz, 2019. "Corporate scandals and the reliability of ESG assessments: evidence from an international sample," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 483-511, April.
    3. Marco Taliento & Christian Favino & Antonio Netti, 2019. "Impact of Environmental, Social, and Governance Information on Economic Performance: Evidence of a Corporate ‘Sustainability Advantage’ from Europe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-26, March.
    4. Egidio Riva & Mario Lucchini, 2018. "Firm performance: taxonomy of European companies using self-organizing maps," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 457-477, January.
    5. 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.
    6. Sandra Cavaco & Patricia Crifo, 2014. "CSR and financial performance: complementarity between environmental, social and business behaviours," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(27), pages 3323-3338, September.
    7. Idoya Ferrero-Ferrero & María Ángeles Fernández-Izquierdo & María Jesús Muñoz-Torres, 2016. "The Effect of Environmental, Social and Governance Consistency on Economic Results," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-16, October.
    8. Gregor Dorfleitner & Gerhard Halbritter & Mai Nguyen, 2016. "The risk of social responsibility -- is it systematic?," Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 1-14, January.
    9. Filippo Vitolla & Nicola Raimo & Michele Rubino, 2019. "Appreciations, criticisms, determinants, and effects of integrated reporting: A systematic literature review," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(2), pages 518-528, March.
    10. Amal Aouadi & Sylvain Marsat, 2018. "Do ESG Controversies Matter for Firm Value? Evidence from International Data," Post-Print halshs-02007374, HAL.
    11. Chao Bian & Christopher Gan & Zhaohua Li & Baiding Hu, 2016. "Corporate social responsibility engagement, corporate financial performance and CEO characteristics," International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 11(3), pages 243-265.
    12. Amal Aouadi & Sylvain Marsat, 2018. "Do ESG Controversies Matter for Firm Value? Evidence from International Data," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(4), pages 1027-1047, September.
    13. Elena Escrig-Olmedo & María Ángeles Fernández-Izquierdo & Idoya Ferrero-Ferrero & Juana María Rivera-Lirio & María Jesús Muñoz-Torres, 2019. "Rating the Raters: Evaluating how ESG Rating Agencies Integrate Sustainability Principles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-16, February.
    14. Zhi Tang & Clyde Eiríkur Hull & Sandra Rothenberg, 2012. "How Corporate Social Responsibility Engagement Strategy Moderates the CSR–Financial Performance Relationship," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(7), pages 1274-1303, November.
    15. Guillermo Badía & Vicente Pina & Lourdes Torres, 2019. "Financial Performance of Government Bond Portfolios Based on Environmental, Social and Governance Criteria," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-13, April.
    16. Jae-Joon Han & Hyun Jeong Kim & Jeongmin Yu, 2016. "Empirical study on relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance in Korea," Asian Journal of Sustainability and Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 61-76, December.
    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. Peixin Li & Rongxi Zhou & Yahui Xiong, 2020. "Can ESG Performance Affect Bond Default Rate? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-12, April.
    2. Biasin, Massimo & Cerqueti, Roy & Giacomini, Emanuela & Marinelli, Nicoletta & Quaranta, Anna Grazia & Riccetti, Luca, 2022. "Clusters of social impact firms: A complex network approach," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    3. Fabián Blanes & Cristina De Fuentes & Rubén Porcuna, 2021. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Managerial Compensation: Further Evidence from Spanish Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-21, June.
    4. Ilze Zumente & Nataļja Lāce, 2021. "ESG Rating—Necessity for the Investor or the Company?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-14, August.
    5. Cheng-Hung Tsai & Eugene Burgos Mutuc, 2020. "Evidence in Asian Food Industry: Intellectual Capital, Corporate Financial Performance, and Corporate Social Responsibility," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-21, January.
    6. Fengyan Wang & Ziyuan Sun, 2022. "Does the Environmental Regulation Intensity and ESG Performance Have a Substitution Effect on the Impact of Enterprise Green Innovation: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-24, July.
    7. Mirela Sichigea & Marian Ilie Siminica & Daniel Circiumaru & Silviu Carstina & Nela-Loredana Caraba-Meita, 2020. "A Comparative Approach of the Environmental Performance between Periods with Positive and Negative Accounting Returns of EEA Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-18, September.
    8. Franco Rubino & Francesco Napoli, 2020. "What Impact Does Corporate Governance Have on Corporate Environmental Performances? An Empirical Study of Italian Listed Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-21, July.

    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. Rajesh, R. & Rajeev, A. & Rajendran, Chandrasekharan, 2022. "Corporate social performances of firms in select developed economies: A comparative study," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    2. 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.
    3. Ramírez-Orellana, Alicia & Martínez-Victoria, MCarmen & García-Amate, Antonio & Rojo-Ramírez, Alfonso A., 2023. "Is the corporate financial strategy in the oil and gas sector affected by ESG dimensions?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    4. Khan, Muhammad Arif, 2022. "ESG disclosure and Firm performance: A bibliometric and meta analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    5. Radu-Alexandru Șerban & Diana Marieta Mihaiu & Mihai Țichindelean, 2022. "Environment, Social, and Governance Score and Value Added Impacts on Market Capitalization: A Sectoral-Based Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-25, February.
    6. Alfonso Del Giudice & Silvia Rigamonti, 2020. "Does Audit Improve the Quality of ESG Scores? Evidence from Corporate Misconduct," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-16, July.
    7. Chen, Lifeng & Khurram, Muhammad Usman & Gao, Yuying & Abedin, Mohammad Zoynul & Lucey, Brian, 2023. "ESG disclosure and technological innovation capabilities of the Chinese listed companies," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    8. Shang Gao & Fanchen Meng & Zhouyang Gu & Zhiyuan Liu & Muhammad Farrukh, 2021. "Mapping and Clustering Analysis on Environmental, Social and Governance Field a Bibliometric Analysis Using Scopus," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-17, June.
    9. 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.
    10. Paola Demartini & Claudia Pagliei, 2023. "Can we trust ESG Ratings? Some insights based on a bibliometric analysis of ESG data quality and rating reliability," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2023(2 Suppl.), pages 161-187.
    11. Yaghoub Abdi & Xiaoni Li & Xavier Càmara-Turull, 2022. "Exploring the impact of sustainability (ESG) disclosure on firm value and financial performance (FP) in airline industry: the moderating role of size and age," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 5052-5079, April.
    12. Tan, Yafei & Zhu, Zhaohui, 2022. "The effect of ESG rating events on corporate green innovation in China: The mediating role of financial constraints and managers' environmental awareness," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    13. Adam Arian & John Sands & Stuart Tooley, 2023. "Industry and Stakeholder Impacts on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Financial Performance: Consumer vs. Industrial Sectors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-21, August.
    14. Dorfleitner, Gregor & Kreuzer, Christian & Sparrer, Christian, 2022. "To sin in secret is no sin at all: On the linkage of policy, society, culture, and firm characteristics with corporate scandals," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 762-784.
    15. 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.
    16. Billio, Monica & Costola, Michele & Hristova, Iva & Latino, Carmelo & Pelizzon, Loriana, 2022. "Sustainable finance: A journey toward ESG and climate risk," SAFE Working Paper Series 349, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    17. Amir Gholami & John Sands & Habib Ur Rahman, 2022. "Environmental, Social and Governance Disclosure and Value Generation: Is the Financial Industry Different?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-17, February.
    18. Florian Habermann & Felix Bernhard Fischer, 2023. "Corporate Social Performance and the Likelihood of Bankruptcy: Evidence from a Period of Economic Upswing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(1), pages 243-259, January.
    19. Alberto Barroso Del Toro & Laura Vivas Crisol & Xavier Tort-Martorell, 2022. "The Sustainability Narrative: A Multi Study Using Event Studies to Analyse the American Energy Companies Shareholder’s Reaction to Sustainability News," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-17, November.
    20. Van Ha Nguyen & Frank W. Agbola & Bobae Choi, 2022. "Does Corporate Social Responsibility Enhance Financial Performance? Evidence from Australia," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 32(1), pages 5-18, March.

    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:11:y:2019:i:12:p:3276-:d:239658. 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.