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How do companies respond to environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings? Evidence from Italy

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  • Clementino, Ester
  • Perkins, Richard

Abstract

While a growing number of firms are being evaluated on environment, social and governance (ESG) criteria by sustainability rating agencies (SRAs), comparatively little is known about companies’ responses. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with companies operating in Italy, the present paper seeks to narrow this gap in current understanding by examining how firms react to ESG ratings, and the factors influencing their response. Unique to the literature, we show that firms may react very differently to being rated, with our analysis yielding a fourfold typology of corporate responses. The typology captures conformity and resistance to ratings across two dimensions of firm behaviour. We furthermore show that corporate responses depend on managers’ beliefs regarding the material benefits of adjusting to and scoring well on ESG ratings and their alignment with corporate strategy. In doing so, we challenge the idea that organisational ratings homogenise organisations and draw attention to the agency underlying corporate responses. Our findings also contribute to debates about the impact of ESG ratings, calling into question claims about their positive influence on companies’ sustainability performance. We conclude by discussing the wider empirical, theoretical and ethical implications of our paper.

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  • Clementino, Ester & Perkins, Richard, 2020. "How do companies respond to environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings? Evidence from Italy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103046, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:103046
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    Cited by:

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    5. Vítor Manuel de Sousa Gabriel & María Belén Lozano & Maria Fernanda Ludovina Inácio Matias, 2022. "The Low‐carbon Equity Market: A New Alternative for Investment Diversification?," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 13(1), pages 34-47, February.
    6. Jaime F. Lavin & Alejandro A. Montecinos-Pearce, 2021. "ESG Disclosure in an Emerging Market: An Empirical Analysis of the Influence of Board Characteristics and Ownership Structure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-20, September.
    7. Louis T. W. Cheng & Piyush Sharma & David C. Broadstock, 2023. "Interactive effects of brand reputation and ESG on green bond issues: A sustainable development perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 570-586, January.
    8. Muhammet Usak & Ming Yuan Hsieh & Yung-Kuan Chan, 2021. "A Concretizing Research on Making Higher-Education Sustainability Count," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-14, March.
    9. Jaime F. Lavin & Alejandro A. Montecinos-Pearce, 2022. "Heterogeneous Firms and Benefits of ESG Disclosure: Cost of Debt Financing in an Emerging Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-21, November.
    10. Shouyu Yao & Yuying Pan & Lu Wang & Ahmet Sensoy & Feiyang Cheng, 2023. "Building Eco-friendly Corporations: The Role of Minority Shareholders," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(4), pages 933-966, February.
    11. Monk, Alexander & Perkins, Richard, 2020. "What explains the emergence and diffusion of green bonds?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    12. Riccardo Santamaria & Francesco Paolone & Nicola Cucari & Luca Dezi, 2021. "Non‐financial strategy disclosure and environmental, social and governance score: Insight from a configurational approach," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1993-2007, May.
    13. Esmee M. Veenstra & Naomi Ellemers, 2020. "ESG Indicators as Organizational Performance Goals: Do Rating Agencies Encourage a Holistic Approach?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-15, December.
    14. Patel, Pankaj C. & Pearce, John A. & Oghazi, Pejvak, 2021. "Not so myopic: Investors lowering short-term growth expectations under high industry ESG-sales-related dynamism and predictability," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 551-563.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    ESG; Sustainability; Investors; Corporate response;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

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