IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v69y2024ipbs1544612324011498.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Legal background executives, corporate governance and corporate ESG performance

Author

Listed:
  • Huang, Xinyue
  • Ren, Yuning
  • Ren, Xiangru

Abstract

Using the data of listed companies from 2012 to 2022 as a sample, this paper investigates the relationship between executives with legal backgrounds, corporate governance, and firms‘ ESG performance. The empirical study finds that executives with legal backgrounds enhance firms’ ESG performance, good corporate governance structure can enhance firms‘ ESG performance, and the quality of information disclosure plays a mediating role in the relationship between executives with legal backgrounds and firms’ ESG performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Huang, Xinyue & Ren, Yuning & Ren, Xiangru, 2024. "Legal background executives, corporate governance and corporate ESG performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 69(PB).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:69:y:2024:i:pb:s1544612324011498
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2024.106120
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612324011498
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2024.106120?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mu, Weiwei & Liu, Kefu & Tao, Yunqing & Ye, Yongwei, 2023. "Digital finance and corporate ESG," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    2. Jan Svanberg & Tohid Ardeshiri & Isak Samsten & Peter Öhman & Presha E. Neidermeyer & Tarek Rana & Natalia Semenova & Mats Danielson, 2022. "Corporate governance performance ratings with machine learning," Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(1), pages 50-68, January.
    3. Jang, Ga-Young & Kang, Hyoung-Goo & Kim, Woojin, 2022. "Corporate executives’ incentives and ESG performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    4. Oren Mooneeapen & Subhash Abhayawansa & Naushad Mamode Khan, 2022. "The influence of the country governance environment on corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance," Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(4), pages 953-985, May.
    5. Matteo Rossi & Jamel Chouaibi & Salim Chouaibi & Wafa Jilani & Yamina Chouaibi, 2021. "Does a Board Characteristic Moderate the Relationship between CSR Practices and Financial Performance? Evidence from European ESG Firms," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-15, August.
    6. Broadstock, David C. & Chan, Kalok & Cheng, Louis T.W. & Wang, Xiaowei, 2021. "The role of ESG performance during times of financial crisis: Evidence from COVID-19 in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    7. Kong, Dongmin & Liu, Chenhao, 2024. "Centralization and regulatory enforcement: Evidence from personnel authority reform in China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    8. Sandra Cavaco & Patricia Crifo & Aymeric Guidoux, 2020. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Governance: The Role of Executive Compensation," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(2), pages 240-274, April.
    9. Takahashi, Hidenori & Yamada, Kazuo, 2021. "When the Japanese stock market meets COVID-19: Impact of ownership, China and US exposure, and ESG channels," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    10. DasGupta, Ranjan, 2022. "Financial performance shortfall, ESG controversies, and ESG performance: Evidence from firms around the world," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PB).
    11. Chen, Zhongfei & Xie, Guanxia, 2022. "ESG disclosure and financial performance: Moderating role of ESG investors," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    12. David Castillo-Merino & Gonzalo Rodríguez-Pérez, 2021. "The Effects of Legal Origin and Corporate Governance on Financial Firms’ Sustainability Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-20, July.
    13. Mariusz Karwowski & Monika Raulinajtys‐Grzybek, 2021. "The application of corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions for mitigation of environmental, social, corporate governance (ESG) and reputational risk in integrated reports," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(4), pages 1270-1284, July.
    14. Hu, Jianxiong & Zou, Qing & Yin, Qianqian, 2023. "Research on the effect of ESG performance on stock price synchronicity: Empirical evidence from China's capital markets," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PA).
    15. Lu, Jing & Wang, Jun, 2021. "Corporate governance, law, culture, environmental performance and CSR disclosure: A global perspective," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    16. Wen, Huwei & Zhong, Qiming & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2022. "Digitalization, competition strategy and corporate innovation: Evidence from Chinese manufacturing listed companies," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    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. Yang, Jie & Niu, Yanfang & Shi, Wenlei & Zhu, Kanghuan, 2025. "Predicting ESG disclosure quality through board secretaries' characteristics: A machine learning approach," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    2. Da Gao & Linfang Tan & Yue Chen, 2025. "Smarter is greener: can intelligent manufacturing improve enterprises’ ESG performance?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.

    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. Yunfu Zhu & Haoling Yang & Ma Zhong, 2023. "Do ESG Ratings of Chinese Firms Converge or Diverge? A Comparative Analysis Based on Multiple Domestic and International Ratings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-17, August.
    2. Hong Xu & Yukun Li & Weifen Lin & Hui Wang, 2024. "ESG and customer stability: a perspective based on external and internal supervision and reputation mechanisms," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-14, December.
    3. Du, Jiayu & Zhu, Rui & Ye, Qiang, 2025. "Managers' overconfidence, institutional investors' shareholding, and corporate ESG performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    4. Chen, Zhang-Hangjian & Kang, JingWen & Koedijk, Kees G. & Gao, Xiang & Gu, ZhenHua, 2024. "Short-term market reactions to ESG ratings disclosures: An event study in the Chinese stock market," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    5. Wu, Shilei & Zhou, Fu-You & Si, Deng-Kui & Hao, Jiawei, 2025. "Does ESG rating policy reduce corporate risk-taking? Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    6. Feng, Ruonan & Ma, Lu & Wu, Dan, 2025. "ESG performance and corporate innovation under the moderating effect of firm size," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    7. Zhang, Kai & Wan, Shan & Zhou, Yuehui, 2024. "Executive compensation, internal governance and ESG performance," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    8. Xue, Liuyang & Jiang, Shiyao & Wu, Nanxuan & Yin, Meng, 2025. "Effect of firm social status on ESG performance: Theoretical mechanism and heterogeneity analysis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    9. Yang Yang & Jinmian Han, 2023. "Digital transformation, financing constraints, and corporate environmental, social, and governance performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(6), pages 3189-3202, November.
    10. Xing, Yafei & Wang, Junwei & Liu, Zheng & Xiao, Daibo, 2025. "The impact of corporate financialization on ESG performance: A perspective based on executive incentives," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    11. Gui, Zhou & Lu, Xiaoyu, 2024. "Strengthening of rule of law and ESG performance of corporations," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    12. Marie, Mohamed & Qi, Baolei & Elgammal, Mohammed & Elnahass, Marwa, 2024. "A more sustainable future: Can politically connected CEOs spur the nexus between ESG performance and firm financial performance?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    13. Liu, Dongming & Tu, Yongqian & Chen, Zhangzhang & Zheng, Yinglong, 2025. "Analysis of the synergistic effect of digital financial inclusion and social security on crime governance based on regional differences," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    14. Bax, Karoline & Sahin, Özge & Czado, Claudia & Paterlini, Sandra, 2023. "ESG, risk, and (tail) dependence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    15. Lin, Lufeng & Zheng, Yinglong & Tu, Yongqian, 2025. "The new environmental protection law, ESG investment, and corporate innovation performance," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    16. Shan Wu & Ying Li, 2023. "A Study on the Impact of Digital Transformation on Corporate ESG Performance: The Mediating Role of Green Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-17, April.
    17. Jiajia Liu & Zhenzhen Ge & Yahan Wang, 2024. "Role of environmental, social, and governance rating data in predicting financial risk and risk management," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 260-273, January.
    18. Wang, Xiaoteng & Zhou, Bole & Li, Xiaoling, 2025. "Qualified foreign institutional investors and corporate ESG performance: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    19. Qiao, Nan & Xu, Bohan, 2025. "Green credit policy, media pressure, and corporate green innovation," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    20. Tian, Zengrui & Zhu, Bingsheng & Lu, Yuzhong, 2023. "The governance of non-state shareholders and corporate ESG: Empirical evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).

    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:eee:finlet:v:69:y:2024:i:pb:s1544612324011498. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    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.