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ESG news spillover and corporate investment efficiency

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  • Lee, Yehwan
  • Han, Seung Hun

Abstract

This study investigates how negative environmental, social, and governance (ESG) news about peer firms affects the investment efficiency of focal firms. Analyzing a panel of U.S. public firms from 2007 to 2020, we find that such news enhances investment efficiency, primarily by reducing underinvestment. Peer controversies appear to signal the focal firm's superior quality to capital providers, easing financing constraints and enabling projects previously delayed by lack of funding. The effect is stronger in highly competitive industries. In response, firms reallocate capital toward research and development and capital expenditures while cutting back on acquisitions. We propose a novel information-based mechanism, termed the “relative quality signal,” through which peer ESG failures highlight the focal firm's stronger governance and risk management. Unlike traditional learning or contagion effects that spread information or sentiment uniformly across firms, this signaling channel highlights heterogeneous investor responses: peer crises enhance the relative reputation of unaffected firms, offering a new perspective on intraindustry information transmission. Robustness tests using dynamic panel GMM and instrumental variable estimations confirm that the results are not driven by endogeneity. Our findings suggest that negative ESG events generate positive externalities for unaffected firms by alleviating information asymmetry and improving capital allocation. The results underscore that ESG news serves as a valuable market signal for investors and regulators, enhancing overall investment efficiency across industries.

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  • Lee, Yehwan & Han, Seung Hun, 2025. "ESG news spillover and corporate investment efficiency," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:glofin:v:68:y:2025:i:c:s1044028325001346
    DOI: 10.1016/j.gfj.2025.101207
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