IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/riibaf/v75y2025ics0275531924005282.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unforeseen benefits: Can ESG enhance corporate access to commercial credit financing?

Author

Listed:
  • Yang, Xiaodong
  • Shira, Ruba Khalid
  • Dang, Lan Phuong
  • Hao, Pu

Abstract

Amidst the escalating global focus of investors and regulators on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, ESG have emerged as pivotal indicators in assessing the holistic performance of firms. Despite this growing importance, there is a noticeable gap in research exploring how ESG can enhance a corporate commercial credit financing capability. This study utilizes a comprehensive panel dataset spanning 2010–2022 from Chinese A-share listed companies to thoroughly delves into the nexus between ESG and commercial credit financing. The results indicate a significant positive effect of ESG on commercial credit financing capabilities. ESG can significantly boost commercial credit financing by enhancing information transparency, optimizing supplier concentration, lowering operational risks, and curtailing managerial myopia. The influence of ESG on commercial credit financing shows differences between different firms. ESG significant improvements in commercial credit financing capacity following ESG upgrades, especially for non-heavily polluting, non-high-tech, technology-intensive, and labor-intensive firms. Heavily polluting, high-tech and capital-intensive firms experience relatively limited improvements in commercial credit financing. Our findings provide useful insights for policymakers and firms’ managers by underscoring the need to design specific ESG strategies that match with firm-industry idiosyncrasies to extract value from their exploitation, enabling further positive externality impact of ESG on commercial credit financing conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • Yang, Xiaodong & Shira, Ruba Khalid & Dang, Lan Phuong & Hao, Pu, 2025. "Unforeseen benefits: Can ESG enhance corporate access to commercial credit financing?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:riibaf:v:75:y:2025:i:c:s0275531924005282
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ribaf.2024.102735
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0275531924005282
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ribaf.2024.102735?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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhang, Jiawei & Li, Yuan & Xu, Hanwen & Ding, Yi, 2023. "Can ESG ratings mitigate managerial myopia? Evidence from Chinese listed companies," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    2. Jinchi Liu & Xiong Xiong & Ya Gao & Jin Zhang, 2023. "The impact of institutional investors on ESG: Evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(S2), pages 2801-2826, June.
    3. Razzaq, Asif & Sharif, Arshian & Yang, Xiaodong & Dogan, Eyup, 2024. "Influence mechanism of electricity price distortion on industrial green transformation: A spatial analysis of Chinese regions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    4. Zhao, Shikuan & Cao, Yuequn & Hunjra, Ahmed Imran & Tan, Yan, 2023. "How does environmentally induced R&D affect carbon productivity? A government support perspective," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 942-961.
    5. Acharya, Viral V. & Amihud, Yakov & Litov, Lubomir, 2011. "Creditor rights and corporate risk-taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(1), pages 150-166, October.
    6. Mehdi Nekhili & Amal Boukadhaba & Haithem Nagati, 2021. "The ESG–financial performance relationship: Does the type of employee board representation matter?," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 134-161, March.
    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. Xiaodong Yang & Yang Xu & Asif Razzaq & Desheng Wu & Jianhong Cao & Qiying Ran, 2024. "Roadmap to achieving sustainable development: Does digital economy matter in industrial green transformation?," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(3), pages 2583-2599, June.
    9. Apergis, Nicholas & Poufinas, Thomas & Antonopoulos, Alexandros, 2022. "ESG scores and cost of debt," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    10. Bilyay-Erdogan, Seda & Danisman, Gamze Ozturk & Demir, Ender, 2024. "ESG performance and investment efficiency: The impact of information asymmetry," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    11. Remmer Sassen & Anne-Kathrin Hinze & Inga Hardeck, 2016. "Impact of ESG factors on firm risk in Europe," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 86(8), pages 867-904, November.
    12. Mark Lang & Karl V. Lins & Mark Maffett, 2012. "Transparency, Liquidity, and Valuation: International Evidence on When Transparency Matters Most," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 50(3), pages 729-774, June.
    13. Xin, Zhuoyao & Zhang, Zongyi & Xiang, Cheng, 2024. "Do suppliers value clients’ ESG profiles? Evidence from Chinese firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 241-258.
    14. Hao, Xiaoli & Wen, Shufang & Li, Ke & Wu, Junwei & Wu, Haitao & Hao, Yu, 2023. "Environmental governance, executive incentive, and enterprise performance: Evidence from Chinese mineral enterprises," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    15. Li, Quan & Li, Tianshu & Zhang, Yuan, 2024. "ESG performance, heterogeneous creditors, and bond financing costs: Firm-level evidence," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    16. Shahbaz Sheikh, 2024. "Corporate social responsibility and the likelihood of external financing," Journal of Economic Analysis, Anser Press, vol. 3(2), pages 65-80, June.
    17. Benjamin E. Hermalin & Nancy E. Wallace, 1994. "The Determinants of Efficiency and Solvency in Savings and Loans," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 25(3), pages 361-381, Autumn.
    18. Gu, Jing & Shi, Xinyu & Wang, Peini & Xu, Xun, 2022. "Examining the impact of upstream and downstream relationship stability and concentration on firms’ financial performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 229-242.
    19. Monia Magnani & Massimo Guidolin & Ian Berk, 2024. "Strong vs. stable: the impact of ESG ratings momentum and their volatility on the cost of equity capital," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(7), pages 666-699, December.
    20. Angelidis, Timotheos & Michairinas, Athanasios & Sakkas, Athanasios, 2024. "World ESG performance and economic activity," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    21. Dai, Rui & Liang, Hao & Ng, Lilian, 2021. "Socially responsible corporate customers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 598-626.
    22. Fan, Zhangmei & Chen, Ying & Mo, Yifan, 2024. "Management myopia and corporate ESG performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    23. Luo, Chunhua & Wei, Dianlong & He, Feng, 2023. "Corporate ESG performance and trade credit financing – Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 337-351.
    24. ManMohan S. Sodhi & Christopher S. Tang, 2019. "Research Opportunities in Supply Chain Transparency," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 28(12), pages 2946-2959, December.
    25. Anis Maaloul & Daniel Zéghal & Walid Ben Amar & Sari Mansour, 2023. "The Effect of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Performance and Disclosure on Cost of Debt: The Mediating Effect of Corporate Reputation," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(1), pages 1-18, February.
    26. Nicola Raimo & Alessandra Caragnano & Marianna Zito & Filippo Vitolla & Massimo Mariani, 2021. "Extending the benefits of ESG disclosure: The effect on the cost of debt financing," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(4), pages 1412-1421, July.
    27. repec:hal:journl:hal-02968527 is not listed on IDEAS
    28. Conghao Zhu & Cunyi Yang, 2024. "Divergences among ESG rating systems: Evidence from financial indexes," Economic Analysis Letters, Anser Press, vol. 3(1), pages 46-51, March.
    29. Xiong Bai & Xiaoqiang Ma & Dongqi Yue, 2024. "Can the Relative ESG Gap Reduce Managerial Myopia? A Study Based on the “Tunnel Effect”," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-20, April.
    30. Aldrighetti, Riccardo & Battini, Daria & Ivanov, Dmitry & Zennaro, Ilenia, 2021. "Costs of resilience and disruptions in supply chain network design models: A review and future research directions," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    31. 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.
    32. Andrea Moro & Matthias Fink & Daniela Maresch, 2015. "Reduction In Information Asymmetry And Credit Access For Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 38(1), pages 121-143, March.
    33. Fu, Changluan & Yu, Chenyang & Guo, Mengting & Zhang, Lin, 2024. "ESG rating and financial risk of mining industry companies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    34. Zifeng Feng & Zhonghua Wu, 2023. "ESG Disclosure, REIT Debt Financing and Firm Value," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 67(3), pages 388-422, October.
    35. Zhu, Bo & Wang, Yansen, 2024. "Does social trust affect firms' ESG performance?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    36. Olaf Weber, 2023. "ESG Issues as Strategic Components of Long-term Success of Financial Institutions: Are There Differences in Financial Performance and Firm Value?," Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Banking and Financial Institutions, in: Chrysovalantis Gaganis & Fotios Pasiouras & Menelaos Tasiou & Constantin Zopounidis (ed.), Sustainable Finance and ESG, pages 27-46, Palgrave Macmillan.
    37. David K. Ding & Christo Ferreira & Vu Minh Ngo & Phuc V. Nguyen & Udomsak Wongchoti, 2024. "Corporate social responsibility and myopic management practice: Is there a link?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 271-308, January.
    38. Han, Wei & Wu, Di, 2024. "ESG ratings, business credit acquisition, and corporate value," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PA).
    39. Zhao, Shikuan & Abbassi, Wajih & Hunjra, Ahmed Imran & Zhang, Han, 2024. "How do government R&D subsidies affect corporate green innovation choices? Perspectives from strategic and substantive innovation," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 1378-1396.
    40. Wolfgang Ulaga & Andreas Eggert, 2006. "Value-Based Differentiation in Business Relationships: Gaining and Sustaining Key Supplier Status," Post-Print hal-00482456, HAL.
    41. Maiara Marcon & Taís Provensi & Simone Sehnem & Lucila M. S. Campos & Adriane Angelica Farias Santos Lopes Queiroz, 2023. "The internalisation of the circular economy and ESG in Brazilian B Corps from the perspective of the Stakeholder Theory," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(5), pages 3513-3527, October.
    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. Ding, Hongjie & Feng, Muzi & Chen, Qian, 2025. "How supply chain disruptions, renewable energy consumption, and eco-innovation mitigate environmental degradation? A path towards sustainable development in France," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    2. Han, Qiujie & Wang, Fei & Wang, Yushi & Guo, Feng, 2025. "How supply chain and digitalization are significant contributors to international trade? The role of renewable and energy intensity in global trade powerhouses' economies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    3. Zhu, Zhimeng & Hunjra, Ahmed Imran & Alharbi, Samar S. & Zhao, Shikuan, 2025. "Global energy transition under geopolitical risks: An empirical investigation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).

    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. Zhou, Mengling & Huang, Zizhen & Jiang, Kangqi, 2024. "Environmental, social, and governance performance and corporate debt maturity in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PA).
    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. Qiao, Penghua & Zhao, Yuying & Fung, Anna & Fung, Hung-Gay, 2025. "How digital leadership guides ESG sustainability," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(PB).
    4. Yan Zhao & Yubin Gao & Diming Hong, 2025. "Sustainable Innovation and Economic Resilience: Deciphering ESG Ratings’ Role in Lowering Debt Financing Costs," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 16(1), pages 4309-4343, March.
    5. Tan, Xiujie & Liu, Gufeng & Cheng, Si, 2024. "How does ESG performance affect green transformation of resource-based enterprises: Evidence from Chinese listed enterprises," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    6. Yang, Xiangyang & Wang, Cong & Liu, Bei, 2025. "ESG performance and corporate labor investment efficiency: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    7. Jiang, Yichi & Zhang, Xuanyue & Yao, Shujie, 2025. "On ESG and corporate employment decision: Evidence from Chinese listed firms in 2009–2022," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 854-869.
    8. Peng, Shengnan & Liu, Chan & Wang, Ze & Ye, Zihan & Sun, Xialing & Tan, Zhanglu, 2024. "The impact of the carbon reduction policy effectiveness on energy companies' ESG performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PB).
    9. Li, WeiWei & Padmanabhan, Prasad & Huang, Chia-Hsing, 2024. "ESG and debt structure: Is the nature of this relationship nonlinear?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    10. Wu, Zhenshu & Pownall, Rachel & Shih, Yi-Cheng & Zhang, Chendi, 2025. "State ownership and the value of sustainability: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    11. Gao, Xiang & He, Xixi & Sun, Chuanwang & Wu, Dongmei & Zhang, Jie, 2025. "Innovation in shouldering green responsibility: ESG performance and green technology innovation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    12. Zhao, Xinlu & Zhang, Huixue, 2024. "How does ESG performance determine the level of specific financing in capital structure? New insights from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PC).
    13. Salvatore Esposito De Falco & Raffaella Montera & Sabrina Leo & Francesco Laviola & Pietro Vito & Domenico Sardanelli & Gianpaolo Basile & Giulia Nevi & Raffaele Alaia, 2024. "Trends and patterns in ESG research: A bibliometric odyssey and research agenda," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(5), pages 3703-3723, September.
    14. Long, Rui & Fan, Zhaobin, 2025. "The impact of ESG performance on the perception of economic policy uncertainty: Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 1456-1474.
    15. Claudia Arena & Saverio Bozzolan & Claudia Imperatore, 2024. "Enhancing environmental reporting: A study on the role of narrative disclosure, firm‐ and country‐level incentives," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 3414-3428, July.
    16. Xie, Xuejing & Gong, Yukai & Cheng, Le, 2025. "Managerial myopia and carbon emission: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    17. Andrieș, Alin Marius & Sprincean, Nicu, 2023. "ESG performance and banks’ funding costs," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    18. Li, Dongdong & Gui, Mingxia & Ma, Rui & Feng, Yiwen, 2024. "Public data accessibility and corporate maturity mismatch: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    19. Vitiana L'Abate & Nicola Raimo & Benedetta Esposito & Filippo Vitolla, 2024. "Examining the impact of circular economy disclosure on the cost of debt: A signaling theory approach via social media," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(5), pages 4007-4019, September.
    20. Tao Zhu & Dongjiao Liu & Lequan Zhang, 2025. "Does ESG Performance Help Corporate Deleveraging? Based on an Analysis of Excessive Corporate Debt," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-22, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:eee:riibaf:v:75:y:2025:i:c:s0275531924005282. 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/ribaf .

    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.