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Tech firms and the renewable energy sector: Exploring the moderating effects of institutional ownership on financial connectedness

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  • Sirin, Selahattin Murat
  • Yilmaz, Berna N.

Abstract

Tech firms can play a major role in advancing sustainability practices, particularly through their synergy with the renewable energy sector. However, the existing literature often overlooks firm-level dynamics and uses aggregated data to explore the connectedness between the tech and renewable energy sectors. This paper contributes to the literature by examining the moderating effects of institutional ownership on financial connectedness using firm-level data. We develop a novel dataset on firms’ renewable energy strategies with a large language model and utilize event-study and panel-data analyses to test our hypothesis. Based on data from 129 tech firms from 2011 to 2022, empirical analyses reveal that institutional ownership moderates the financial connectedness between tech firms and the renewable energy sector; however, the results indicate a threshold effect. While firms with low institutional ownership experience a higher impact on performance, performance differences among firms with higher institutional ownership are less pronounced.

Suggested Citation

  • Sirin, Selahattin Murat & Yilmaz, Berna N., 2025. "Tech firms and the renewable energy sector: Exploring the moderating effects of institutional ownership on financial connectedness," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:riibaf:v:80:y:2025:i:c:s0275531925003435
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ribaf.2025.103087
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