IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/qrfmpp/qrfm-11-2021-0184.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do international investors care about ESG news?

Author

Listed:
  • Paola de Vincentiis

Abstract

Purpose - Motivated by the increasing momentum of environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing, this research aims to test the impact of ESG-related news on stock returns, comparing different geographical areas to check whether the cultural background makes any difference. Design/methodology/approach - Using a classic event–study methodology, this study measures extra returns following the broadcast of positive or negative ordinary news concerning ESG issues using a panel of major international companies located in Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. Findings - ESG news are interpreted differently in different geographical areas. In Europe, bad news matter more than good news and produce a negative price impact. In the USA, a mirror picture emerges: good news matter more than bad news and produce a negative price impact. In the APAC area, ESG news are no news and are not correlated to significant extra returns. This study also shows that ESG reputation plays an important role and affects the impact of news on equity returns. Practical implications - Both managers and equity investors need to be aware of the potential magnitude and direction of stock market’s reactions to news concerning ESG matters, taking also into consideration the location of the firm and the moderating effect of ESG reputation. Sustainability cannot be ignored anymore and need to be included into information data set and decision-making processes. Originality/value - This study adds to the current literature insights on how ESG-related news impact in different geographical contexts. This study finds that news of similar tone may produce divergent effect on stock returns according to the prevailing cultural and economic interpretation of sustainability investments.

Suggested Citation

  • Paola de Vincentiis, 2022. "Do international investors care about ESG news?," Qualitative Research in Financial Markets, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 15(4), pages 572-588, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:qrfmpp:qrfm-11-2021-0184
    DOI: 10.1108/QRFM-11-2021-0184
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/QRFM-11-2021-0184/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/QRFM-11-2021-0184/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/QRFM-11-2021-0184?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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ESG news; Socially responsible investment;

    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:eme:qrfmpp:qrfm-11-2021-0184. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.