IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v18y2025i7p361-d1692044.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Decoding ESG: Consumer Perceptions, Ethical Signals and Financial Outcomes

Author

Listed:
  • Stacie F. Waites

    (Department of Marketing, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC 28407, USA)

Abstract

This study investigates how consumers respond to firm communications emphasizing Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) dimensions. Through experimental design, how consumers distinguish among ESG components and how each affects behavioral finance outcomes, including purchase intentions, willingness to buy and brand trust is assessed. Results confirm that consumers perceive the ESG dimensions as distinct from a non-ESG control message. However, the Social and Governance dimensions are perceived as closely related. Importantly, all three dimensions—Environmental, Social, and Governance—significantly improved behavioral outcomes, supporting the persuasive power of ESG messaging. Mediation analyses reveal that perceived ethicality drives these effects across all dimensions, while perceived authenticity plays a stronger mediating role for social messaging. These findings contribute to finance literature by illuminating the consumer-level mechanisms through which ESG communication influences firm value and offer strategic insights for both practitioners and investors seeking to leverage ESG as a market signal.

Suggested Citation

  • Stacie F. Waites, 2025. "Decoding ESG: Consumer Perceptions, Ethical Signals and Financial Outcomes," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-16, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:18:y:2025:i:7:p:361-:d:1692044
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/18/7/361/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/18/7/361/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alexandre Clément & Élisabeth Robinot & Léo Trespeuch, 2022. "Improving ESG Scores with Sustainability Concepts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-15, October.
    2. Hoje Jo & Maretno Harjoto, 2012. "The Causal Effect of Corporate Governance on Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 106(1), pages 53-72, March.
    3. Asuman Erben Yavuz & Bade Ekim Kocaman & Mesut Doğan & Adalet Hazar & Şenol Babuşcu & Raikhan Sutbayeva, 2024. "The Impact of Corporate Governance on Sustainability Disclosures: A Comparison from the Perspective of Financial and Non-Financial Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-21, September.
    4. Edmans, Alex, 2011. "Does the stock market fully value intangibles? Employee satisfaction and equity prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 621-640, September.
    5. Yiqun Duan & Fan Yang & Lin Xiong, 2023. "Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Performance and Firm Value: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-24, August.
    6. Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim, 2015. "The impact of corporate social responsibility on investment recommendations: Analysts' perceptions and shifting institutional logics," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(7), pages 1053-1081, July.
    7. Fisher, Robert J, 1993. "Social Desirability Bias and the Validity of Indirect Questioning," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(2), pages 303-315, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Jongmoo Jay Choi & Hoje Jo & Jimi Kim & Moo Sung Kim, 2018. "Business Groups and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 931-954, December.
    2. Mavruk, Taylan, 2025. "Local CSR, local ownership and firm value," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    3. Iftekhar Hasan & Panagiotis Karavitis & Pantelis Kazakis & Woon Sau Leung, 2025. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Profit Shifting," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 1-29, January.
    4. Nair, Rajiv & Muttakin, Mohammad & Khan, Arifur & Subramaniam, Nava & Somanath, V.S., 2019. "Corporate social responsibility disclosure and financial transparency: Evidence from India," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 330-351.
    5. Barman, Siddhartha & Mahakud, Jitendra, 2025. "Energy uncertainty and Firm Performance: Does ESG matter?," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    6. Chahine, Salim & Daher, Mai & Saade, Samer, 2021. "Doing good in periods of high uncertainty: Economic policy uncertainty, corporate social responsibility, and analyst forecast error," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    7. Maung, Min & Wilson, Craig & Yu, Weisu, 2020. "Does reputation risk matter? Evidence from cross-border mergers and acquisitions," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    8. Xiaoping Zhao & Audrey Murrell, 2022. "Does A Virtuous Circle Really Exist? Revisiting the Causal Linkage Between CSP and CFP," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(1), pages 173-192, April.
    9. Wang, Kai & Li, Tingting & San, Ziyao & Gao, Hao, 2023. "How does corporate ESG performance affect stock liquidity? Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    10. Ruixi Long & Shuyang Jia, 2023. "Foreground or background my social responsibility: impact of the trade war on the readability of corporate social responsibility disclosures," Information Technology and Management, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 79-97, March.
    11. Bae, Kee-Hong & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Kwok, Chuck C.Y. & Zheng, Ying, 2019. "Does corporate social responsibility reduce the costs of high leverage? Evidence from capital structure and product market interactions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 135-150.
    12. Jun Li & Di (Andrew) Wu, 2020. "Do Corporate Social Responsibility Engagements Lead to Real Environmental, Social, and Governance Impact?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(6), pages 2564-2588, June.
    13. Muhammad Arif & Christopher Gan & Hussein Ahmed Bataineh, 2024. "Global evidence on the association between environmental, social, and governance disclosures and future earnings risk," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 2497-2517, March.
    14. Dan Palmon & Yifei Chen & Biao Chen, 2024. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Information Asymmetry: Do Earnings Conference Calls Play a Role?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 194(1), pages 77-101, September.
    15. Thomas J. Chemmanur & Dimitrios Gounopoulos & Panagiotis Koutroumpis & Yu Zhang, 2022. "CSR and Firm Survival: Evidence from the Climate and Pandemic Crises," Working Papers 935, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    16. Lee, Jaeho & Kim, Hakkon, 2016. "Do employee relation responsibility and culture matter for firm value? International evidence," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 40(PA), pages 191-209.
    17. Alexandre Garel & Arthur Petit-Romec, 2021. "Engaging Employees for the Long Run: Long-Term Investors and Employee-Related CSR," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 174(1), pages 35-63, November.
    18. Amin, Abu & Chourou, Lamia & Kamal, Syed & Malik, Mahfuja & Zhao, Yang, 2020. "It’s who you know that counts: Board connectedness and CSR performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    19. Daniela M. Salvioni & Francesca Gennari & Luisa Bosetti, 2016. "Sustainability and Convergence: The Future of Corporate Governance Systems?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-25, November.
    20. Ben W. Lewis & W. Chad Carlos, 2023. "The risk of being ranked: Investor response to marginal inclusion on the 100 Best Corporate Citizens list," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(1), pages 117-140, January.

    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:gam:jjrfmx:v:18:y:2025:i:7:p:361-:d:1692044. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.