IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i3p574-d133147.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Value Relevance of Environmental, Social, and Governance Performance: The Brazilian Case

Author

Listed:
  • María Mar Miralles-Quirós

    (Department of Financial Economics, University of Extremadura, Badajoz 06006, Spain)

  • José Luis Miralles-Quirós

    (Department of Financial Economics, University of Extremadura, Badajoz 06006, Spain)

  • Luis Miguel Valente Gonçalves

    (Department of Financial Economics, University of Extremadura, Badajoz 06006, Spain)

Abstract

There is extensive literature on the value relevance of social responsibility for companies that operate in developed countries. However, little is known about the influence of these practices on the price of assets listed on emerging economies, such as Brazil. In this context, the aim of this study is to analyse whether social responsibility activities carried out by companies listed on the São Paulo Stock Exchange during the 2010–2015 period play a significant role in enhancing firm value. Unlike previous studies, we distinguish between the three modern pillars of sustainability: environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG). Our overall results support the value enhancing theory rather than the shareholder expense theory. However, it is important to note that the results also show that the market does not significantly value the three ESG pillars. Specifically, the market positively and significantly values the environmental practices carried out by companies not related to environmentally sensitive industries. In contrast, the market positively and significantly values the social and corporate governance practices carried out by the companies belonging to these sensitive industries. These findings are relevant for both investors and the managers of these companies, policy makers, customers, and citizens concerned about ESG issues.

Suggested Citation

  • María Mar Miralles-Quirós & José Luis Miralles-Quirós & Luis Miguel Valente Gonçalves, 2018. "The Value Relevance of Environmental, Social, and Governance Performance: The Brazilian Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-15, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:3:p:574-:d:133147
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/3/574/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/3/574/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mary E. Barth & Greg Clinch, 2009. "Scale Effects in Capital Markets-Based Accounting Research," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3-4), pages 253-288.
    2. Isabel Lourenço & Manuel Branco & José Curto & Teresa Eugénio, 2012. "How Does the Market Value Corporate Sustainability Performance?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 108(4), pages 417-428, July.
    3. Michael Robinson & Anne Kleffner & Stephanie Bertels, 2011. "Signaling Sustainability Leadership: Empirical Evidence of the Value of DJSI Membership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 101(3), pages 493-505, July.
    4. Paola Cardamone & Concetta Carnevale & Francesco Giunta, 2012. "The value relevance of social reporting: evidence from listed Italian companies," Journal of Applied Accounting Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(3), pages 255-269, November.
    5. Robert G. Eccles & Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim, 2014. "The Impact of Corporate Sustainability on Organizational Processes and Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(11), pages 2835-2857, November.
    6. Amir Barnea & Amir Rubin, 2010. "Corporate Social Responsibility as a Conflict Between Shareholders," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 97(1), pages 71-86, November.
    7. Crawford Spence, 2009. "Social and environmental reporting and the corporate ego," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(4), pages 254-265, May.
    8. Sylvie Berthelot & Michel Coulmont & Vanessa Serret, 2012. "Do Investors Value Sustainability Reports? A Canadian Study," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(6), pages 355-363, November.
    9. Maria J. Charlo & Ismael Moya & Ana M. Muñoz, 2017. "Financial Performance of Socially Responsible Firms: The Short- and Long-Term Impact," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-15, September.
    10. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808.
    11. Hannu Schadewitz & Mikael Niskala, 2010. "Communication via responsibility reporting and its effect on firm value in Finland," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(2), pages 96-106, March.
    12. 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.
    13. Isabel Lourenço & Jeffrey Callen & Manuel Branco & José Curto, 2014. "The Value Relevance of Reputation for Sustainability Leadership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 119(1), pages 17-28, January.
    14. Bert Scholtens, 2009. "Corporate Social Responsibility in the International Banking Industry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 86(2), pages 159-175, May.
    15. Prayag Lal Yadav & Seung Hun Han & Hohyun Kim, 2017. "Manager’s Dilemma: Stockholders’ and Consumers’ Responses to Corporate Environmental Efforts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-14, June.
    16. 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.
    17. Sylvie Berthelot & Michel Coulmont & Vanessa Serret, 2012. "Do Investors Value Sustainability Reports? A Canadian Study," Post-Print hal-02417765, HAL.
    18. Chin-Shien Lin & Ruei-Yuan Chang & Van Thac Dang, 2015. "An Integrated Model to Explain How Corporate Social Responsibility Affects Corporate Financial Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(7), pages 1-20, June.
    19. Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Yongtae Kim, 2017. "Country-level institutions, firm value, and the role of corporate social responsibility initiatives," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(3), pages 360-385, April.
    20. Fernando Gómez-Bezares & Wojciech Przychodzen & Justyna Przychodzen, 2016. "Corporate Sustainability and Shareholder Wealth—Evidence from British Companies and Lessons from the Crisis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-22, March.
    21. Maria J. Charlo & Ismael Moya & Ana M. Muñoz, 2015. "Sustainable Development and Corporate Financial Performance: A Study Based on the FTSE4Good IBEX Index," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 277-288, May.
    22. Paul C. Godfrey & Craig B. Merrill & Jared M. Hansen, 2009. "The relationship between corporate social responsibility and shareholder value: an empirical test of the risk management hypothesis," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 425-445, April.
    23. Maria del Mar Miralles‐Quiros & Jose Luis Miralles‐Quiros & Irene Guia Arraiano, 2017. "Sustainable Development, Sustainability Leadership and Firm Valuation: Differences across Europe," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(7), pages 1014-1028, November.
    24. Laura Mervelskemper & Daniel Streit, 2017. "Enhancing Market Valuation of ESG Performance: Is Integrated Reporting Keeping its Promise?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 536-549, May.
    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. Maria del Mar Miralles‐Quiros & Jose Luis Miralles‐Quiros & Irene Guia Arraiano, 2017. "Sustainable Development, Sustainability Leadership and Firm Valuation: Differences across Europe," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(7), pages 1014-1028, November.
    2. Piotr Bolibok, 2021. "The Impact of Social Responsibility Performance on the Value Relevance of Financial Data in the Banking Sector: Evidence from Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-19, October.
    3. Carmelo Reverte, 2016. "Corporate social responsibility disclosure and market valuation: evidence from Spanish listed firms," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 411-435, March.
    4. Maria del Mar Miralles‐Quiros & Jose Luis Miralles‐Quiros & Irene Guia Arraiano, 2017. "Are Firms that Contribute to Sustainable Development Valued by Investors?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(1), pages 71-84, January.
    5. Laura Mervelskemper & Daniel Streit, 2017. "Enhancing Market Valuation of ESG Performance: Is Integrated Reporting Keeping its Promise?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 536-549, May.
    6. Michela Cordazzo & Laura Bini & Giuseppe Marzo, 2020. "Does the EU Directive on non‐financial information influence the value relevance of ESG disclosure? Italian evidence," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3470-3483, December.
    7. Xing Chen & Bert Scholtens, 2018. "The urge to act: A comparison of active and passive socially responsible investment funds in the United States," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(6), pages 1154-1173, November.
    8. Francisco Javier Forcadell & Elisa Aracil, 2017. "European Banks' Reputation for Corporate Social Responsibility," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(1), pages 1-14, January.
    9. Max Goettsche & Tobias Steindl & Simon Gietl, 2016. "Do Customers Affect the Value Relevance of Sustainability Reporting? Empirical Evidence on Stakeholder Interdependence," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 149-164, March.
    10. Selena Aureli & Sabrina Gigli & Renato Medei & Enrico Supino, 2020. "The value relevance of environmental, social, and governance disclosure: Evidence from Dow Jones Sustainability World Index listed companies," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(1), pages 43-52, January.
    11. Mohammad Jizi, 2017. "The Influence of Board Composition on Sustainable Development Disclosure," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(5), pages 640-655, July.
    12. Isabel Lourenço & Jeffrey Callen & Manuel Branco & José Curto, 2014. "The Value Relevance of Reputation for Sustainability Leadership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 119(1), pages 17-28, January.
    13. Alexander Landau & Janina Rochell & Christian Klein & Bernhard Zwergel, 2020. "Integrated reporting of environmental, social, and governance and financial data: Does the market value integrated reports?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 1750-1763, May.
    14. repec:mth:ijafr8:v:9:y:2019:i:1:p:122-134 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. 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.
    16. Jannik Gerwanski, 2020. "Does it pay off? Integrated reporting and cost of debt: European evidence," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(5), pages 2299-2319, September.
    17. Sebastian Utz, 2018. "Over‐investment or risk mitigation? Corporate social responsibility in Asia‐Pacific, Europe, Japan, and the United States," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(2), pages 167-193, April.
    18. Bissoondoyal-Bheenick, Emawtee & Brooks, Robert & Do, Hung Xuan, 2023. "ESG and firm performance: The role of size and media channels," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    19. Joseph Taylor & Joseph Vithayathil & Dobin Yim, 2018. "Are corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives such as sustainable development and environmental policies value enhancing or window dressing?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(5), pages 971-980, September.
    20. Chee Kwong Lau, 2019. "The economic consequences of business sustainability initiatives," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 937-970, December.
    21. Sylvain Marsat & Benjamin Williams, 2016. "Does the Market Value the Social Dimension? International Evidence," Bankers, Markets & Investors, ESKA Publishing, issue 142, pages 28-40, May-June.

    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:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:3:p:574-:d:133147. 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.