IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ijcgvn/v17y2024i1p130-152.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Social Pillar of ESG: Exploring the Link Between Social Sustainability and Stock Price Synchronicity

Author

Listed:
  • Srikanth Potharla
  • Surya Kumari Turubilli
  • Mylavaram Chandra Shekar

Abstract

This study examined the association between the social sustainability aspects of environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives and stock price synchronicity in 146 publicly listed companies in India from 2011 to 2021. Social sustainability is gauged using indicators such as community engagement, adherence to human rights, customer loyalty, consumer health and safety protection, and employee welfare. Panel data regression with industry-year fixed effects reveals a positive association between social sustainability and stock price synchronicity. This finding suggests that the stocks of companies with strong social issue management are more aligned with market movements. The findings indicate that investors value ethical management, commitment to human rights and employee satisfaction. The insights provided by this study are vital for investors’ fund allocation decisions, highlighting the importance of workforce and supply chain diversity, fair workplace practices, human rights compliance and product integrity in informed investment decision-making. Overall, the research confirms the economic benefits that social sustainability bestows on companies and their investors.

Suggested Citation

  • Srikanth Potharla & Surya Kumari Turubilli & Mylavaram Chandra Shekar, 2024. "The Social Pillar of ESG: Exploring the Link Between Social Sustainability and Stock Price Synchronicity," Indian Journal of Corporate Governance, , vol. 17(1), pages 130-152, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:ijcgvn:v:17:y:2024:i:1:p:130-152
    DOI: 10.1177/09746862241236551
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09746862241236551
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/09746862241236551?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Larelle Chapple & Jacquelyn Humphrey, 2014. "Does Board Gender Diversity Have a Financial Impact? Evidence Using Stock Portfolio Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(4), pages 709-723, July.
    2. Bharat Kumar Meher & Iqbal Thonse Hawaldar & Latasha Mohapatra & Cristi Spulbar & Ramona Birau, 2020. "The Effects of Environment, Society and Governance Scores on Investment Returns and Stock Market Volatility," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 10(4), pages 234-239.
    3. Tseng, Kuo C, 1988. "Low Price, Price-Earnings Ratio, Market Value, and Abnormal Stock Returns," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 23(3), pages 333-343, August.
    4. Pahud de Mortanges, Charles & van Riel, Allard, 2003. "Brand Equity and Shareholder Value," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 521-527, August.
    5. 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.
    6. Im, Kyung So & Pesaran, M. Hashem & Shin, Yongcheol, 2003. "Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 53-74, July.
    7. Eduardo Schiehll & Sam Kolahgar, 2021. "Financial materiality in the informativeness of sustainability reporting," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 840-855, February.
    8. Ben-Nasr, Hamdi & Ghouma, Hatem, 2018. "Employee welfare and stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 700-725.
    9. Chauhan, Yogesh & Kumar, Surya B., 2018. "Do investors value the nonfinancial disclosure in emerging markets?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 32-46.
    10. Choi, In, 2001. "Unit root tests for panel data," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 249-272, April.
    11. Artyom Durnev & Randall Morck & Bernard Yeung & Paul Zarowin, 2003. "Does Greater Firm‐Specific Return Variation Mean More or Less Informed Stock Pricing?," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(5), pages 797-836, December.
    12. Jiao, Yawen, 2010. "Stakeholder welfare and firm value," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 2549-2561, October.
    13. Gnanakumar Visvanathan, 2017. "Intangible assets on the balance sheet and audit fees," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 14(3), pages 241-250, August.
    14. Alex Edmans & Darcy Pu & Chendi Zhang & Lucius Li, 2024. "Employee Satisfaction, Labor Market Flexibility, and Stock Returns Around the World," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 70(7), pages 4357-4380, July.
    15. Yilmaz Yildiz & Selin Metin Camgoz, 2019. "Brand Equity and Firm Risk: An Empirical Investigation in an Emerging Market," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(1), pages 218-235, January.
    16. Chen, Hong-Yi & Yang, Sharon S., 2020. "Do Investors exaggerate corporate ESG information? Evidence of the ESG momentum effect in the Taiwanese market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    17. Levin, Andrew & Lin, Chien-Fu & James Chu, Chia-Shang, 2002. "Unit root tests in panel data: asymptotic and finite-sample properties," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 1-24, 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. Cem Ertur & Antonio Musolesi, 2017. "Weak and Strong Cross‐Sectional Dependence: A Panel Data Analysis of International Technology Diffusion," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(3), pages 477-503, April.
    2. Apergis, Nicholas & Payne, James E., 2010. "Energy consumption and growth in South America: Evidence from a panel error correction model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1421-1426, November.
    3. José Abraham López Machuca & Jorge Eduardo Mendoza Cota, 2017. "Salarios, desempleo y productividad laboral en la industria manufacturera mexicana. (Wage, Unemployment and Labor Productivity in the Mexican Manufacturing Industry)," Ensayos Revista de Economia, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Facultad de Economia, vol. 0(2), pages 185-228, October.
    4. Lauren Stagnol, 2015. "Designing a corporate bond index on solvency criteria," EconomiX Working Papers 2015-39, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    5. BADALYAN, Gohar & HERZFELD, Thomas & RAJCANIOVA, Miroslava, 2014. "Transport Infrastructure And Economic Growth: Panel Data Approach For Armenia, Georgia And Turkey," Review of Agricultural and Applied Economics (RAAE), Faculty of Economics and Management, Slovak Agricultural University in Nitra, vol. 17(2), pages 1-10, October.
    6. Jean-Francois Hoarau & Stephane Blancard & Philippe Jean-Pierre, 2009. "Testing for nominal convergence in the Central American area: evidence from panel data unit-root tests," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(11), pages 1171-1174.
    7. László KÓNYA, 2023. "Per Capita Income Convergence and Divergence of Selected OECD Countries to and from the US: A Reappraisal for the period 1900-2018," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 23(1), pages 33-56.
    8. Patrizia Ordine & Giuseppe Rose, 2008. "Local Banks Efficiency and Employment," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 22(3), pages 469-493, September.
    9. Antonio Afonso & Hüseyin Sen & Ayse Kaya, 2021. "Government Size, Unemployment and Inflation Nexus in Eight Large Emerging Market Economies," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 235(1), pages 133-170, March.
    10. Ronald MacDonald & Flávio Vieira, "undated". "A panel data investigation of real exchange rate misalignment and growth," Working Papers 2010_13, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    11. Win Chou & Dominica Lee, 2005. "Panel Cointegration Analysis of Audit Pricing Model," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 423-439, June.
    12. Cosmin Enache & Ciprian Pânzaru, 2012. "Romanian Migration Flows In European Countries: Does Social Security Matter?," Annales Universitatis Apulensis Series Oeconomica, Faculty of Sciences, "1 Decembrie 1918" University, Alba Iulia, vol. 2(14), pages 1-17.
    13. Carmen Díaz-Roldán & María del Carmen Ramos-Herrera, 2021. "Innovations and ICT: Do They Favour Economic Growth and Environmental Quality?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-17, March.
    14. Cristina Brasili & Luciano Gutierrez, 2004. "Regional convergence across European Union," Development and Comp Systems 0402002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Cheng Hsiao, 2007. "Panel data analysis—advantages and challenges," TEST: An Official Journal of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, Springer;Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, vol. 16(1), pages 1-22, May.
    16. Roberto DELL'ANNO & Stefania VILLA, 2012. "Growth in Transition Countries: Big Bang versus Gradualism," CELPE Discussion Papers 122, CELPE - CEnter for Labor and Political Economics, University of Salerno, Italy.
    17. Kurt Hafner, 2008. "The pattern of international patenting and technology diffusion," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(21), pages 2819-2837.
    18. repec:afa:wpaper:aesriwp11 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Atanu Ghoshray & Yurena Mendoza & Mercedes Monfort & Javier Ordoñez, 2018. "Re-assessing causality between energy consumption and economic growth," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(11), pages 1-15, November.
    20. In Choi, 2019. "Unit Root Tests for Dependent Micropanels," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 70(2), pages 145-167, June.
    21. Nagmi Moftah Aimer, 2020. "Renewable energy consumption, financial development and economic growth: Evidence from panel data for the Middle East and North African countries," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(3), pages 2058-2072.

    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:sae:ijcgvn:v:17:y:2024:i:1:p:130-152. 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: SAGE Publications (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.