Does institutional investors’ information advantage influence the ESG performance of China’s new energy vehicle industry? Evidence from listed companies in industrial chain

ESG management of China’s new energy vehicle (NEV) industry is vital to advancing sustainable development goals (SDGs). However, NEV industrial chain faces ESG challenges, including carbon emissions, quality control, and legal compliance, which undermine corporate sustainability, and hinder institutional investors from achieving long-term benefits and client ESG demands. Currently, information advantage in the co-holding network determines how much information resources institutional investors can provide to optimize corporate ESG strategies. Therefore, we explore the impact of institutional investors’ information advantage on the ESG performance of NEV industry using listed companies in industrial chain. In China, institutional investors holding below 5% shares dominate, and they can advance ESG agenda through social media. Considering this, co-holding networks with thresholds below 5% are constructed to adequately identify information exchange, with network centralities measuring information advantage. Results show that 1% increase in institutional investors’ information advantage improves ESG performance by 0.163%. Positive moderating effects of green innovation and digital transformation are more significant in large-scale companies, while those of financing and information disclosure are more significant in small-scale ones. All these moderating effects are more significant in upstream. These findings develop policies for companies of various scales in industrial chain to promote SDGs.