IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/eti/dpaper/21033.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

How Do ESG Performance and Awareness Affect Firm Value and Corporate Overinvestment?

Author

Listed:
  • Denny IRAWAN
  • OKIMOTO Tatsuyoshi

Abstract

Examining the relationship between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance and firm value has attracted significant attention, as ESG investing has grown rapidly over the last decade. This study examines this issue by investigating how ESG awareness and performance influence firm value, as proxied by Tobin's Q. The results indicate that as global ESG awareness measured by the number of signatories of United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) increases, firms with higher ESG performance are valued higher. Concerning firm investment, our results suggest that firms with better ESG performance have larger investment opportunities through higher Tobin's Q. Given these results, this study also investigates whether firms with higher ESG performance have a higher tendency to overinvest. The overall results find little evidence that ESG performance induces the firms' overinvestment behaviour for most of the sectors. Moreover, the results indicate that, as ESG awareness increases, the firms with higher ESG performance tend to overinvest less for some sectors.

Suggested Citation

  • Denny IRAWAN & OKIMOTO Tatsuyoshi, 2021. "How Do ESG Performance and Awareness Affect Firm Value and Corporate Overinvestment?," Discussion papers 21033, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    • Handle: RePEc:eti:dpaper:21033
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rieti.go.jp/jp/publications/dp/21e033.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chirinko, Robert S, 1993. "Business Fixed Investment Spending: Modeling Strategies, Empirical Results, and Policy Implications," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 31(4), pages 1875-1911, December.
    2. Fatemi, Ali & Glaum, Martin & Kaiser, Stefanie, 2018. "ESG performance and firm value: The moderating role of disclosure," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 45-64.
    3. Robert S. Chirinko, 1992. "Business Fixed Investment Spending: A Critical survey of Modeling Strategies, Empirical Results, and Policy Implications," Working Papers 9213, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago.
    4. Abel, Andrew B & Eberly, Janice C, 1994. "A Unified Model of Investment under Uncertainty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(5), pages 1369-1384, December.
    5. Samuel M. Hartzmark & Abigail B. Sussman, 2019. "Do Investors Value Sustainability? A Natural Experiment Examining Ranking and Fund Flows," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 74(6), pages 2789-2837, December.
    6. Benjamin R. Auer, 2016. "Do Socially Responsible Investment Policies Add or Destroy European Stock Portfolio Value?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(2), pages 381-397, May.
    7. Ferrell, Allen & Liang, Hao & Renneboog, Luc, 2016. "Socially responsible firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(3), pages 585-606.
    8. Sarantis Kalyvitis, 2006. "Another look at the linear q model: an empirical analysis of aggregate business capital spending with maintenance expenditures," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(4), pages 1282-1315, November.
    9. Heitor Almeida & Murillo Campello, 2007. "Financial Constraints, Asset Tangibility, and Corporate Investment," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 20(5), pages 1429-1460, 2007 12.
    10. Tobin, James, 1969. "A General Equilibrium Approach to Monetary Theory," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 1(1), pages 15-29, February.
    11. Amal Aouadi & Sylvain Marsat, 2018. "Do ESG Controversies Matter for Firm Value? Evidence from International Data," Post-Print halshs-02007374, HAL.
    12. Toni M. Whited & Guojun Wu, 2006. "Financial Constraints Risk," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 19(2), pages 531-559.
    13. Stephen Bond & Costas Meghir, 1994. "Dynamic Investment Models and the Firm's Financial Policy," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 61(2), pages 197-222.
    14. Steven M. Fazzari & R. Glenn Hubbard & Bruce C. Petersen, 1988. "Financing Constraints and Corporate Investment," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 19(1), pages 141-206.
    15. Steven J. Davis, 2016. "An Index of Global Economic Policy Uncertainty," NBER Working Papers 22740, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Carpenter, Robert E. & Guariglia, Alessandra, 2008. "Cash flow, investment, and investment opportunities: New tests using UK panel data," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1894-1906, September.
    17. Sueyoshi, Toshiyuki & Goto, Mika, 2009. "Can environmental investment and expenditure enhance financial performance of US electric utility firms under the clean air act amendment of 1990?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 4819-4826, November.
    18. Amal Aouadi & Sylvain Marsat, 2018. "Do ESG Controversies Matter for Firm Value? Evidence from International Data," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(4), pages 1027-1047, September.
    19. Reimann, Felix & Ehrgott, Matthias & Kaufmann, Lutz & Carter, Craig R., 2012. "Local stakeholders and local legitimacy: MNEs' social strategies in emerging economies," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 1-17.
    20. Steven A. Barnett & Plutarchos Sakellaris, 1999. "A New Look At Firm Market Value, Investment, And Adjustment Costs," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(2), pages 250-260, May.
    21. James Tobin & William C. Brainard, 1976. "Asset Markets and the Cost of Capital," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 427, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    22. Irawan, Denny & Okimoto, Tatsuyoshi, 2021. "Overinvestment and macroeconomic uncertainty: Evidence from renewable and non-renewable resource firms," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    23. Yu, Xiaojun & Yao, Yao & Zheng, Huanhuan & Zhang, Lin, 2020. "The role of political connection on overinvestment of Chinese energy firms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    24. Wang, Yizhong & Chen, Carl R. & Chen, Lifang & Huang, Ying Sophie, 2016. "Overinvestment, inflation uncertainty, and managerial overconfidence: Firm level analysis of Chinese corporations," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 54-69.
    25. Li, Jialong & Haider, Zulfiquer Ali & Jin, Xianzhe & Yuan, Wenlong, 2019. "Corporate controversy, social responsibility and market performance: International evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1-18.
    26. Guariglia, Alessandra & Yang, Junhong, 2016. "A balancing act: Managing financial constraints and agency costs to minimize investment inefficiency in the Chinese market," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 111-130.
    27. Wong, Woei Chyuan & Batten, Jonathan A. & Ahmad, Abd Halim & Mohamed-Arshad, Shamsul Bahrain & Nordin, Sabariah & Adzis, Azira Abdul, 2021. "Does ESG certification add firm value?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    28. Karl V. Lins & Henri Servaes & Ane Tamayo, 2017. "Social Capital, Trust, and Firm Performance: The Value of Corporate Social Responsibility during the Financial Crisis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(4), pages 1785-1824, August.
    29. Ferrell, A. & Liang, Hao & Renneboog, Luc, 2016. "Socially responsible firms," Other publications TiSEM 07e115ac-fdcb-4c4b-a0b8-a, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    30. John Asker & Joan Farre-Mensa & Alexander Ljungqvist, 2015. "Corporate Investment and Stock Market Listing: A Puzzle?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(2), pages 342-390.
    31. Yoshikawa, Hiroshi, 1980. "On the "q" Theory of Investment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(4), pages 739-743, September.
    32. Wei, Xiaoquan & Wang, Chunfei & Guo, Yunnan, 2019. "Does quasi-mandatory dividend rule restrain overinvestment?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 4-23.
    33. Sarantis Kalyvitis, 2006. "model: an empirical analysis of aggregate business capital spending with maintenance expenditures," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 39(4), pages 1282-1315, November.
    34. 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.
    35. Dylan Rassier & Dietrich Earnhart, 2010. "Does the Porter Hypothesis Explain Expected Future Financial Performance? The Effect of Clean Water Regulation on Chemical Manufacturing Firms," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 45(3), pages 353-377, March.
    36. Chalak, Karim & Kim, Daniel, 2020. "Measurement error in multiple equations: Tobin’s q and corporate investment, saving, and debt," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 214(2), pages 413-432.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. KEIDA Masayuki & TAKEDA Yosuke, 2024. "How Loud is a Soft Voice? Effects of positive screening of ESG performance on the Japanese oil companies," Discussion papers 24002, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).

    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. Irawan, Denny & Okimoto, Tatsuyoshi, 2021. "Overinvestment and macroeconomic uncertainty: Evidence from renewable and non-renewable resource firms," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    2. Jinji, Naoto & Zhang, Xingyuan & Haruna, Shoji, 2019. "Does a firm with higher Tobin’s q prefer foreign direct investment to foreign outsourcing?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    3. Lu Zhang, 2017. "The Investment CAPM," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 23(4), pages 545-603, September.
    4. Tsoukalas, John D., 2011. "Time to build capital: Revisiting investment-cash-flow sensitivities," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1000-1016, July.
    5. Eleni Angelopoulou & Sarantis Kalyvitis, 2012. "Estimating the Euler Equation for Aggregate Investment with Endogenous Capital Depreciation," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 78(3), pages 1057-1078, January.
    6. Aissata Boubacar Moumouni, 2020. "Investment Sensitivity to Inter-enterprises Payment Deadlines," AMSE Working Papers 1938, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    7. Tori, Daniele & Onaran, Özlem, 2018. "Financialisation, financial development, and investment: evidence from European non-financial corporations," Greenwich Papers in Political Economy 22196, University of Greenwich, Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre.
    8. Raymond Kwong & Man Lung Jonathan Kwok & Helen S. M. Wong, 2023. "Green FinTech Innovation as a Future Research Direction: A Bibliometric Analysis on Green Finance and FinTech," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-27, October.
    9. Fafaliou, Irene & Giaka, Maria & Konstantios, Dimitrios & Polemis, Michael, 2022. "Firms’ ESG reputational risk and market longevity: A firm-level analysis for the United States," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 161-177.
    10. Lei Ruan & Heng Liu, 2021. "Environmental, Social, Governance Activities and Firm Performance: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-16, January.
    11. Abdullah Jihad Rabaya & Norman Mohd Saleh, 2022. "The moderating effect of IR framework adoption on the relationship between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure and a firm's competitive advantage," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 2037-2055, February.
    12. Crisóstomo, Vicente Lima & López-Iturriaga, Félix Javier & Vallelado González, Eleuterio, 2014. "Nonfinancial companies as large shareholders alleviate financial constraints of Brazilian firm," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 62-77.
    13. Zhao Chen & Ling Hu & Xin He & Ziming Liu & Danni Chen & Weirui Wang, 2022. "Green Financial Reform and Corporate ESG Performance in China: Empirical Evidence from the Green Financial Reform and Innovation Pilot Zone," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-17, November.
    14. Panagiotidis, Theodore & Printzis, Panagiotis, 2020. "What is the investment loss due to uncertainty?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    15. Lewe, Stefan, 2003. "Wachstumseffiziente Unternehmensbesteuerung," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 20042, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    16. Ameer, Rashid, 2014. "Financial constraints and corporate investment in Asian countries," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 44-55.
    17. Cummins, Jason G. & Hassett, Kevin A. & Hubbard, R. Glenn, 1996. "Tax reforms and investment: A cross-country comparison," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1-2), pages 237-273, October.
    18. Gallegati, Marco & Ramsey, James B., 2013. "Structural change and phase variation: A re-examination of the q-model using wavelet exploratory analysis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 60-73.
    19. Filipe Silva & Carlos Carreira, 2012. "Measuring Firms’ Financial Constraints: A Rough Guide," Notas Económicas, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, issue 36, pages 23-46, December.
    20. Pellicani, Aline Damasceno & Kalatzis, Aquiles Elie Guimarães, 2019. "Ownership structure, overinvestment and underinvestment: Evidence from Brazil," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 475-482.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:eti:dpaper:21033. 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: TANIMOTO, Toko (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rietijp.html .

    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.