IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/stavef/2022_001.html

Do sustainable company stock prices increase with ESG scrutiny? Evidence using social media

Author

Listed:
  • Kvam, Emilie

    (NTNU)

  • Molnar, Peter

    (University of Stavanger)

  • Wankel, Ingvild

    (NTNU)

  • Odegaard, Bernt Arne

    (University of Stavanger)

Abstract

We investigate the link between stock returns and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) concerns. The ESG concerns are measured by ESG-related sentiment extracted from Google Trends and Twitter, and also by the VIX index. We find that higher ESG scores are associated with lower stock returns on average. However, companies with high ESG scores deliver high returns in times of ESG concerns. Our results are consistent with the implications of equilibrium models of Pastor et al. (2021) and Pedersen et al. (2021) about the ESG score and changes in ESG concerns (preferences or news).

Suggested Citation

  • Kvam, Emilie & Molnar, Peter & Wankel, Ingvild & Odegaard, Bernt Arne, 2022. "Do sustainable company stock prices increase with ESG scrutiny? Evidence using social media," UiS Working Papers in Economics and Finance 2022/1, University of Stavanger.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:stavef:2022_001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ba-odegaard.no/uis_wps_econ_fin/uis_wps_2022_01_kwam_molnar_wankel_odegaard.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Y. Campbell & Sanford J. Grossman & Jiang Wang, 1993. "Trading Volume and Serial Correlation in Stock Returns," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(4), pages 905-939.
    2. Bradford Cornell, 2021. "ESG preferences, risk and return," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 27(1), pages 12-19, January.
    3. Zhi Da & Joseph Engelberg & Pengjie Gao, 2011. "In Search of Attention," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(5), pages 1461-1499, October.
    4. Aparna A. Labroo & Vanessa M. Patrick, 2009. "Psychological Distancing: Why Happiness Helps You See the Big Picture," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 35(5), pages 800-809, October.
    5. Hyunyoung Choi & Hal Varian, 2012. "Predicting the Present with Google Trends," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 88(s1), pages 2-9, June.
    6. Amihud, Yakov & Mendelson, Haim, 1986. "Asset pricing and the bid-ask spread," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 223-249, December.
    7. Rui Albuquerque & Yrjo Koskinen & Shuai Yang & Chendi Zhang, 2020. "Resiliency of Environmental and Social Stocks: An Analysis of the Exogenous COVID-19 Market Crash," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 9(3), pages 593-621.
    8. Jeremy Ginsberg & Matthew H. Mohebbi & Rajan S. Patel & Lynnette Brammer & Mark S. Smolinski & Larry Brilliant, 2009. "Detecting influenza epidemics using search engine query data," Nature, Nature, vol. 457(7232), pages 1012-1014, February.
    9. Lins, Karl V. & Servaes, Henri & Tamayo, Ane, 2017. "Social capital, trust, and firm performance: the value of corporate social responsibility during the financial crisis," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 68059, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Pedersen, Lasse Heje & Fitzgibbons, Shaun & Pomorski, Lukasz, 2021. "Responsible investing: The ESG-efficient frontier," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 572-597.
    11. Marian Alexander Dietzel, 2016. "Sentiment-based predictions of housing market turning points with Google trends," International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 9(1), pages 108-136, March.
    12. Banerjee, Prithviraj S. & Doran, James S. & Peterson, David R., 2007. "Implied volatility and future portfolio returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(10), pages 3183-3199, October.
    13. Pástor, Ľuboš & Stambaugh, Robert F. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2021. "Sustainable investing in equilibrium," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 550-571.
    14. Sarwar, Ghulam, 2012. "Is VIX an investor fear gauge in BRIC equity markets?," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 55-65.
    15. Lioui, Abraham & Tarelli, Andrea, 2022. "Chasing the ESG factor," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    16. Rui Albuquerque & Yrjo Koskinen & Shuai Yang & Chendi Zhang, 0. "Resiliency of Environmental and Social Stocks: An Analysis of the Exogenous COVID-19 Market Crash," Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(3), pages 593-621.
    17. 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.
    18. Scott Baker & Andrey Fradkin, 2011. "What Drives Job Search? Evidence from Google Search Data," Discussion Papers 10-020, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    19. François Derrien & Philipp Krueger & Augustin Landier & Tianhao Yao, 2021. "How Do ESG Incidents Affect Firm Value?," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 21-84, Swiss Finance Institute.
    20. Joseph, Kissan & Babajide Wintoki, M. & Zhang, Zelin, 2011. "Forecasting abnormal stock returns and trading volume using investor sentiment: Evidence from online search," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 1116-1127, October.
    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. Stéphane Goutte & Viet Hoang Le & Fei Liu & Hans-Jörg Mettenheim, Von, 2023. "Esg Investing: A Sentiment Analysis Approach," Working Papers halshs-03917335, HAL.
    2. Gaies, Brahim & Chaâbane, Najeh & Adeosun, Opeoluwa Adeniyi & Sahut, Jean-Michel, 2025. "Climate transition risks, ESG sentiment and market value: Insights from the European stock market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).

    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. Hans B. Christensen & Luzi Hail & Christian Leuz, 2021. "Mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting: economic analysis and literature review," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 1176-1248, September.
    2. Rudkin, Wanling & Cai, Charlie X. & Zhou, You, 2025. "Can we enhance investment with ESG?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    3. Eisenkopf, Jana & Juranek, Steffen & Walz, Uwe, 2021. "Responsible investment and stock market shocks: Short-term insurance and persistent outperformance post-crisis?," SAFE Working Paper Series 329, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    4. Andrea Jacob & Martin Nerlinger, 2021. "Investors’ Delight? Climate Risk in Stock Valuation during COVID-19 and Beyond," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-17, November.
    5. Ferriani, Fabrizio, 2023. "Issuing bonds during the Covid-19 pandemic: Was there an ESG premium?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    6. Kim, Sehoon & Kumar, Nitish & Lee, Jongsub & Oh, Junho, 2025. "ESG lending," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    7. Bassen, Alexander & Kordsachia, Othar & Lopatta, Kerstin & Tan, Weiqiang, 2025. "Revenue alignment with the EU taxonomy regulation in developed markets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    8. Tariq Aziz & Valeed Ahmad Ansari, 2021. "How Does Google Search Affect the Stock Market? Evidence from Indian Companies," Vision, , vol. 25(2), pages 224-232, June.
    9. Zhou, Zihan & Wang, Shaolin & Wang, Hongxia, 2025. "The performance of ESG portfolios: A stochastic dominance approach," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    10. Wang, Ren & Bian, Yuxiang & Xiong, Xiong, 2024. "Impact of ESG preferences on investments and emissions in a DSGE framework," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    11. Berle, Erika & He, Wanwei & Odegaard, Bernt Arne, 2022. "The expected returns of ESG excluded stocks. The case of exclusions from Norway's Oil Fund," UiS Working Papers in Economics and Finance 2022/3, University of Stavanger.
    12. Elizabeth Demers & Jurian Hendrikse & Philip Joos & Baruch Lev, 2021. "ESG did not immunize stocks during the COVID‐19 crisis, but investments in intangible assets did," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3-4), pages 433-462, March.
    13. Pouget, Sébastien & Brodback, Daniel & Guenster, Nadja & Wang, Ruichen, 2025. "Investor Valuation for Socially Responsible Assets: A Willingness to Pay Experiment," TSE Working Papers 2025-1683, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    14. Wen, Hui & Ho, Ken C. & Gao, Jijun & Yu, Li, 2022. "The fundamental effects of ESG disclosure quality in boosting the growth of ESG investing," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    15. Chava, Sudheer & Kim, Jeong Ho (John) & Lee, Jaemin, 2025. "Risk, return, and environmental and social ratings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    16. Liu, Xufeng & Wan, Die, 2023. "Retail investor trading and ESG pricing in China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    17. Mansouri, Sasan & Momtaz, Paul P., 2022. "Financing sustainable entrepreneurship: ESG measurement, valuation, and performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(6).
    18. Ramelli, Stefano & Ossola, Elisa & Rancan, Michela, 2021. "Stock price effects of climate activism: Evidence from the first Global Climate Strike," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    19. Kim, Neri & Lučivjanská, Katarína & Molnár, Peter & Villa, Roviel, 2019. "Google searches and stock market activity: Evidence from Norway," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 208-220.
    20. Ishani Chaudhuri & Parthajit Kayal, 2022. "Predicting Power of Ticker Search Volume in Indian Stock Market," Working Papers 2022-214, Madras School of Economics,Chennai,India.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General

    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:hhs:stavef:2022_001. 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: Bernt Arne Odegaard (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iouisno.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.