Heterogeneity Analysis Of The Impact Of ESG On The Performance Of Listed Companies

The concept of environment,social and governance(ESG),which was formally put forward in 2004,clearly pointed out that enterprises should take into account the three aspects of environment,social and governance in the process of production,operation and investment decision-making.The ESG performance of corporate behavior,that is,the development of enterprises urgently needs to pay attention to protecting the ecological environment,taking social responsibilities and strengthening corporate governance responsibilities.Since the 18 th CPC National Congress,China has incorporated the construction of ecological civilization into the "five in one" overall layout of socialism with Chinese characteristics,and the concept of green and sustainable development has become the main theme of promoting high-quality development.China’s "double carbon" goal is a solemn commitment of China to actively respond to global climate change and advocate the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind.As an important concept of green and sustainable development,the concept of ESG has increasingly attracted the attention of all sectors of society.The White Paper on the Development of ESG of Listed Companies in China,which jointly issued by the China Association of Listed Companies and China Securities Index Co.,Ltd.,pointed out the overall direction of ESG information disclosure of A-share listed companies has been continuously standardized and steadily developed in recent years.The number and proportion of listed companies that voluntarily and actively disclose ESG information has increased,and the number of listed companies with medium and high scores has shown an upward trend year by year.At the same time,the higher ESG governance capability enables the company to have better investment and anti-risk capability.As a socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics,although it has policy incentives and regulatory guidance,the more important thing is to stimulate enterprises to voluntarily disclose ESG and carry out ESG activities,so that enterprises can benefit from ESG performance,and achieve their own economic interests and social public welfare "win-win".As a large developing country,the level of development between regions is different.What are the differences in accepting ESG concepts among enterprises in different regions and property rights? What impact will the implementation of ESG have on the business performance of different enterprises? This is the starting point of this paper.Based on the combination of theoretical analysis and empirical analysis,this paper systematically studies the impact of ESG on the performance of listed companies.In theory,this paper first uses the neoclassical theory,stakeholder theory,resource dependence theory and signal theory for reference,and then makes assumptions and analyses on the impact of ESG on the performance of listed companies,the regulatory role of solvency on the impact of ESG on corporate performance,and the heterogeneity of the impact of ESG on the performance of listed companies.Empirically,this paper takes the unbalanced panel data of 4614 listed companies and 31497 listed companies from 2011 to 2021 as the research object,and takes the return on total assets index,which reflects the business operation and the ability to use funds to obtain profits,as the dependent variable of corporate financial performance.It takes ESG score constructed by the CSEC ESG evaluation system as the core explanatory variable,takes the solvency as the adjusting variable and also has control variables.By comparison of benchmark regression,fixed effect model and random effect model,finally the two-way fixed effect model is selected for regression.This paper also tests the robustness and heterogeneity.It re-values the ESG in robustness test.In the heterogeneity test,it explores the impact of ESG on the performance of different listed companies according to the property rights structure,regional market samples,and enterprise internal factors.This paper has four conclusions.First,ESG has a positive impact on the performance of Chinese listed companies.Second,solvency has a negative moderating effect on the impact of ESG and enterprise performance.Third,the ESG performance of the state-owned enterprise group and the non-state-owned enterprise group has different impact on enterprise performance,and the ESG performance of the eastern group and the central and western group has different impact on enterprise performance.Fourth,When the enterprise has a high cash ratio,the ESG performance of the enterprise can promote the enterprise performance.When the proportion of independent directors is relatively high,the ESG performance of enterprises can promote the performance of enterprises.When the equity concentration of enterprises is low,the ESG performance of enterprises can promote the performance of enterprises.When the enterprise is small,the ESG performance of the enterprise can promote the enterprise performance.Based on the above analysis and conclusions,this paper puts forward several suggestions for the existing problems.First,the state should improve the construction of ESG information disclosure system and the standards of ESG rating system.The second is to establish an enterprise ESG research group to scientifically study and judge its own development.The third is to build a national-level ESG guidance platform to provide guidance according to the type of enterprise.The fourth is to improve the ESG support policy system and encourage enterprises to transform and upgrade ESG.