Phuc Minh Nguyen , Christine Jubb , Roshanthi Dias
{"title":"Motives for environmental and social engagement and stock liquidity: The moderating role of sustainability committees","authors":"Phuc Minh Nguyen , Christine Jubb , Roshanthi Dias","doi":"10.1016/j.pacfin.2024.102501","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>While stock liquidity has long been a vital consideration in stock markets, environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance has become a growing consideration due to its numerous benefits to companies and society. However, there is limited research on whether corporate motivations to engage in ESG activities affect stock liquidity. We examine this relationship in the context of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) by studying the role of three motivations (strategic, altruism, or greenwashing) for company engagement in ESG activities in explaining stock liquidity. We also examine the role of sustainability committees in explaining stock liquidity. Using companies included in the S&P ASX 300 from 2009 to 2018, a positive association is found between stock liquidity and a strategic motivation for environmental and social engagement and sustainability committee presence. An unexpected finding is that sustainability committee formation can mislead investors to reward a greenwashing motivation by improving stock liquidity. These findings provide valuable new insights into motives to engage particularly with the “E” and “S” in ESG and sustainability committees' role in improving stock liquidity.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48074,"journal":{"name":"Pacific-Basin Finance Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927538X24002531/pdfft?md5=0caa0709befa47fdfaf4a5d6684d7b50&pid=1-s2.0-S0927538X24002531-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Pacific-Basin Finance Journal","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927538X24002531","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BUSINESS, FINANCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
While stock liquidity has long been a vital consideration in stock markets, environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance has become a growing consideration due to its numerous benefits to companies and society. However, there is limited research on whether corporate motivations to engage in ESG activities affect stock liquidity. We examine this relationship in the context of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) by studying the role of three motivations (strategic, altruism, or greenwashing) for company engagement in ESG activities in explaining stock liquidity. We also examine the role of sustainability committees in explaining stock liquidity. Using companies included in the S&P ASX 300 from 2009 to 2018, a positive association is found between stock liquidity and a strategic motivation for environmental and social engagement and sustainability committee presence. An unexpected finding is that sustainability committee formation can mislead investors to reward a greenwashing motivation by improving stock liquidity. These findings provide valuable new insights into motives to engage particularly with the “E” and “S” in ESG and sustainability committees' role in improving stock liquidity.
期刊介绍:
The Pacific-Basin Finance Journal is aimed at providing a specialized forum for the publication of academic research on capital markets of the Asia-Pacific countries. Primary emphasis will be placed on the highest quality empirical and theoretical research in the following areas: • Market Micro-structure; • Investment and Portfolio Management; • Theories of Market Equilibrium; • Valuation of Financial and Real Assets; • Behavior of Asset Prices in Financial Sectors; • Normative Theory of Financial Management; • Capital Markets of Development; • Market Mechanisms.