投资者关注影响上市公司ESG表现吗——来自网络搜索量的经验证据

Does Investor Attention Affect Corporate ESG Performance:Evidence from Internet Search

本文选择2011—2021年沪深两市A股主板上市公司为研究对象,基于投资者对上市公司的网络搜索量数据,系统考察投资者关注对上市公司ESG表现的影响及其作用机制。结果表明,投资者关注有助于提升公司ESG表现;进一步的分析表明,投资者关注通过缓解企业融资约束和提高信息透明度对上市公司ESG表现发挥积极的提升作用,并且投资者关注与公司ESG表现之间的正向关系在国有控股、高科技和重点排污等公司中更明显;此外,投资者情绪、投资者互动、投资者调研和投资者持股等不同类型的投资者关注都有助于提升上市公司ESG表现。本文的研究结论丰富了公司ESG表现驱动因素的研究,为上市公司进一步完善ESG体系建设、积极践行ESG理念,以及监管部门持续加强投资者引导等提供了理论支撑与经验启示。

Employing A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2011 to 2021 as research object, and based on the internet search data of listed companies, this paper systematically examines the impact of investor attention on corporate ESG performance and its mechanism.The results show that investor attention can help improve corporate ESG performance.Further analysis shows that investor attention play a positive role in improving corporate ESG performance by reducing financing constraints and improving information transparency, and this positive relationship is more obvious in companies that are state-owned, high-tech, and with key pollutant discharge.Besides, different types of investor attention, such as investor sentiment, investor interaction, investor investigation, and investor shareholding, can help improve corporate ESG performance.The research conclusions of this paper enrich the research on the driving factors of corporate ESG performance, and provide theoretical support and empirical inspiration for listed companies to further improve the construction of ESG systems and practice ESG concepts, and for regulatory authorities to continue to strengthen investor guidance.