高管新闻报道的媒体情绪能影响企业ESG表现吗?——基于A股上市公司的实证研究

Can media sentiment on news of corporate executives affect ESG performance?: Empirical study on A-share listed companies

近年来,以环境保护、社会责任和公司治理为核心要义的ESG理念得到了国内外投资者的广泛关注,在高层梯队理论和利益者相关理论基础上利用2009—2022年A股上市公司的数据,检验高管新闻报道的媒体情绪对企业ESG表现可能的影响和机制。此外,通过中介效应检验了管理者的超额津贴、融资约束与高管新闻报道的媒体情绪之间的关系。研究表明:新闻对企业高管的媒体报道越正向企业ESG表现越好,这一作用在非国有企业中更为显著;机制分析发现,新闻媒体对高管的正向报道会通过降低企业代理成本和缓解企业融资约束来提高企业ESG表现;进一步研究发现,受到更多正向高管新闻报道和ESG表现更好的企业的股票回报率更高,机构投资者更乐意持有高媒体情绪指数的公司股票。

In recent years, ESG characterized by environmental protection, social responsibility and corporate governance has garnered extensive attention from both domestic and international investors. To investigate whether the media sentiment on news of corporate executives can influence executives’ response and consequently affect corporate ESG performance, this study, based on upper echelons theory and stakeholder theory, utilizes data from A-share listed companies between 2009 and 2022 to examine the potential impact and mechanism of media sentiment in news of executives on corporate ESG performance. Moreover, the relationship between executives’ overcompensation, financing constraints and media sentiment on these news reports is tested through mediating effects. The research findings indicate that the more positive the news coverage of corporate executives, the better the corporate ESG performance, with this effect being more significant in non-state-owned enterprises. Mechanism analysis reveals that positive media coverage of executives enhances corporate ESG performance by reducing agency costs and alleviating corporate financing constraints. Further research discovers that companies receiving more positive news coverage and demonstrating better ESG performance yield higher stock returns and are more preferred by institutional investors in stockholding.