A non-linear assessment of ESG and firm performance relationship: evidence from China

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics.

Variable	Mean	Std. dev.	Min	Max
TOBINS Q	1.214	6.119	0.973	185.290
ROA	1.665	3.414	−26.227	27.16
ESG	12.176	13.309	2.838	92.004
Firm size	6.202	7.998	11.876	78.337
Firm size	9.417	2.003	4.696	27.762
Financial leverage	0.328	0.041	0.004	0.830
GDP growth	3.219	2.991	0.771	13.451
Financial development	83.419	28.007	6.126	183.991

Source: authors.

Table 2. ESG and firm performance.

	(1)	(2)	(3)
Tobin’s Qt−1	0.027***	0.987***	0.003***
	(0.026)	(0.000)	(0.000)
ESG	0.094*	0.026***	0.087*
	(0.090)	(0.000)	(0.010)
ESG^2	−0.119***	−0.039**	−0.281***
	(0.001)	(0.000)	(0.000)
Size		0.006***	0.054*
		(0.000)	(0.060)
Sales growth		0.001**	0.000**
		(0.039)	(0.048)
Leverage		0.000***	0.000***
		(0.000)	(0.000)
Economic growth			0.067**
			(0.029)
Financial development			0.031***
			(0.000)
Constant	0.019***	0.003***	0.001***
	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.000)
AR (1/2)	0.31/0.29	0.41/0.54	0.28/0.91
Sargan/Hansen test (p-val)	0.31/0.27	0.11/0.54	0.00/0.72

p-values in parentheses. *p < 0.1, **p < 0.05, ***p < 0.01.

Source: authors.

Table 3. Robustness tests.

	(1)	(2)	(3)
ROAt−1	0.191***	0.033*	0.018***
	(0.006)	(0.091)	(0.000)
ESG	0.006**	0.002***	0.022*
	(0.019)	(0.000)	(0.010)
ESG^2	−0.067***	−0.001**	−0.287***
	(0.000)	(0.021)	(0.000)
Size		0.001**	0.017*
		(0.049)	(0.070)
Sales growth		0.016**	−0.000**
		(0.039)	(0.041)
Leverage		0.282***	0.098***
		(0.000)	(0.000)
Economic growth			0.000**
			(0.039)
Financial development			0.021***
			(0.000)
Constant	0.003***	0.073***	0.023***
	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.000)
AR (1/2)	0.29/0.46	0.09/0.83	0.19/0.33
Sargan/Hansen (p-val)	0.99/0.36	0.73/0.58	0.11/0.85

p-values in parentheses. *p < 0.1, **p < 0.05, ***p < 0.01.

Source: authors.

Table 4. Robustness test.

	(1)	(2)	(3)
Tobin’s Qt−1	0.029**	0.298***	0.006***
	(0.043)	(0.001)	(0.000)
ESG	0.067*	0.033*	0.045*
	(0.098)	(0.075)	(0.010)
ESG^2	−0.028**	−0.049***	−0.769***
	(0.029)	(0.000)	(0.000)
Size		0.017***	0.087***
		(0.000)	(0.000)
Sales growth		0.981***	0.054***
		(0.000)	(0.001)
Leverage		0.008***	0.017***
		(0.000)	(0.000)
Economic growth			0.037*
			(0.091)
Financial development			0.029***
			(0.001)
Constant	0.033***	0.031***	0.007***
	(0.000)	(0.000)	(0.000)
R-squared	0.14	0.26	0.36
Adj. R-squared	0.09	0.11	0.15

p-values in parentheses. *p < 0.1, **p < 0.05, ***p < 0.01.

Source: authors.