The nexus of environmental, social, and governance practices with the financial performance of banks: A comparative analysis for the pre and COVID-19 periods

Figures & data

Figure 1. Conceptual framework.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics

Variables	N	Min	Max	Mean	S.D	Skewness		Kurtosis
	Statistic	Statistic	Statistic	Statistic	Statistic	Statistic	S.E	Statistic	S.E
Tobin’s Q	57	.17	1.20	.95	.14	−2.91	.32	16.81	.62
ESG	57	30	74	57.28	9.70	−.85	.32	.79	.62
Environmental	57	1	15	8.72	3.61	−.69	.32	−.08	.62
Social	57	21	51	39.61	6.94	−1.02	.32	.71	.62
Governance	57	6	11	8.95	1.02	−.098	.32	.88	.62
Total Assets	57	1.23	38.49	10.04	8.87	1.56	.32	2.02	.62
Firm Age	57	8	157	29.8	32.64	3.25	.32	10.31	.62
Leverage	57	7.50	23.97	14.5	4.53	.25	.32	−1.07	.62
Lending	57	1.00	3.42	0.37	0.611	3.19	.32	11.92	.62

Table 2. Descriptive statistics (pre and during COVID-19)

Variables	Pre COVID-19				During COVID-19
	Min	Max	Mean	S.D	Min	Max	Mean	S.D
TobinsQ	.170	1.199	.945	.160	.831	1.205	.964	.091
ESG	33.00	74.00	57.61	9.80	30.00	69.00	56.63	9.71
Environmental	1	15	9	4	1	14	8	3
Social	23	51	40	7	21	48	39	7
Governance	7	11	9	1	6	11	9	1
Total Assets	122.765	3227.132	937.405	845.622	158.996	3849.063	1138.540	974.940
Firm Age	8	156	29	33	10	157	31	33
Leverage	7.502	23.977	14.656	4.696	7.838	22.393	14.43	4.304
Lending	1.202	223.689	33.828	50.568	1.000	342.069	43.143	79.328

Table 3. Pearson’s correlation matrix

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)	(8)	(9)
Tobin’s Q (1)	1
ESG (2)	.243	1		.
Environmental (3)	.327*	.790**	1
Social (4)	.133	.924**	.553**	1	.
Governance (5)	.166	.376**	.215	.236	1
Total Assets (6)	.368**	.660**	.404**	.650**	.426**	1
Firm Age (7)	.111	.251	−.150	.364**	.166	.388**	1
Leverage (8)	.528**	−.002	.151	−.105	−.052	.008	−.148	1
Lending (9)	.182	.242	.347**	.126	.073	.387**	.065	−.123	1

*.Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

**.Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Table 4. Group statistics

	COVID-19	N	Mean	Std. Deviation	S.Error Mean
ESG	Pre	19	56.8421	9.91779	2.27530
	During	19	56.6316	9.70802	2.22717
Environmental	Pre	19	8.16	4.180	.959
	During	19	8.47	3.454	.792
Social	Pre	19	39.74	7.117	1.633
	During	19	39.26	7.007	1.607
Governance	Pre	19	8.95	.848	.195
	During	19	8.89	1.286	.295

Table 5. Independent Sample t-test

		t-test for Equality of Means
		t	df	Sig. (2-tailed)	Mean Difference	S.E Difference	95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
							Lower	Upper
ESG	Equal variances assumed	.066	36	.004**	.210	3.183	−6.667	6.246
	Equal variances not assumed	−.066	35.984	.948	210	3.183	−6.667	6.246
Environmental	Equal variances assumed	.143	36	.008**	.044	.307	−.579	.668
	Equal variances not assumed	.143	34.085	.887	.044	.307	−.581	.669
Social	Equal variances assumed	.200	36	.843	.061	.30	−.681	.558
	Equal variances not assumed	.200	35.943	.843	.061	.305	−.681	.558
Governance	Equal variances assumed	.181	36	.007**	.053	.294	−.651	.544
	Equal variances not assumed	.181	32.625	.858	.053	.294	−.653	.547

** p<.01, * p<.05

Table 6. The nexus of ESG disclosure and firm performance for the (pre-COVID-19 Period)

Dependent variable Tobin’s Q (Model R2 = 0.407; F = 3.429**)	Coefficient	Std. Error	t-value	p-value	VIF
(Constant)	−0.007	0.108	−0.063	0.951	-
ESG (Formative)	0.112	0.034	3.294	0.000***	1.845
Total Assets	0.081	0.268	0.302	0.768	1.500
Firm Age	0.080	0.186	0.432	0.675	2.372
Leverage	−0.134	0.156	−0.861	0.409	1.231
Lending	−0.056	0.199	−0.279	0.786	1.409
Lag of Tobin’s Q	0.828	0.167	4.958	0.001**	1.241

***p < .01, **p < .05, *p < .1

Table 7. The nexus of ESG dimensions and firm performance for the (pre-COVID-19 Period)

Dependent variable Tobin’s Q (Model R2 = 0.531; F = 3.957**)	Coefficient	Std. Error	t-value	p-value	VIF
(Constant)	0.011	0.128	0.084	0.934	-
Environmental	0.544	0.207	2.623	0.014**	2.641
Social	0.549	0.249	2.206	0.036**	3.686
Governance	−0.145	0.200	−0.728	0.473	1.544
Total Assets	0.440	0.237	1.857	0.074*	3.236
Firm Age	0.221	0.172	1.283	0.210	1.727
Leverage	−0.200	0.163	−1.221	0.232	1.653
Lending	−0.251	0.191	−1.313	0.200	1.904
Lag of Tobin’s Q	0.437	0.169	2.591	0.015**	1.548

***p < .01, **p < .05, *p < .1

Table 8. The nexus of ESG disclosures and firm performance for the (COVID-19 Period)

Dependent variable Tobin’s Q (Model R2 = 0.889; F = 16.035***)	Coefficient	Std. Error	t-value	p-value	VIF
(Constant)	−0.031	0.089	−0.063	0.951	-
ESG (Formative)	0.22	0.019	11.57	0.000***	1.987
Total Assets	0.019	0.147	0.132	0.897	2.660
Firm Age	0.010	0.102	0.101	0.921	1.227
Leverage	−0.144	0.134	−1.070	0.306	1.782
Lending	−0.025	0.104	−0.240	0.814	1.444
Lag of Tobin’s Q	0.804	0.138	5.837	.000***	2.364

***p < .01, **p < .05, *p < .1

Table 9. The nexus of ESG dimensions and firm performance for the (COVID-19 Period)

Dependent variable Tobin’s Q (Model R2 = 0.892; F = 10.318**)	Coefficient	Std. Error	t-value	p-value	VIF
(Constant)	−0.007	0.108	−0.063	0.951	-
Environmental	−0.125	0.024	−5.20	0.000***	3.548
Social	0.139	0.032	4.242	0.000***	3.037
Governance	0.276	0.103	2.679	0.001**	1.355
Total Assets	0.081	0.268	0.302	0.768	2.574
Firm Age	0.080	0.186	0.432	0.675	2.485
Leverage	−0.134	0.156	0.861	0.409	2.049
Lending	0.051	0.199	0.256	0.783	2.520
Lag of Tobin’s Q	0.828	0.167	4.973	0.001	2.957

***p < .01, **p < .05, *p < .1