The Effect of ESG News on the Chinese Stock Market

Xiaoqing Xu, Yan Chen, Jingmei Zhao, Jun Wang

OAI: oai:igi-global.com:313916 • DOI: 10.4018/JGIM.313916

The relation between corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance and firm value has received increasing attention. However, the recent literature on corporate ESG performance evaluation suffers from potentially biased data sources, incomplete coverage, and uncertainty among agencies. The objectivity, timeliness, and breadth of news allow the media to provide a good perspective on ESG instead. This study investigated the effects of ESG-related news on the stock market to confirm that news is a helpful complement to the assessment of ESG performance. The results show that 1) ESG news has a greater and more significant impact on the stock market than news unrelated to ESG. 2) Of the three fields of ESG news, environmental news has a greater and more significant impact, which varies widely by topic. 3) Environmental news has different impacts on listed firms in different regions. This study provides new ideas for a complete and objective assessment of corporate ESG performance and the management of a corporate media image from the use of ESG news.