DOI: 10.57760/sciencedb.34335
title: ESG Performance, Corporate Risk-Taking, and Investment Levels: Dynamic Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms
title: ESG Performance, Corporate Risk-Taking, and Investment Levels: Dynamic Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms

description: With high-quality development and sustainable transformation becoming core strategic objectives for enterprises, achieving synergy among ESG performance, risk-taking, and investment decisions is crucial for ensuring long-term value creation. This study employs a PVAR model using data on A-share-listed companies from 2018 to 2023 to systematically examine the dynamic relationships among corporate ESG performance, risk-taking, and investment levels. Findings reveal a stable dynamic linkage among corporate ESG performance, risk-taking, and investment levels. Improved ESG performance enhances willingness to take on risk and drives investment expansion, though its impact diminishes marginally once governance levels improve. ESG's long-term promotion of risk-taking and investment coexists with its short-term suppression effect, driven by heightened risk exposure and performance pressure. Risk-taking and investment activities form a mutually reinforcing positive cycle. Furthermore, the economic effects of ESG exhibit significant regional, scale, and industry variations, being more pronounced in eastern regions, small and medium-sized enterprises, and non-polluting firms. Overall, the study reveals that firms face short-term constraints in ESG governance, emphasizing the need to establish ESG-oriented risk-investment coordination mechanisms and enhance the regional adaptability of institutional environments to promote the synergistic enhancement of corporate economic and social value.
description: With high-quality development and sustainable transformation becoming core strategic objectives for enterprises, achieving synergy among ESG performance, risk-taking, and investment decisions is crucial for ensuring long-term value creation. This study employs a PVAR model using data on A-share-listed companies from 2018 to 2023 to systematically examine the dynamic relationships among corporate ESG performance, risk-taking, and investment levels. Findings reveal a stable dynamic linkage among corporate ESG performance, risk-taking, and investment levels. Improved ESG performance enhances willingness to take on risk and drives investment expansion, though its impact diminishes marginally once governance levels improve. ESG's long-term promotion of risk-taking and investment coexists with its short-term suppression effect, driven by heightened risk exposure and performance pressure. Risk-taking and investment activities form a mutually reinforcing positive cycle. Furthermore, the economic effects of ESG exhibit significant regional, scale, and industry variations, being more pronounced in eastern regions, small and medium-sized enterprises, and non-polluting firms. Overall, the study reveals that firms face short-term constraints in ESG governance, emphasizing the need to establish ESG-oriented risk-investment coordination mechanisms and enhance the regional adaptability of institutional environments to promote the synergistic enhancement of corporate economic and social value.