School of Financial Mathematics and Statistics, Guangdong University of Finance, Guangzhou, 510521, China; Institute for Advanced Studies, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, 50603, Malaysia.
Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya, Malaysia.
J Environ Manage. 2024 Oct;369:122302. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.122302. Epub 2024 Sep 2.
Previous research ignored the characteristics of environmental, social, and governance (ESG). ESG is soft information. Geographical proximity is important for external stakeholders to monitor firms' soft information. This study examines the impact of customer geographic proximity (CGP) on firms' ESG performance. We hand-collect data on the geographical distance of 29,111 pairs of Chinese A-share listed companies and their top-five customers from 2009 to 2022. First, we find that CGP promotes firms' ESG performance. The results still hold after considering the exogenous influence of the introduction of high-speed rail on CGP. Second, cross-sectional analysis shows that CGP exerts a more pronounced influence on firms with severe information asymmetry. Third, impact channel tests indicate that CGP promotes firms' ESG performance by increasing firms' cash flows. Fourth, the impact of CGP is more obvious when customers have stronger risk management motivation. Collectively, this study provides new insights into factors affecting firms' ESG performance.
先前的研究忽视了环境、社会和治理（ESG）的特点。ESG 是软信息。对于外部利益相关者来说，地理邻近性对于监控公司的软信息很重要。本研究考察了客户地理邻近性（CGP）对公司 ESG 绩效的影响。我们手工收集了 2009 年至 2022 年间 29111 对中国 A 股上市公司及其前五大客户的地理距离数据。首先，我们发现 CGP 促进了公司的 ESG 绩效。在考虑高铁引入对 CGP 的外生影响后，结果仍然成立。其次，横截面分析表明，CGP 对信息不对称程度严重的公司的影响更为显著。第三，影响渠道测试表明，CGP 通过增加公司的现金流量来促进公司的 ESG 绩效。第四，当客户的风险管理动机更强时，CGP 的影响更为明显。总的来说，本研究为影响公司 ESG 绩效的因素提供了新的见解。
