Building Strategic Corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance Reporting and Its Impact on Short-Term and Long-Term Investors

• In Event: Doctoral Student Faculty Interchange II

Abstract

This study examines the impact of a company’s environmental social governance (ESG) activities and report language on two different sets of nonprofessional investors, those with a short-term investment strategy and those with a long-term investment strategy. Companies develop organizational facades to help strategically manage conflicting stakeholder demands. Organizational facades are categorized into three areas: rational, progressive, and reputation. Rational façade is the expectation that a company is acting rationally. Progressive façade focuses on the usage of innovation to improve operations. Reputation façade focuses on a company’s stewardship. ESG reports disclose a company’s strategy and reveal the type of façade being emphasized. Given that prior research has already examined rational facades, the current study assesses the impact of progressive, reputation, and progressive + reputation language. Specifically, this study investigates how the time horizon of a nonprofessional’s investment strategy affects their evaluation of ESG reporting and willingness to invest. The study finds…

Authors

• Suzanne Mullinnix, AAA

• Wioleta Celina Olczak, University of Central Florida

• Robin W Roberts, University of Central Florida

• Anis Triki, University of Rhode Island