ESG in focus: the Australian evidence

Addressing ESG issues has become a point of interest for investors, shareholders, and governments as a risk management concern, while for firms it has become an emerging part of competitive strategy. In this study, a database from an independent ratings agency is used to examine, longitudinally, how...

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Main Author: Galbreath, Jeremy
Format: Journal Article
Published: Springer Netherlands 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/43021
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author Galbreath, Jeremy
author_facet Galbreath, Jeremy
author_sort Galbreath, Jeremy
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Addressing ESG issues has become a point of interest for investors, shareholders, and governments as a risk management concern, while for firms it has become an emerging part of competitive strategy. In this study, a database from an independent ratings agency is used to examine, longitudinally, how Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) 300 firms are responding to ESG issues. Following institutional theory predictions, ASX300 firms are improving ESG performance over the 2002–2009 timeframe. Furthermore, over this timeframe, performance on the governance dimension improved at a greater rate than environmental or social performance, as predicted. Lastly, high impact industries are predicted to demonstrate overall improved ESG performance relative to medium or low impact industries over the timeframe, but this hypothesis was not confirmed. Results are discussed along with implications and future research directions.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-430212017-09-13T15:05:23Z ESG in focus: the Australian evidence Galbreath, Jeremy Stakeholders Environmental ESG Institutional theory Australia Governance Social Addressing ESG issues has become a point of interest for investors, shareholders, and governments as a risk management concern, while for firms it has become an emerging part of competitive strategy. In this study, a database from an independent ratings agency is used to examine, longitudinally, how Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) 300 firms are responding to ESG issues. Following institutional theory predictions, ASX300 firms are improving ESG performance over the 2002–2009 timeframe. Furthermore, over this timeframe, performance on the governance dimension improved at a greater rate than environmental or social performance, as predicted. Lastly, high impact industries are predicted to demonstrate overall improved ESG performance relative to medium or low impact industries over the timeframe, but this hypothesis was not confirmed. Results are discussed along with implications and future research directions. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/43021 10.1007/s10551-012-1607-9 Springer Netherlands restricted
spellingShingle Stakeholders
Environmental
ESG
Institutional theory
Australia
Governance
Social
Galbreath, Jeremy
ESG in focus: the Australian evidence
title ESG in focus: the Australian evidence
title_full ESG in focus: the Australian evidence
title_fullStr ESG in focus: the Australian evidence
title_full_unstemmed ESG in focus: the Australian evidence
title_short ESG in focus: the Australian evidence
title_sort esg in focus: the australian evidence
topic Stakeholders
Environmental
ESG
Institutional theory
Australia
Governance
Social
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/43021