Date of Award
2024-08-01
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Business Administration
Advisor(s)
Zuobao Wei
Abstract
The dissertation consists of two essays. The first essay examines the effect of local corruption on a firmâ??s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance by taking into account the role of liberalism in each state. I propose that since liberals are generally more environmentally and socially concerned than conservatives, ESG performance of firms located in states with liberal views will be less negatively impacted by the local corruption than conservative-leaning states. The results provide some support for my projection. I find that for a particular level of corruption, firms located in states with liberal leaning views exhibit better ESG performance than those in areas with conservative leaning views. In addition, most of such effects are presented in the environmental and social pillars of ESG. I also investigate whether a governorâ??s ideology has differential effects on corruption-ESG association. The findings indicate that the negative impact of corruption on ESG is lessened when a conservative state has a liberal-leaning governor instead of a conservative-learning governor. In my second essay, I investigate the relationships between abnormal ESG investments and CEO discipline, and the moderating effects of CEO power. The results indicate that abnormal ESG investment is negatively associated with CEO compensation and excessive ESG investment is positively associated with CEO dismissals, suggesting that CEOs are penalized for deviating from an optimal level of ESG. However, the association between abnormal ESG and CEO disciplinary action is significantly moderated by CEO power, especially in firms with weak corporate governance. For powerful CEOs in such firms, the negative association between abnormal CSR spending and CEO compensation is significantly weakened or becomes non-significant. Additionally, I find that ESG overinvestment results in more severe disciplinary actions compared to ESG underinvestment.
Language
en
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
Copyright Date
2024-08-01
File Size
113 p.
File Format
application/pdf
Rights Holder
Trang Pham
Recommended Citation
Pham, Trang, "Essays on ESG" (2024). Open Access Theses & Dissertations. 4200.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/open_etd/4200