The antecedent of a new banking crisis? ESG rating consistency and strategic orientation
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2024-07-01
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en
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Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings are scores assigned by an external rating agency that provide an indication of corporate sustainability. However, there has been an ongoing societal debate on the consistency and reliability of these ratings. This stems from a substantial degree of rater disagreement. The raters’ methodologies are critiqued for a lack of transparency and quality. This thesis investigates the relationship between a firm’s strategic orientation and its ESG rating as assigned by the raters Sustainalytics and Refinitiv. Additionally, the moderating effect of the degree of external stakeholder influence in these ratings was addressed from a signaling theory perspective. Using two regression analyses and a repeated measures ANCOVA, it was concluded that there is a significant difference between the raters Sustainalytics and Refinitiv. This difference is also translated into the effect that strategic orientation has on ESG ratings. Sustainalytics ratings were found to be higher for firms with a prospector strategic orientation, while Refinitiv ratings were found to be higher for firms with a defender strategic orientation. This discrepancy should be addressed in future research. Additionally, a small significant moderating effect was found of external stakeholder influence.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen