중국 상장 기업의 ESG 성과가 기업가치에 미치는 영향: 정부 정책의 매개효과를 중심으로

This study expands the existing discussion related to corporate ESG and performance and presents a new perspective that government policy will mediate the relationship between the two. First, based on signaling theory and the information asymmetry perspective, it was assumed that corporate ESG activities could lead to favorable government policies. Therefore, these companies will likely receive more government investment and receive greater tax benefits. Next, based on institutional theory and non-market view, we argue that in emerging countries, such as China, where government resource allocation is important, high government ownership and low environmental protection taxes are beneficial to firms' long-term performance. This study empirically demonstrated this research model using data from 11,696 manufacturing companies among China's A-share listed companies from 2018 to 2022. Furthermore, we found that a company's ownership stake and size again have a moderating effect at each stage of the mediation model. This study has a theoretical contribution in that it sheds light on the role of the government, which was considered a black box in the existing research stream on ESG performance, through moderated-mediation effect analysis. In addition, practical implications can be expected in that the company's ESG strategy was proposed in a non-market environment in non-Western countries where the market system is not sufficiently mature.