Resource dependence and enterprise ESG performance: an empirical study based on A-share listed companies

Abstract

The impact of resource dependence on social economy and environment lacks empirical evidence at the micro level. This article uses data from A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2020 to construct an econometric model to empirically test the impact of resource dependence on ESG performance of enterprises. We find that the corporate ESG scores in regions with high resource dependence will decline. After a series of robustness tests such as replacing the dependent variable, controlling province time fixed effect, eliminating extreme effects, and eliminate provinces with high resource dependence, the conclusion of this article still holds. In addition, we alleviate the endogeneity problem caused by OLS estimation by constructing a dynamic panel model. Further analysis indicates that there are differences in the effect of resource dependence on enterprises sub-scores, with a significant negative impact on the environmental dimension and social dimension, and no significant impact on the governance dimension. It has a greater impact on the ESG score of SOEs and has no significant impact on non-SOEs. The empirical results of this paper enrich the research on the influencing factors of enterprise ESG performance, and further expand the research framework of the socio-economic consequences of enterprise resource dependence.