The impact of corporate sustainability performance on information asymmetry: the role of institutional differences

Jan Diebecker () and Friedrich Sommer ()
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Jan Diebecker: University of Münster
Friedrich Sommer: University of Münster

Review of Managerial Science, 2017, vol. 11, issue 2, No 7, 517 pages

Abstract: Abstract This paper empirically investigates whether corporate sustainability performance (CSP) affects information asymmetry (IA) for European firms listed in the STOXX Europe 600 from 2002 to 2013. We find a significantly negative effect of CSP on IA. By exploiting institutional differences between the European countries, we determine that the negative effect of CSP on IA is more pronounced in liberal market economies compared to coordinated market economies, thus pointing to a substitutive effect of CSP and economic coordination. Further, the impact is greater in countries with stricter disclosure requirements. In such countries, there is generally a greater appetite for company-specific information. However, disclosure requirements fulfil this need only partially because they concentrate on the corporate governance dimension of corporate sustainability. Hence, information on the social pillar especially matters to investors in a complementary manner and drives the overall effect. Our study contributes to the literature on the positive capital market effects of CSP by showing the proposed effect in European capital markets and the institutional determinants of its strength.

Keywords: Corporate social responsibility; Corporate sustainability performance; Information asymmetry; Corporate governance; Institutional differences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G14 G30 M41 Q01 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11846-016-0195-y

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