Inter-Firm ESG Rivalry: A Competitive Dynamics View

Laharish Guntuka ()
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Laharish Guntuka: Saunders College of Business, Rochester Institute of Technology, 3332 Max Lowenthall Hall, Rochester, NY 14623, USA

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 20, 1-17

Abstract: Sustainability literature has largely focused on business practices that result in environmental benefits that might not always be profitable to the firm, and thus, tend to be less appealing to the corporate board rooms. In this study, I examine if the rival firm’s sustainability behavior is driven by the focal firm’s behavior. Although a growing number of firms globally have voluntarily adopted and carried out a wide range of sustainability practices, there are firms that are driven by the position taken by industry competitors. Here, I examine such phenomena, to determine if a focal firm’s sustainability behavior is influenced by the rival’s sustainability behavior. In addition, I also examine how the competitive landscape of the focal firm, in the form of the focal firm’s size, the rival’s sustainability reputation, and industry concentration moderates the behavioral influence. I find a positive association between the rival firm’s sustainability performance and the focal firm’s sustainability performance. I also find that the focal firm’s size and industry concentration positively moderate the rivalry. Rival firms’ sustainability reputation does not have an impact on the rivalry.

Keywords: sustainability; competitive dynamics; ESG (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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