Taking Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2022 as the re-search object,this paper systematically studies the impact of MD&A tone on enterprise ESG perfor-mance.The findings are as follows:First,the more positive the MD&A tone,the better the corporate ESG performance.Second,MD&A tone promotes ESG performance by enhancing corporate growth.Third,the moderating effect of analyst attention is examined from an information environment per-spective.Analysts'attention promotes firms'ESG performance,and there is a substitution effect on the role of MD&A tone in promoting firms'ESG performance.Fourth,the analysis of firm character-istic heterogeneity indicates that the effect of MD&A tone on firms'ESG performance is stronger among non-state-owned,high financial risk,and poorer audit quality firms.Fifth,considering the possible upward manipulation of MD&A tone,it is found that the effect of upwardly manipulated MD&A tone on firms'ESG performance is not significant,and the base regression findings overesti-mate the contribution of MD&A tone to firms'ESG performance.The findings provide some theoreti-cal references for corporations to promote ESG performance and treat MD&A text information pru-dently.
万方数据
维普
