ESG Information Disclosure and ESG Rating Divergence:Consensus or Disagreement?——A Comprehensive Discussion on the Institutional Norms of ESG in China
Are ESG rating agencies consistent or inconsistent in disclosing ESG information of listed companies?This paper takes Chinese A-share listed firms included in ESG ratings from 2009 to 2021 as samples,employing both OLS regression and quantile regression methods to examine the impact of ESG information disclosure degree on ESG rating divergence.Research findings indicate that due to the poor quality of ESG information disclosure in China at this stage,an increase in the degree of ESG information disclosure exacerbates subjective interpretation differences of non-financial information,thereby increasing ESG rating divergence.Moreover,this effect is more pronounced for companies in higher percentiles and for the social and governance dimensions within ESG.In addition,in the context of China's"relationship-oriented"society,local rating agencies possess geographical proximity and local policy advantages,resulting in rating divergence primarily between domestic and foreign ESG rating agencies.Finally,high-quality ESG information disclosure helps alleviate differences of opinion among ESG rating agencies,with product market competition exhibiting a negative moderating effect.This paper provides empirical evidence and reference basis for investors to make scientifically informed decisions based on ESG ratings and for enhancing the top-level design of ESG information disclosure for listed companies.
ESG Information DisclosureESG Rating DivergenceQuantile Regression
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