Environmental, social, governance and corporate performance: an analysis from the perspective of financial slack

Abstract

This work aimed to analyze the moderating effect of financial slack on the relationship between ESG and accounting and market performance in Brazilian companies. The unbalanced sample consisted companies listed on Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão (B3), from 2016 to 2021. The descriptive, documentary and quantitative research was operationalized by linear regression by Ordinary Least Squares (OLS). The results indicate that environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities positively impact the accounting and market performance of Brazilian companies. Furthermore, organizations with surplus resources drive ESG actions and corporate performance. The findings contribute by indicating that investors and other stakeholders should analyze with greater caution, contexts of scarcity of resources and lower ESG indices.