Publicação

Balancing sustainability and financial stability: examining the effect of ESG on corporate financial distress with dividend payout policy as a moderator - an analysis across economic cycles

Detalhes bibliográficos
Resumo:	This study examines how environmental, social and governance (ESG) affects corporate financial distress (CFD) and assesses the role of dividend payout policy (DPP) in moderating this relationship. Analysing a global dataset of 49,211 firm-year-observations from 2006 to 2023, we find that ESG is associated with increased CFD. Moreover, we find that a robust DPP may mitigate the increased distress risk. We also conduct an analysis for economic downturn and upswing periods. Our findings further strengthen the statistically significant, positive link between ESG and CFD while revealing no clear statistical significance across different models for the moderating effect of DPP.
Autores principais:	Lobisch, Mark Niklas Michael
Assunto:	Sustainability ESG score Corporate financial distress Altman Z-Score Dividend payout policy Shareholder theory Stakeholder theory Economic cycle
Ano:	2025
País:	Portugal
Tipo de documento:	dissertação de mestrado
Tipo de acesso:	acesso aberto
Instituição associada:	Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Idioma:	inglês
Origem:	Repositório Institucional da UNL

Descrição
Resumo:	This study examines how environmental, social and governance (ESG) affects corporate financial distress (CFD) and assesses the role of dividend payout policy (DPP) in moderating this relationship. Analysing a global dataset of 49,211 firm-year-observations from 2006 to 2023, we find that ESG is associated with increased CFD. Moreover, we find that a robust DPP may mitigate the increased distress risk. We also conduct an analysis for economic downturn and upswing periods. Our findings further strengthen the statistically significant, positive link between ESG and CFD while revealing no clear statistical significance across different models for the moderating effect of DPP.