{"title":"ESG rating disagreement and corporate Total Factor Productivity: Inference and prediction","authors":"Zhanli Li, Zichao Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.frl.2025.107127","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper examines how ESG rating disagreement (<span><math><mrow><mi>D</mi><mi>i</mi><mi>s</mi></mrow></math></span>) affects corporate total factor productivity (TFP) in China based on data of A-share listed companies from 2015 to 2022. We find that <span><math><mrow><mi>D</mi><mi>i</mi><mi>s</mi></mrow></math></span> reduces TFP, especially in state-owned, non-capital-intensive, low-pollution and high-tech firms, green innovation strengthens the dampening effect of <span><math><mrow><mi>D</mi><mi>i</mi><mi>s</mi></mrow></math></span> on TFP, and that <span><math><mrow><mi>D</mi><mi>i</mi><mi>s</mi></mrow></math></span> lowers corporate TFP by increasing financing constraints and weakening human capital. Furthermore, XGBoost regression demonstrates that <span><math><mrow><mi>D</mi><mi>i</mi><mi>s</mi></mrow></math></span> plays a significant role in predicting TFP, with SHAP showing that the dampening effect of ESG rating disagreement on TFP is still pronounced in firms with large <span><math><mrow><mi>D</mi><mi>i</mi><mi>s</mi></mrow></math></span> values.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12167,"journal":{"name":"Finance Research Letters","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 107127"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Finance Research Letters","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612325003903","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BUSINESS, FINANCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This paper examines how ESG rating disagreement () affects corporate total factor productivity (TFP) in China based on data of A-share listed companies from 2015 to 2022. We find that reduces TFP, especially in state-owned, non-capital-intensive, low-pollution and high-tech firms, green innovation strengthens the dampening effect of on TFP, and that lowers corporate TFP by increasing financing constraints and weakening human capital. Furthermore, XGBoost regression demonstrates that plays a significant role in predicting TFP, with SHAP showing that the dampening effect of ESG rating disagreement on TFP is still pronounced in firms with large values.
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