Corporate environmental, social, and governance performance, investor attention, and corporate development capability—An empirical examination based on moderating and threshold effects

This study utilizes data from a sample of listed Chinese companies spanning 2012–2022 to investigate the interplay among corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance, investor attention, and corporate development capacity. The findings indicate that corporate ESG performance can hinder a company's development capability while investor attention can amplify its growth potential and act as a mediator between its ESG achievements and development capacity. The impact of ESG performance on a company's growth capacity differs depending on whether it is state-owned or private enterprises. Furthermore, how corporate ESG performance impacts its development capacity depends on a scale-related threshold effect.