Does ESG Honesty Pay? Evidence from LGBT Support and Disclosure

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dc.contributor.advisorSivaramakrishnan, Konduru
dc.contributor.advisorRountree, Brian
dc.creatorPears, Geoffrey R
dc.date.accessioned2024-05-21T21:49:04Z
dc.date.available2024-05-21T21:49:04Z
dc.date.created2024-05
dc.date.issued2024-04-18
dc.date.submittedMay 2024
dc.date.updated2024-05-21T21:49:04Z
dc.description.abstractFirm ESG strategy contains twoe lements: real support and disclosure. While correlated, real ESG support and disclosure of that support are separate decisions, and firms can do both, neither, or either one without the other. In an LGBT setting, I classify firms based on their real LGBT support and their disclosure of that support. I study the effects of full support, silent support, non-support, and virtue signaling, and I find that firms have lower net income, market share, revenue, and market capitalization when they are virtue signalers and when they are silent supporters. This is true both across firms and within firms over time, and the results are robust to selection adjustments and alternative variable measures. In cross-sectional tests, I show the results are weaker for firms in consumer-facing industries and stronger for firms with more diverse employee bases, suggesting the benefits of LGBT support and disclosure are driven by employee stakeholders and not consumers. Additionally, consistent with strategic ESG disclosure, I find that ESG support and disclosure decisions are driven by close competitors. Last, in a novel descriptive result, I show that LGBT non-support is concentrated in the quartile of industries with the lowest percentage of female and minority employees.
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.citationPears, Geoffrey. Does ESG Honesty Pay? Evidence from LGBT Support and Disclosure. (2024). PhD diss., Rice University. https://hdl.handle.net/1911/116134
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/116134
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.
dc.subjectLGBT disclosure
dc.subjectEnvironmental, social, and governance (ESG)
dc.subjectCorporate social responsibility (CSR)
dc.subjectEmployee non-discrimination
dc.titleDoes ESG Honesty Pay? Evidence from LGBT Support and Disclosure
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.materialText
thesis.degree.departmentAccounting
thesis.degree.disciplineBusiness
thesis.degree.grantorRice University
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy
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