Institutional cross-ownership and ESG decoupling
基于2010-2022年标普500公司数据，研究发现机构交叉持股与ESG脱钩显著负相关，长期投资机构驱动更强，且通过监督和融资渠道发挥作用。
Abstract This study examines the relationship between institutional cross-ownership and ESG decoupling. Based on a dataset of 3,955 firm-year observations for S&P 500 firms for the period 2010–2022, we find a negatively significant association between institutional cross-ownership and ESG decoupling. Additional analyses on institutional cross-owner characteristics reveal that our findings are driven mainly by institutional cross-owners with long-term investment horizons. Besides, subsample analyses reveal that the negative impact manifests more in companies with lower board co-option, shorter CEO career horizon, and those that are non-controversial. Furthermore, we document that both the monitoring and financing advantages channels explain institutional cross-ownership’s negative influence on ESG decoupling. The baseline results are robust to a battery of robustness checks and endogeneity tests. Collectively, this study provides insightful theoretical and policy implications for the field of institutional ownership and ESG.