Leveraging stakeholder engagement for market value growth: Empirical evidence on sustainable development leadership in Europe

Abstract

This study analyzes the impact of corporate sustainability leadership on the market value of the firm in the European context for the years between 2010 and 2018. Corporate sustainability leaders are defined as the firms included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for Europe (DJSIE). To control for endogeneity problems caused by self-selection bias in the sample, the research design relies on the Heckman twostage methodology. The main result shows that the participants in the stock market do not perceived corporate sustainability leadership as an asset that adds value to the firm. Another interesting finding is that common-law countries (the UK and Ireland) appear to have a more positive perception of corporate sustainability leadership than civil-law countries. The study also suggests that the view of the stock markets participants towards corporate sustainability leadership has worsened during the second half of the research period, consistent with the overinvestment view of environmental, social and governance issues. The above findings have some interesting implications at various levels.