Environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance as a moderator in assessing the impact of government subsidies on underinvestment in China

In recent years, underinvestment has become common among subsidised enterprises in China. Stakeholder theory asserts that environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance forces enterprises to prioritise stakeholder needs by incorporating ESG principles into business operations, which in turn influences business investment decision-making. This study examines the impact of government subsidies on firm underinvestment and whether ESG performance plays a moderating role in this direct relationship. A dataset of 17,780 firm-year observations of A-share public firms in China for the period 2011-2021 was employed, and the data were analysed using the ordinary least squares regression model, fixed-effects regression model, propensity score matching difference-in-difference model, and instrumental variable approach. These results indicate that government subsidies mitigate firm underinvestment and tend to reduce underinvestment in firms with higher ESG performance. Moreover, the findings indicate that the performance in ESG factors influences the effect of government subsidies on the lack of investment in state-owned enterprises (SOEs), as opposed to non-SOEs. This effect is more noticeable in heavily polluting industries compared to non-heavily polluting industries. These findings imply that the government should promote the ESG performance of subsidised firms to enhance their overall corporate investment efficiency.