Corporate <scp>ESG</scp> Performance, Ownership Structure and Export Intensity: Evidence From Chinese Listed Companies

ABSTRACT Although the importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices on corporate performance has been acknowledged in the literature, the impact of ESG performance on corporate export intensity within the manufacturing sector has attracted limited attention. Additionally, the influence of corporate ownership structure on the association between ESG performance and export intensity remains understudied. We fill this gap by using data from 2012 to 2022 of Chinese listed manufacturing companies in the Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange to examine the impact of corporate ESG performance on export intensity and the role of ownership structure in this link. Results indicate that enhanced ESG performance is positively related to export intensity. Such an effect is weakened for state‐owned enterprises. We further propose that the potential mechanisms include alleviating financing constraints, promoting innovation, mitigating principal–agent problems and elevating reputation levels. The ownership structure significantly moderates the positive impact of ESG performance on export intensity. We suggest that small‐scale enterprises are more prone to be influenced by the positive effect of ESG performance on export intensity than larger ones. Moreover, among the ESG subdimensions, the environmental and governance dimensions play more significant roles in enhancing export intensity than the social dimension. The findings shed light on how to reap ESG benefits for export‐oriented manufacturing enterprises and promote their export intensity for firms' stakeholders and policymakers, thus providing practical policy recommendations.