The Impact of Government Guidance Funds on Corporate ESG Performance

ESG (环境、社会和公司治理)表现是推动企业可持续发展的重要指标，而政府引导基金作为政府支持企业创新的重要政策工具，其对企业ESG表现的影响机制值得深入研究。本文以2010~2023年沪深A股上市公司为研究样本，基于市场失灵理论、利益相关者理论、资源基础理论和信号传递理论，实证检验政府引导基金对企业ESG表现的影响。研究发现：政府引导基金显著提升了企业ESG表现，且这一促进作用在控制行业和年份固定效应后依然稳健；研发投入在政府引导基金与ESG表现之间发挥中介作用。ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) performance is a crucial indicator for promoting sustainable development of enterprises. As an important policy tool for the government to support enterprise innovation, the impact mechanism of government guidance funds on the ESG performance of enterprises deserves in-depth research. This paper takes the listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share markets from 2010 to 2023 as the research sample, and based on the theories of market failure, stakeholder, resource-based, and signaling, empirically examines the impact of government guidance funds on the ESG performance of enterprises. The research finds that government guidance funds significantly enhance the ESG performance of enterprises, and this promoting effect remains robust after controlling for industry and year fixed effects; R&D investment plays a mediating role between government guidance funds and ESG performance.