ESG and Corporate Risk-Taking in China’s New Media Industry

Guided by the Sustainable Development Goals, the ESG concept has increasingly become a key reference factor in corporate investment decisions. Given existing research on ESG practices in corporate risk management and the research gap regarding China’s media industry, this study examines the role of ESG practices in corporate risk-taking among China’s listed new media companies from 2009 to 2024. It proposes the following key hypotheses: there exists an inverted U-shaped relationship between ESG performance and corporate risk-taking in new media firms; Confucian culture moderates this nonlinear relationship. The findings confirm these hypotheses, demonstrating that ESG ratings have a nonlinear, rising-then-falling effect on corporate risk-taking, which is attenuated by Confucian culture. Furthermore, this inverted U-shaped relationship is more pronounced among firms in highly marketized regions, low-growth firms, and firms with low organizational inertia. This study extends the understanding of the economic consequences and mechanisms of corporate ESG performance, providing empirical evidence to help new media enterprises balance ESG responsibilities with strategic risk-taking in pursuit of sustainable development.