Strategic use of ESG scores in maritime companies: temporal effects on liquidity and debt risk management

Purpose This study examines whether maritime companies strategically leverage environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance in liquidity management and capital structure decisions, with particular emphasis on the temporal dynamics of these relationships. It investigates whether ESG engagement produces delayed financial adjustments consistent with a long-term strategic orientation. Design/methodology/approach An unbalanced panel of 94 publicly listed maritime companies (2013–2024) is analyzed using ESG data from the LSEG Refinitiv Workspace. Fixed-effects regressions, time-trend analysis, Seasonal and Trend decomposition using Loess decomposition and Granger causality tests are used to explore contemporaneous and lagged relationships between ESG performance, liquidity and leverage. Findings ESG scores show a significant upward trend, while liquidity and leverage exhibit no systematic patterns. Panel regressions reveal no contemporaneous ESG–finance linkages. Lagged analyses point out weak temporal precedence of ESG for liquidity (two-year horizon) and leverage (one-year horizon), though these associations lack consistent robustness across identification strategies and should not be interpreted as causal improvements in financial performance. ESG thus functions as a slow-moving organizational capability rather than a short-term financial lever. Research limitations/implications Annual ESG data and the limited time horizons constrain causal inference. The focus on consistently reporting firms may reflect disclosure capacity rather than sustainability performance. Future research should extend to longer horizons, alternative identification strategies and cross-country comparisons. Practical implications Managers, investors and creditors should interpret ESG as a signal of long-term resilience and governance quality rather than immediate balance-sheet effects. Longer evaluation horizons are recommended when incorporating ESG into financial decision-making. Social implications Sustained ESG engagement fosters resilience in maritime firms and supports broader societal sustainability goals. Originality/value This study introduces three contributions: a multimethod temporal framework applied to a maritime-specific sample, an industry-focused empirical setting distinct from cross-industry ESG–finance meta-analyses and the dual-speed organizational system framework, which integrates stakeholder, signaling and dynamic capabilities theories to explain temporal decoupling between ESG and financial outcomes.