Are Aspects of ESG Created Equal? Examining B2B Firms’ ESG Content on Social Media

Yue Cao*, Flora F. Gu, Danny T Wang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to conferenceConference paperpeer-review

Abstract

This study examines the effectiveness of B2B firms’ ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) posting on social media engagement. Drawing on the ESG literature and stakeholder theory, we predict the positive influence of E- and G-focused social media content and the negative influence of S-focused content in driving engagement. Utilizing a deep learning model, we identified E, S, and G posts from a swath of 23,791 posts shared by 130 B2B companies on their official social media accounts (i.e., WeChat Accounts) across 14 months. Our results highlight that E and G posts are associated with higher social media engagement than S posts. Furthermore, we discovered that the impacts of E and G posts are stronger when companies have diverse suppliers and business customers. Results also show that firm size weakens the engagement effect of E posts while strengthens that of G posts. This research contributes to the literature and practice by identifying the differential effects of E, S, and G posting and delineating their boundary conditions, emphasizing the judicious use of ESG content on social media.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 18 Aug 2024
Event2024 AMA Summer Academic Conference - Boston Marriott Copley Place, Boston, United States
Duration: 16 Aug 202418 Aug 2024
https://www.ama.org/events/academic/2024-ama-summer-academic-conference/

Conference

Conference2024 AMA Summer Academic Conference
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBoston
Period16/08/2418/08/24
Internet address

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