Dear Colleagues,

In the past three decades, ESG (environmental, social and governance) has become an important investment and management principle increasingly embraced by business and financial operations around the world. Morningstar, a leading financial service company, reported that as of 2020, the assets under management in funds that adhere to ESG principles have surpassed USD 1 trillion for the first time in history. While interest in ESG from business and investors have surged, the ESG principle itself and the accompanying practices bring about unresolved puzzles and contentious debates, calling for academic scrutiny from researchers. There is also an urgent need for practitioners to better understand and master ESG-related issues, which can take a heavy toll on corporate financial performance. For example, Bank of America analysis shows that ESG-related controversies wiped out more than USD 500 billion off the value of large US companies in 2014-2019. In this Special Issue, we are interested in publishing analytical, methodological and empirical studies with the potential to advance both the theory and practice of ESG in a global setting. The aim of this Special Issue is to advance our understanding of ESG from a global perspective, and to provide managerial insights and guidelines for practitioners to design and improve ESG strategies. Potential research topics may include, but are not limited to:

• The relationship between ESG investment and sustainability
• The challenges of ESG amid and after the Covid-19 pandemic
• The interactions among the different components of ESG
• Comparative studies of ESG practices around the world
• Industry/country/region-specific ESG studies
• Development of new methods for ESG rating
• Comparison of different ESG rating systems
• ESG reporting standards and regulations
• The role of ESG in green finance
• Understanding how ESG rating and investment transform management practices
• Examining the determinant factors behind the adoption of ESG
• Understanding the long-term effect of ESG investment
• Methods for managing ESG-related risks

We welcome submissions that propose clear and important research questions and use any of a variety of analytical and empirical approaches. These may include but are not limited to: surveys, experiments, action research, case studies, secondary and archival data analysis, analytical modeling, and simulation.

Prof. Toshiyuki Sueyoshi
Prof. Derek Wang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• ESG
• sustainability
• green finance
• investment
• disclosure
• corporate governance