• ISSN: 2301-3567 (Print), 2972-3981 (Online)
    • Abbreviated Title: J. Econ. Bus. Manag.
    • Frequency: Quarterly
    • DOI: 10.18178/JOEBM
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HOME > Archive > 2025 > Volume 13 Number 4 (2025) >
JOEBM 2025 Vol.13(4): 372-376
DOI: 10.18178/joebm.2025.13.4.894

How Do Investors Penalise ESG Misconduct? Evidence for the Most Admired European Companies on Access to Finance

Emma García-Meca 1, Camino Ramón-Llorens 1, , and Jennifer Martínez-Ferrero 2，*
1. Department of Financial Economics and Accounting, Faculty of Business Studies, Polytechnic University of Cartagena, Cartagena, Spain
2. Department of Business and Administration, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
Email: emma.garcia@upct.es (E.G.M.); camino.ramon@upct.es (C.R.L.); jenny_marfe@usal.es (J.M.F.)
*Corresponding author

Manuscript received June 5, 2025; accepted October 2, 2025; published November 27, 2025.

Abstract—This paper examines the impact of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) misconduct on firms’ financial access. Examining European firms from 2015 to 2020, we find that engaging in irresponsible ESG actions leads to worse access to finance conditions, characterised by higher financial constraints. Moreover, the influence of such irresponsible behaviour in ESG is sufficiently robust to attenuate the positive effect that a solid corporate reputation could exert on credit access.

Keywords—Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) misconduct, ESG, reputation, financial constraints

Cite: Emma García-Meca, Camino Ramón-Llorens, and Jennifer Martínez-Ferrero, "How Do Investors Penalise ESG Misconduct? Evidence for the Most Admired European Companies on Access to Finance," Journal of Economics, Business and Management, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 372-376, 2025.

Copyright © 2025 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).

 

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