Examining impact of ESG score on financial performance of healthcare companies

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the effect of total and each individual component of environmental, social and governance score (ESG) on financial performance (FP) of healthcare companies. Design/methodology/approach Data for 468 health-care firms for the business year 2020 is sourced from Thomson Reuters to obtain ESG data. Correlation and multivariate regression analysis are done to investigate the relation between ESG activities and firm performance. The analysis has been done on overall data and subsample data to examine the relation across developing vs developed markets. Findings The results of the study suggest that relation between ESG score and FP cannot be generalized. The results show that performing ESG activities positively impact firm performance of healthcare companies in developed economies; however, this relationship would be negative or insignificant in the case of developing economies. Practical implications The results of this study have implications for both practitioners and policymakers. The authors suggest the specific setups in which the relationship between ESG activities and firm performance will be negative or insignificant. These results are beneficial to policymakers who seek to increase the active participation of firms in ESG activities. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to explore the relationship of ESG score on FP through the lens of country-level development variables for health-care sector companies.