The Resilience of ASEAN 5 Company During Pandemics: Does ESG Matter?
Amalia Siti Khodijah(*), Dewi Ratnasari Astuti, Anja Muhammad Zaenul Ihsan

Faculty of Economic and Business, Universitas Cipasung Tasikmalaya
Jalan Borolong, Tasikmalaya, Indonesia
amaliaskj[at]uncip.ac.id

Abstract

This paper examines whether ESG performance affects the resiliency of company finance during the COVID-19 crisis. We also investigate whether pillars affect company financial performance differences during the crisis. We study a sample of 172 non-financial companies operating in ASEAN 5: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand from 2020 to 2022. ESG score and financial data were collected from the Thomson Reuters database. SPSS25 is used to run a linear regression model to analyze panel data. Our analysis shows that Malaysian firms with a high ESG score experienced a significantly lower asset turnover and operating profit volatility during the Covid. We do not find significant differences in asset turnover and operating profit margin for other countries based on ESG Score. ESG pillar analysis shows that all pillars (E, S, and G) significantly affect the resilience of Malaysian firms^ asset returns. Meanwhile, the operating profit margin is only influenced by pillars E and S. Our findings suggest that engaging with ESG activities is do not necessarily guarantee better performance during crisis periods, which has important implications for managers and investors.

Keywords: ESG, Financial Performance, Covid

Topic: Financial Management and Accounting