Expectations: A Risky Business : An Empirical Study between ESG Score and Stock Price Volatility in North American Mining Companies

Abstract: The strive towards sustainability and its singular importance for all creatures on Earth has become the rallying cry of a generation. It has permeated into legislation, social practices, and the world of business. As companies start to implement increasingly more sustainable practices to meet these expectations placed on them by various stakeholders, a potential ‘conflict’ arises. One proxy for sustainability is the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) measurement. This can give stakeholders an insight into how sustainable a given company is. It has also become quite prevalent in modern research. However, one field of business is seemingly under-researched; namely the mining industry. Taking an inter-supply chain perspective, dichotomized into upstream and downstream companies, it can be inferred that mining companies are seen to be upstream.  On the one hand, these upstream companies are far from the public consciousness and thus potentially outside the sphere of influence of the strive towards sustainability. On the other hand, if these companies are publicly traded, reports placing a given company in a negative light could potentially set a downward pressure on that company’s stock price; conceptualized as volatility. This causes a series of questions: Is this the case for upstream companies? Is it the case for downstream companies as well? Is there a difference between up- and downstream companies? From this, one arrives at the following research question: Is there a difference in the association between ESG scores and price volatility among North American mining companies and companies listed on the S&P 500?  To answer this research question, an empirical positivist study is undertaken. OLS regressions are made on the data and then the difference in coefficients is tested for significance. The results suggest a positive association between ESG score and price volatility for North American mining companies which is statistically different from the association in a similar regression for companies listed on the S&P 500. This result is further placed within the theoretical framework of stakeholder and agency theory. This study contributes by applying established methodologies in an under-researched field and illuminating the effect of heterogeneous expectations on different levels of global supply chains.