Female Equity Analysts and Corporate Environmental and Social Performance

94 Pages Posted: 24 Jul 2022 Last revised: 30 Aug 2023

See all articles by Kai Li

Kai Li

University of British Columbia (UBC) - Sauder School of Business; Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research (ABFER); China Academy of Financial Research (CAFR); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI); Canadian Sustainable Finance Network (CSFN)

Feng Mai

Stevens Institute of Technology

Gabriel Wong

Cardiff University - Cardiff Business School

Chelsea Yang

University of British Columbia (UBC) - Sauder School of Business

Tengfei Zhang

Rutgers University - Rutgers School of Business-Camden

Date Written: August 29, 2023

Abstract

Using a sample of over 10,000 sell-side equity analysts from 20052021, we show that there is a positive and significant association between a firm’s female analyst following and its environmental and social (E&S) performance. We further show that after an exogenous drop in female analyst coverage due to broker closures, firms experience a 7% decrease in their E&S scores. Finally, we develop machine learning models to sift through 2.4 million analyst reports and over 120,000 earnings call transcripts and show that female equity analysts are more likely to discuss E&S issues in reports and during calls than their male counterparts.

Keywords: female equity analysts; analyst monitoring; corporate environmental and social performance; natural language processing; data-centric AI; FinBERT; analyst reports; earnings conference calls

JEL Classification: G24; G30; G40

Suggested Citation

Li, Kai and Mai, Feng and Wong, Gabriel and Yang, Chelsea and Zhang, Tengfei, Female Equity Analysts and Corporate Environmental and Social Performance (August 29, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4154013 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4154013

Kai Li (Contact Author)

University of British Columbia (UBC) - Sauder School of Business ( email )

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Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research (ABFER) ( email )

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China Academy of Financial Research (CAFR) ( email )

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European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
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Belgium

Canadian Sustainable Finance Network (CSFN) ( email )

Queens University
Kingston, ON
Canada

HOME PAGE: http://https://smith.queensu.ca/centres/isf/research/network.php

Feng Mai

Stevens Institute of Technology ( email )

Hoboken, NJ 07030
United States

Gabriel Wong

Cardiff University - Cardiff Business School ( email )

Aberconway Building
Colum Drive
Cardiff, Wales CF10 3EU
United Kingdom

Chelsea Yang

University of British Columbia (UBC) - Sauder School of Business ( email )

2053 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
Canada

Tengfei Zhang

Rutgers University - Rutgers School of Business-Camden ( email )

227 Penn Street
Camden, NJ 08102
United States

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