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The aim of this study is to investigate the association between sustainability performance (which is proxied by ESG score) and a firm's financial resilience in crisis conditions. This study is triggered in response to the COVID‐19 pandemic as a global crisis setting. By focusing on five ASEAN countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines, this study argues that companies with higher ESG performance will be more financially resilient during a crisis. This study uses several measurements of the company's financial resilience, both measures that utilize share prices and financial ratios from financial statements. The results show that ESG performance is negatively associated with financial resilience. ESG performance is considered less valuable during a crisis because ESG activities consume the company's financial resources. It implies that survival is more important than sustainability during times of crisis. ESG performance is considered to consume a company's financial resources in times of crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measurement quality of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) rating is important, considering the increasing interest in socially responsible investment. This paper examines the measurement quality of four ESG ratings. Comprehensive analysis of the ratings, including its dimensionality, reliability, and validity suggests that they have significantly different measurement construct and measurement concerns, despite some commonalities. This study also presents a novel approach to examine the convergence of ESG ratings by assessing the level of agreement. The results of interrater reliability analysis suggest that while the agreement between ESG scores is low, there is evidence of a low to moderate agreement of ESG rankings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socially responsible investment (SRI) encompasses both ethical and financial paradigms. This systematic literature review explores three key research themes within the SRI literature, identifying a significant disconnect between themes and a fixation on the financial (as opposed to ethical) paradigm. One of the foundations of SRI is environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics. This review confirms the importance of ESG metrics in the SRI field, as they play two crucial roles, namely, as a proxy for sustainability performance and an enabler of the SRI market. However, there are two main issues related to ESG metrics that undermine their reliability: a lack of transparency and a lack of convergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]