Lunch Seminar in presence

Building BL26 – Room 0.19 (ground floor)
Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering
Via R. Lambruschini 4/B, 20156 Milano

Anne Jacqueminet
ESSEC Business School, France

Abstract:

The discussion will focus on how financial analysts respond to firms’ environmental disclosure. Drawing on the literature on infomediaries and the distinct characteristics of environmental information, it will be argued that such disclosures may introduce negative biases in analysts’ evaluations. Specifically, it will be suggested that analysts apply two types of discounts to disclosing firms: a “costly-to-analyze discount,” due to the cognitive effort required to interpret such information, and a “deflection discount,” stemming from the perception that these disclosures are intended to distract from other negative information. Consequently, it will be hypothesized that firms providing environmental disclosure receive less favorable recommendations from analysts. The discussion will further explore how this negative relationship will vary as a function of firms’ conformity to disclosure standards, the expertise and resources that analysts can tap into, and in case of negative earnings surprises. Using a panel of 54,548 analyst-firm-quarter observations from 2011 to 2020, consistent evidence of this negative bias will be identified. However, this effect is mitigated when firms conform to disclosure standards, when analysts have greater expertise and resources, and, unexpectedly, during negative earnings surprises. These findings refine our understanding of the role of infomediaries in interpreting environmental transparency and highlight the nuanced dynamics between environmental disclosure and analysts’ recommendations.

Anne Jacqueminet is Associate Professor of Sustainability at ESSEC Business School. She received her Ph.D. in strategic management from HEC Paris and prior to joining ESSEC she was Assistant Professor of Strategy at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. Anne also worked as a consultant in Climate Change and Sustainability before joining academia. Her research spans strategy implementation, strategic change, and international management, with a strong focus on sustainability practices, extra-financial reporting and stakeholder perceptions. She serves on the editorial boards of leading academic journals in management and she is engaged in several academic research organisations, among which the Alliance for Research of Corporate Sustainability. Anne Jacqueminet teaches a series of courses on sustainability strategy, sustainable transition and sustainable business models at the Bachelor, Master, PhD and Executive Education levels.

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