ESG disclosure quality and firm valuation under economic policy uncertainty: Evidence from Chinese A-share listed firms

Chia-Hsien Tang; Feifei Luo

PLOS One · 2026-03-18
Research article · Version of record · CC BY 4.0 · 7,199 words

Original source: Volume 21 · Issue 3 · e0330278

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Title: ESG disclosure quality and firm valuation under economic policy uncertainty: Evidence from Chinese A-share listed firms
Authors / creators: Chia-Hsien Tang; Feifei Luo
Source: Complete manuscript edition 2026-11-05
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Original authors / creators: Chia-Hsien Tang; Feifei Luo
Original publication: PLOS One · Public Library of Science · 2026-03-18
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doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0330278
License & retained notices: CC BY 4.0
© 2026 Tang, Luo
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https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Article-specific license URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Evidence limits: Adjacent research, not a directly sampled family-office study. Applicability to a family office requires separate assessment. If the effect of EPU on these outcome variables is significantly mediated by firm value (TobinQ), it supports the existence of an indirect consequence mechanism. We examine the mediation effects using a two-step fixed-effects regression framework and report Sobel test statistics as a supplementary diagnostic measure of indirect effects. Given the limitations of Sobel tests in panel-data settings, we further validate the mediation results using bootstrap-based confidence intervals with resampling at the firm level. Despite these robustness checks, the possibility of residual endogeneity cannot be fully ruled out, as firms with higher valuation may have greater incentives or resources to invest in ESG disclosure. Future research could exploit exogenous policy shocks or instrumental-variable strategies to further strengthen causal identification. Several limitations suggest directions for future research. Further work could examine whether third-party ESG assurance strengthens the credibility of disclosure, explore how differences among ESG rating agencies affect investor responses under uncertainty, or conduct cross-country analyses to assess how institutional environments shape the uncertainty-buffering role of ESG disclosure. Such research would deepen understanding of how sustainability-related information contributes to firm resilience in challenging economic conditions.
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