기업의 ESG활동과 배당의사결정에 대한 연구

The Effect of ESG performance on Dividend Payout Policy

본 연구는 기업의 지속가능성을 나타내는 ESG 등급을 이용하여 ESG 성과와 배당의사결정과의 관계를 살펴보았다. 2011년부터 2018년까지 유가증권시장 및 코스닥시장에 상장된 12월 결산법인 비금융업 중 ESG 등급이 있는 기업을 대상으로, ESG 성과와 배당의사결정과의 관계를 실증분석하였다. 분석결과 ESG 성과를 나타내는 ESG 등급은 배당의사결정에 유의한 양(+)의 관련성을 가지는 것으로 나타났다. 또한 ESG의 개별항목별로 배당의사결정에 미치는 영향을 살펴보았으며, 각 항목들도 유의적인 영향을 미치고 있음을 발견하였다. 이와 함께, Vuong test를 통하여 E(환경)항목이 ESG 통합등급과는 차별적으로 유의적인 영향을 미치고 있음을 파악하였다. 본 연구는 ESG에 대한 사회적 관심이 높아지고 있는 상황에서 기업의 배당의사결정에 ESG 성과가 미치는 영향을 실증적으로 분석하였다는 점에서 의의가 있다.

This study empirically examines the relationship between ESG performance and dividend payout decision using ESG ratings that represent the sustainability of the Korean firms’. Specifically, this paper explores the effect of ESG performance on dividend payout policy. As the interest of ESG is growing, the concern on stakeholders capitalism increases. Under the ESG, the firm needs to pay attention to various interested parties, not focus on the stakeholder’s wealth. Therefore, the relationship ESG performance and dividend payout policy is an empirical issue. To test the effect of ESG performance on dividend payout policy, we use 4,753 firm-year samples with E SG g rades among n on-financial i ndustries l isted on t he s ecurities market a nd K OSDAQ market which fiscal year ends in December from 2011 to 2018. We conduct a regression analysis to test the hypothesis. As a result of hypothesis 1 which confirms the relationship between ESG grade indicating ESG performance and dividend payout policy show a significant positive (+) relationship. In addition as a result of the impact of ESG’s individual grade, the environmental grade ‘E’, the social value grade ‘S’ and the governance grade ‘G’, on dividend decision policy and found that each grade also has a significant influence on dividend decision policy. Furthermore, we find through Vuong test that E(environment) grade has a distinctly significant effect on ESG total grade. While prior studies have suggested that E and G grade have additional effects on ESG’s relationship to corporate value(Leem Wook Bin, 2019; Oh, Sang-hui and Lee, Seung-Tae 2019), this study shows that E is a statistically significant factor in dividend decision making. The findings of this study are expected to provide the following contributions: First, it is expected to contribute to the expansion of ESG related research. In recent years, empirical studies on ESG have been conducted but research on domestic companies(South Korea) are minimal. As the interest in sustainability and social responsibility of the enterprise is increasing, it would be meaningful to examines the impact of ESG a ctivities on t he decision making. In p articular, dividend decision-making can be seen as p art of ESG activities in that it allocates corporate performance, but it may be desirable to allocate resources to stakeholder capitalism in terms of social contribution. The results of this study suggest that ESG performance is also affecting dividend policies and that ESG’s consideration is needed to establish future dividend policies and improve the system. Furthermore, the results of this study are expected to provide investors, regulators and policy-makers as well as relevant researchers in academia with beneficial implications for ESG and dividend payout decision.