Firm communication,environmental spill severity,and firm financial performance: Was interessiert mich mein Geschwaetz von Gestern? (What do we care about yesterday's chatter?).
详细信息
文摘
This dissertation investigates the effect of environmental emergency spill severity on firm financial performance and the effect of firm communication prior to the environmental emergency on the spill severity firm financial performance relationship. Event study methodology was applied to measure firm financial performance in cumulative abnormal returns after the spill. A qualitative analysis of firm environmental performance communication in the Managerial Discussion and Analysis section of their 10-k Annual Report prior to the spill was conducted, followed by regression analysis of the spill severity firm performance link, as well as the effect of firm environmental performance communication prior to the spill on firm financial performance. Results provide empirical evidence that environmental emergencies hurt firm financial performance for the sampled group as a whole. The severity of the spill, as measured in the size of the spill adjusted for by firm size, has a main effect on firm financial performance such that the more severe the spill the more negative the cumulative abnormal return to the firm. Firm communication about environmental performance prior to the accident has no main effect on firm financial performance after the spill, but moderates the relationship between spill severity and firm financial performance such that the type of communication prior to the accident can either hurt the company by increasing the negative returns, or help shield the company from negative returns, depending on the type of communication and the severity of the spill.