Combining ESG Ratings and Media Content for a Better Understanding of Corporate Ethics

Описание: In this presentation, Dr Dolores Lagoa Varela, University of A Coruña (Spain) emphasizes the value of integrating ESG ratings with media insights to improve the identification of ethical practices, thereby enhancing the transparency and reliability of ESG assessments for stakeholders and investors. The research employs topic modelling (LDA) and sentiment analysis to examine news articles on the ethical and unethical behaviours of European companies.

The study reveals that companies generating a high volume of both positive and negative news tend to have the lowest ESGC scores (groups C and D), indicating that more media coverage does not necessarily improve their ESGC ranking. Additionally, the number of news articles collected about the lowest-rated companies (group D) is significantly higher than for other groups, showing that controversies attract substantial public attention. While there is generally strong alignment between ESGC scores and textual evidence, gaps remain where media content does not fully match the scores.

These findings underscore the need to complement information from rating agencies and companies with textual analysis tools to more accurately identify companies with transparent and ethical financial practices.