Abstract
This paper tests firms’ strategic response to negative consumer sentiment. We use sentiment analysis on social media posts to detect and proxy for negative consumer sentiments toward the firms and operationalize the number of ESG positive news about the firms as the strategic response to the sentiment. We document a surprising phenomenon that negative sentiment toward a firm is positively associated with future ESG news announcements by the firm. The effect is stronger for B2B firms than for B2C ones. We argue this is the firm’s strategic reaction rather than being a true change in the firm’s ESG policy, because (1) The ESG effect only lasts for a short period, and (2) the negative sentiment toward the firm decreases after the ESG news. Using former US president Trump’s tweets as external shocks, we show the causal relationship in a DID framework.
| Original language | English |
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| Title of host publication | 2023 Global Marketing Conference at Seoul Proceedings |
| Editors | Roland T. Rust, Renana Peres, Linda Robinson, Chizuru Nishio, Tony Garrett |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Place of Publication | Changwon |
| Publisher | Global Alliance of Marketing and Management Associations |
| Publication date | 2023 |
| Pages | 495 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2023 |
| Event | 2023 Global Marketing Conference at Seoul: Marketing & Management Transformation in the Challenging Digital Environment - Lotte Hotel Seoul & Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea, Republic of Duration: 20 Jul 2023 → 23 Jul 2023 https://2023gmc.imweb.me/ http://gmcproceedings.net/html/sub2_01.html |
Conference
| Conference | 2023 Global Marketing Conference at Seoul |
|---|---|
| Location | Lotte Hotel Seoul & Yonsei University |
| Country/Territory | Korea, Republic of |
| City | Seoul |
| Period | 20/07/2023 → 23/07/2023 |
| Internet address |
| Series | Global Marketing Conference Proceedings |
|---|---|
| ISSN | 1976-8699 |
Keywords
- ESG
- Difference-in-differences
- Sentiment