Table 4.

Paths coefficients results.

Relationship	β	Std. err.	T-value	P-value	Confidence Intervals
					Lower	Upper
CL -> ESG	0.059	0.024	2.407**	0.016	0.013	0.109
CL -> FD	−0.284	0.022	−12.706***	0.000	−0.329	−0.240
CL -> ROA	0.243	0.023	10.576***	0.000	0.197	0.288
ESG -> FD	−0.052	0.017	−2.985***	0.003	−0.086	−0.018
ESG -> ROA	0.035	0.021	1.682*	0.093	−0.006	0.074
ROA -> FD	−0.237	0.021	−11.016***	0.000	−0.280	−0.195
SIZE -> ESG	0.093	0.024	3.901***	0.000	0.046	0.139
SIZE -> FD	0.024	0.017	1.439	0.150	−0.010	0.057
SIZE -> ROA	−0.024	0.022	−1.075	0.283	−0.068	0.019
LEV -> ESG	0.086	0.025	3.497***	0.000	0.036	0.133
LEV -> FD	0.290	0.019	15.014***	0.000	0.252	0.327
LEV -> ROA	−0.289	0.024	−12.093***	0.000	−0.335	−0.242
AGE -> ESG	0.003	0.021	0.160	0.873	−0.037	0.045
AGE -> FD	−0.016	0.017	−0.905	0.366	−0.049	0.018
AGE -> ROA	0.012	0.021	0.539	0.590	−0.033	0.052
COV -> ESG	−0.003	0.023	−0.115	0.908	−0.047	0.041
COV -> FD	0.035	0.018	1.935*	0.053	−0.001	0.070
COV -> ROA	−0.026	0.022	−1.193	0.233	−0.068	0.016
SEC -> ESG	0.002	0.023	0.066	0.947	−0.045	0.047
SEC -> FD	−0.108	0.020	−5.416***	0.000	−0.147	−0.070
SEC -> ROA	0.042	0.017	2.455**	0.014	0.008	0.077
CL -> ESG -> FD	−0.003	0.002	−1.784*	0.074	−0.007	−0.001
CL -> ROA -> FD	−0.058	0.008	−7.008***	0.000	−0.075	−0.043
ESG -> ROA -> FD	−0.008	0.005	−1.675*	0.094	−0.018	0.001

Note: *, **, and *** denote significance at the 10%, 5%, and 1% levels, respectively. This table summarizes the path coefficients using the Smart PLS 3 software. The variables include financial distress (FD), environmental, social, and governance (ESG), cost leadership (CL), firm size (SIZE), firm leverage (LEV), firm age (AGE), return on assets (ROA), coronavirus crisis (COV), and sector classification (SEC).