Table 1.
Definitions of variables.
| Name | Symbols | Measurements |
|---|---|---|
| Dependent Variable | ||
| Company reputation | Reputation | Combined value of the factors obtained from the company reputation evaluation system |
| Independent Variable | ||
| ESG performance | ESG | Scores from Hua Zheng ESG system, with values assigned based on ratings |
| Control Variables | ||
| Company aggregation | Clustering | Industry Herfindahl Index |
| Free cash flow per share | Cashflow | (Net profit + non-cash expenses - dividends and capital expenditure)/Total number of shares in issue |
| P/E ratio | PE | Share price per share/Net income per share * 100 % |
| Dividend payment rate | Dividend | Dividend per share/share price per share * 100 % |
| Asset structure | Structure | Intangible assets/total assets |
| Company value multiplier | Multipliers | Total market value/income before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization*100 % |
| Mediated (threshold) Variable | ||
| Investor attention | Attention | Sum of Baidu search results add 1 then take the logarithm |