Institutional investors' geographic concentration and environmental, social, and governance performance: An inverted U‐shaped relationship

Abstract Although the rapid development of the Internet has infinitely shortened the distance between economic agents, geographic distance is still an important factor affecting information acquisition and interpersonal interactions between them. Using data on Chinese A‐share listed companies from 2009 to 2020, we explore the relationship between geographic concentration of institutional investors and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. Our findings indicate that investors' geographic concentration has an inverted U‐shaped influence on ESG performance, and high‐speed railway and institutional environment weaken the negative influence of geographic concentration of institutional shareholders, leading to a flatter inverted U‐shaped relationship. As high‐speed railway and institutional environment further flatten the curve, the inverted U‐shaped relationship will eventually become U‐shaped, and a “shape‐flip” occurs. Our research offers a new perspective on the factors impacting corporate ESG performance, enriching institutional investor characteristics, and having practical significance for improving ESG performance.