News or noise? ESG disclosure and stock price synchronicity

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG), as an important mechanism to promote the sustainable development of the capital market, is bound to have a significant impact on its stock price synchronicity. This paper examines the impact and mechanism of corporate ESG disclosure on stock price synchronicity using data from Chinese A-share listed companies from 2013 to 2022. It analyzes the dual perspectives of information efficiency and noise trading. The findings support the noise trading perspective, as ESG disclosure significantly reduces the impact of noise on stock prices and enhances firms' stock price synchronicity, and the conclusions still hold after a series of endogeneity and robustness tests. It is also found that the positive impact of ESG disclosure on stock price synchronicity is mainly realized through the paths of reducing accrual earnings management and increasing analyst attention. Moreover, the positive impact of ESG disclosure on stock price synchronicity is more significant in the group of non-state-owned enterprises, higher quality of internal control, non-polluting industries, and less market-oriented enterprises. The study in this paper not only enriches the related literature in the field of ESG disclosure and stock price synchronicity but also reaffirms the noise trading theory of the irrational school.