Is there a relationship between corporate social and financial performance? A study based on Spanish firms

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether environmental, social and good governance management of companies influences their social performance. This analysis is about a group of Spanish listed companies, during the period from 2013 to 2015. The methodology used is a nonparametric test, named Mann-Whitney U test, which is developed to calculate profitability, liquidity and solvency variables. Therefore, it aims to examine if there are differences between the companies included in the FTSE4Good IBEX sustainability index and the other ones included in the IBEX family. In fact, the results determine that there are not any significant differences in the financial performance of both groups. Thus, it is possible to conclude that the most prominent companies in managing environmental, social and good governance aspects are as profitable as the rest; thereby, confirming that the fact of using sustainability indexes does not affect negatively the competitive position of companies.