Topic: Prosocial Analysts and Corporate ESG Activities
Speaker: Weiyan HU
Date & Time: 14:00-15:00 March 19, 2026
Online Venue: 245 Room Quanxue Building
Organizers: School of Accounting, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics; Liaoning Province Capital Market Finance and Accounting Graduate Innovation and Academic Exchange Center
Abstract: We examine how analysts' prosocial preferences affect firms' ESG performance. We identify prosocial analysts through their volunteering activities and find that their coverage is positively associated with firms' subsequent ESG outcomes. The association is robust to an alternative measure of ESG performance based on the EPA's formal enforcement actions and is more pronounced among analysts more devoted to volunteering activities. Exploiting brokerage mergers and closures, we show that the effect is likely causal. The impact is more pronounced when the firm has lower ESG performance, when the CEO is less entrenched, and when prosocial analysts are more experienced. Evidence from conference call transcripts and negative ESG incidents suggests that prosocial analysts' monitoring of ESG performance is the underlying mechanism. Overall, prosocial analysts play a meaningful role in improving firms' ESG performance.
Introduction of Speaker:
Hu Weiyan, Ph.D. candidate in Accounting at the University of International Business and Economics, expected to graduate in June 2026. Her primary research focuses on information intermediaries in capital markets, including auditors and financial analysts. From December 2024 to December 2025, she received funding from the China Scholarship Council to pursue joint doctoral training at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. She has published papers in journals such as the Journal of Business Finance & Accounting. Several of her working papers have been accepted for presentation at the 2026 Annual Congress of the European Accounting Association (EAA) and the Annual Conference of the Canadian Academic Accounting Association (CAAA).
Special Attention:
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