Firms allocate many resources to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues and to growth options as if they were independent sources of value. Challenging this view, this paper explores the interplay of a firm's engagement in ESG practices and growth options in determining its total value. We draw upon real options reasoning to explain how ESG practices can carry two opposite (trust-enhancing and risk-reducing) forces, driving an inverted U-form relationship between ESG performance and growth options value. Moreover, we argue that ESG performance and growth options are likely to build substitutive insurance mechanisms which might exert a negative moderating effect of growth options on the relationship between ESG performance and a firm's total value. Empirical analyses of ESG scores and growth options values on a panel of U.S. firms from 2009 to 2018 provide substantial support for our hypotheses. Our results show that the inverted U-form relationship between ESG performance and growth options value becomes stronger for the environmental and social pillars. Our evidence on the moderating effect of growth option values also provides valuable insights for interpreting prior conflicting empirical evidence on the association between ESG performance and a firm's total value.

公司将许多资源分配给环境、社会和治理 (ESG) 问题以及增长选项，就好像它们是独立的价值来源一样。挑战这一观点，本文探讨了公司参与 ESG 实践和增长选择在确定其总价值方面的相互作用。我们利用实物期权推理来解释 ESG 实践如何能够承载两种相反的力量（增强信任和降低风险），从而推动 ESG 绩效和增长期权价值之间的倒 U 型关系。此外，我们认为 ESG 绩效和增长期权可能会建立替代性保险机制，这可能会对 ESG 绩效与公司总价值之间的关系产生负面调节作用。美国小组对 ESG 得分和增长期权价值的实证分析 2009 年至 2018 年的公司为我们的假设提供了实质性支持。我们的研究结果表明，对于环境和社会支柱，ESG 绩效和增长期权价值之间的倒 U 型关系变得更强。我们关于增长期权价值调节作用的证据也为解释先前关于 ESG 绩效与公司总价值之间关联的相互矛盾的经验证据提供了有价值的见解。