ESG to Brand Equity: Stake holders, Social media & Signaling.

The value of the companies increasingly consists largely of intangible values such as brand equity. Intangible decisions like involvement in ESG present a considerable opportunity for different stakeholders to impact brand equity. Signaling theory suggests that firms use signals to overcome information asymmetry (Karanges et al, 2018; Grinblatt et al,1998) when firms signal achievements and ESG. How do stakeholders share and signal ESG information and achievements in social media to drive brand equity? The author argues that CEO characteristics and investor base shape the firm’s social media ESG-brand management strategy in driving brand equity.