ABSTRACT Sustainability has become an increasingly central pillar of corporate strategy, prompting firms to reconsider how they balance long‐term social and environmental commitments with short‐term financial objectives. In this context, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors have garnered growing attention for their potential impact on firm performance. However, there is limited understanding of their influence on firms' growth trajectories, particularly in terms of market expansion and likelihood of achieving High‐Growth Firm (HGF) status. This study seeks to address this gap by examining a longitudinal dataset of 2189 US publicly traded firms (895 from NYSE and 1294 from Nasdaq) over the period 2002–2022, covering 16,781 firm‐year observations. Our findings reveal a negative relationship between overall ESG scores as well as their individual pillars and the probability of becoming an HGF. This suggests a potential trade‐off between pursuing rapid growth and committing to sustainability, as the two strategies often appear misaligned. Firms typically prioritize rapid expansion in their early stages, shifting attention to ESG‐related investments only after reaching maturity and stabilizing their growth trajectory.
Pistolesi et al. (Tue,) studied this question.