This study investigates the distinct effects of the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) pillars on corporate financial performance (CFP) measured by ROE and ROA. Using a random forest regression on a sample of Korean-listed firms, we address the positive correlations among these pillars and explore the nonlinear relationships between CFP and individual pillars without pre-specified functional forms. The findings indicate that both environmental and governance performances positively affect CFP, with environmental performance having a more substantial impact but diminishing returns at higher levels. Social performance negatively affects CFP. The environmental pillar emerges as the most reliable predictor of CFP.

中文翻译：

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ESG 支柱对企业财务绩效的独特影响——韩国上市公司的随机森林分析


本研究调查了环境、社会和治理 （ESG） 支柱对以 ROE 和 ROA 衡量的公司财务绩效 （CFP） 的不同影响。使用对韩国上市公司样本的随机森林回归，我们解决了这些支柱之间的正相关问题，并探索了 CFP 与没有预先指定功能形式的单个支柱之间的非线性关系。研究结果表明，环境和治理绩效都对 CFP 产生积极影响，环境绩效的影响更大，但在更高水平上回报递减。社交表现对 CFP 产生负面影响。环境支柱成为 CFP 最可靠的预测指标。