客户ESG表现的供应链溢出效应——供应商经营风险的视角

朱赛林¹　刘春林¹　石睿²

（1.南京大学；2.广东财经大学）

内容提要：在可持续发展的背景下，环境、社会和治理（ESG）理念为企业经营管理提供了新模式。本文使用2009—2021年中国A股上市公司披露的前五大客户数据，实证检验客户ESG表现对供应商经营风险的影响及作用机制。研究结果表明，客户ESG表现能够抑制供应商经营风险。机制检验结果表明，客户ESG表现通过减少对供应商的资金占用、提高供应商的投资效率，降低供应商的经营风险。进一步分析发现，这一风险抑制效应主要通过客户社会表现和治理表现实现，而客户环境表现的影响并不显著；客户ESG表现对供应商经营风险的抑制作用并不以增加自身风险为代价。异质性分析结果显示，当供应商为中小企业、客户影响力越大以及区域营商环境越好时，客户ESG表现对供应商经营风险的抑制作用越强。本文的研究结论将ESG表现的经济后果扩展到上游供应商，对于微观层面抑制供应链风险、宏观层面提升供应链韧性和安全水平具有启示意义。

关键词：ESG表现；客户；供应商；经营风险；供应链溢出效应；供应链安全水平

作者简介：朱赛林，南京大学商学院博士研究生，通信作者，南京，210093；刘春林，南京大学商学院教授、博士生导师；石睿，广东财经大学工商管理学院讲师，广州，510320。

基金项目：国家自然科学基金面上项目“制度抗拒与代际断裂：新生代高管对企业社会责任行为的影响研究”（72072085）；2020年度南京大学长江三角洲经济社会发展研究中心暨区域经济转型与管理变革协同创新中心联合招标重大项目“长三角区域协同推进污染治理和环境创新研究”（CYD-2020010）

引用格式：朱赛林,刘春林,石睿.客户ESG表现的供应链溢出效应——供应商经营风险的视角[J].经济与管理研究,2025,46(3):61-77.

Supply Chain Spillover Effect of Customer ESG Performance

—A Perspective of Supplier Risk

ZHU Sailin¹, LIU Chunlin¹, SHI Rui²

(1. Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093;

2. Guangdong University of Finance & Economics, Guangzhou 510320)

Abstract: In the context of sustainable development, the ESG concept establishes a new paradigm for business management. Existing studies mainly focus on the impact of ESG on firms’ economic performance but pay insufficient attention to the external economic impact of ESG. This paper attempts to explore the economic implications of corporate ESG performance on external stakeholders from the perspective of supplier risk. The rationale lies in the widespread phenomenon of suppliers’ excessive dependence on major customers within the Chinese supply chain ecosystem. This dependence makes suppliers vulnerable to exploitation and risk transfer from customers. In this context, investigating whether customer ESG performance can foster the formation of a healthier supply chain ecosystem and alleviate supplier risk holds significant theoretical and practical importance.

This paper uses the top five customer data disclosed by Chinese A-share listed firms from 2009 to 2021 to explore the impact of customer ESG performance on supplier risk. The findings indicate that customer ESG performance can inhibit supplier risk. Mechanism test shows that customer ESG performance reduces supplier risk by reducing capital appropriation of suppliers and improving their investment efficiency. Further analysis reveals that this risk-reducing effect is mainly realized through the customer’s social performance and governance performance, while the impact of the environmental performance is not significant. Heterogeneity analysis shows that when suppliers are small and medium-sized firms, customers exert greater influence, and the regional business environment is favorable, customer ESG performance has a stronger inhibitory effect on supplier risk.

The contributions of this paper are threefold. First, it extends the economic consequences of ESG performance to upstream suppliers. Existing studies mainly focus on the impact of ESG performance on firms’ economic performance rather than the economic impact of corporate ESG performance on external stakeholders. This paper not only broadens the ESG research scenario from the supply chain perspective but also enriches the research on the external economic impact of ESG. Second, it enriches the research related to supply chain spillovers. A large number of studies concern the supply chain risk spillover effect triggered by the financial performance of customers, but how the non-financial performance of customers affects supplier risk remains unclear. This paper takes customer ESG performance as a breakthrough point and proves the mechanism, thus horizontally expanding the research on supply chain spillover effects. Third, it demonstrates that ESG can simultaneously reduce the risk of both customers and suppliers in a supply chain scenario, providing empirical evidence that ESG can achieve win-win outcomes for firms and stakeholders and enhance supply chain resilience and security.

Keywords: ESG performance; customer; supplier; business risk; supply chain spillover effect; supply chain security

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