Relevance of corporate use of social media for disclosing ESG practices

Abstract Purpose: Analyze the relationship between corporate use of social media, specifically Twitter, to disseminate ESG practices and the relevance of accounting information from Brazilian companies. Originality/value: Brazilian companies tend to use social media in a corporate way to publicize their engagement in ESG practices to signal to the market their commitment to socially responsible behavior, making such information relevant to the market. Design/methodology/approach: This research is classified as descriptive, documentary, and quantitative. Its sample corresponds to 181 companies involved in B3. Information related to social media was collected through Twitter, and financial information was collected through the Refinitiv Eikon® database. The MOORA method, descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and OLS linear regression operationalize the data. Findings: The results indicate that disclosing ESG information on Twitter positively relates to stock returns and companies’ Market-to- -book. Furthermore, it is possible to infer that Brazilian companies tend to increasingly signal their engagement in ESG practices to market participants through new means of communication, such as social media. The findings contribute to market participants, as they allow investors and shareholders to pay attention to the disclosure of ESG information in new media, such as Twitter.