The mediating role of R&D investments in the relationship between awarded grants and ESG performance

This concise paper presents a longitudinal analysis of 688 companies from the Refinitiv database that have won grants and had their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) score assessed over the past eight years. The results of this research express the existence of a full mediation of R&D investments on the relationship between the grants won and the company's ESG score. Thus, it supports that the more a company is able to receive public funds, the more it succeeds in increasing its innovation activities and improve its corporate social responsibility performance.