Publications
Yang, L., Shen, J., Fan, K. Y., Cheng, L. T. W., & Lu, W. (2026). An International Perspective of Selective ESG Engagement: Evidence from Real Estate Investment Trusts. The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11146-026-10068-5
Cheng, L. T. W., Fan, K. Y., Shen, J., & Yu, Q. (2026). Saving planet earth or maximizing financial gains: A global analysis of environmental performance positioning as an ESG strategy. Research in International Business and Finance, vol. 89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2026.103462
Cheng, L. T. W., Shen, J., & Sharma, P. (2026). Demystifying the interactive impact of analyst certification and investor relations quality on media coverage and firm value. Journal of Business Research, vol. 210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.116161
Kong, P., Cheng, L. T. W., Pan, L., Shen, J., and Yu, Q., (2025) “Non financial information uncertainty, firm growth, and market value during crisis: Evidence from China”, Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, vol. 91.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pacfin.2025.102748
Ma, L., LI, J., Cheng, L. T. W., and Cao, J., (2025) “The Role of Independent Directors in Mitigating Corporate Greenwashing: Evidence from Board Voting in China”, European Journal of Finance, vol. 31(11), pp. 1405-1425
https://doi.org/10.1080/1351847X.2025.2481957
Cheng, L. T. W., Cheong, T. S., Wojewodzki, M., and Chui, D., (2025) The Effect of ESG Divergence on The Financial Performance of Hong Kong Listed Firms: An Artificial Neural Network Approach. Research in International Business and Finance, vol. 73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2024.102616
Cheng, L. T. W., Tsang, C. K. & Lee, S. K. (2024). Comparing the Financial Performance Effect of International and Local ESG Ratings: A Two-stage DEA Approach. Annals of Financial Economics, vol. 19 (4). https://doi.org/10.1142/S2010495225500010
Fan, K. Y., Shen, J., Hui, E. C., & Cheng, L. T. W. (November 2024). ESG Components and Equity Returns: Evidence from Real Estate Investment Trusts. International Review of Financial Analysis, vol. 96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.irfa.2024.103716
Cheng, L. T. W., Lee, S. K., Li, S. K., and Tsang, C. K. (2023 April). Understanding Resource Deployment Efficiency for ESG and Financial Performance: a DEA Approach. Research in International Business and Finance, vol. 65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2023.101941
Wojewodzki, M., Cheong, T. S., Shen, J. Cheng, L. T. W. (2023 September). Does corporate carbon performance converge in the global market? Evidence from a distribution dynamic approach. Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118355
Cheng, L. T. W., Shen, J., and Wojewodzki, M. (2023 January). A cross-country analysis of corporate carbon performance: An international investment perspective. Research in International Business and Finance, vol. 64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2023.101888
Zeng, J. Z., Yu, I. Y., Tso, S. H., and Yang, M. X. (2022 December). Employees’ geographic social identity and group pro-environmental behaviors: Cross-cultural evidence from 45 countries. Business Strategy and the Environment, vol. 32(6), pp. 3848–3860. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3341
Cao, J., Faff, R., He, J. and Li, Y., (2022 December). Who is Green Washing and What is the Consequence, Evidence from China. ABACUS, vol. 58. https://doi.org/10.1111/abac.12273
Impact Cases
Impactful Research vs. Research Impact: How does SBUS carry out these missions?
Prof. Louis Cheng
Dr S H Ho Professor of Banking and Finance
Associate Dean (Research), School of Business
To industry practitioners and students, impactful research and research impact may be just two ways to describe the same issue. However, in the academic world, these two terms have very different meanings. Impactful research is research that actually makes an impact and hopefully positive contributions to society, including the business sectors and citizens.
It is not just about adding another paper to a journal or developing a clever theory. It is about creating knowledge that can help people, improve decisions, solve problems, or push society forward. This kind of research might influence public policy, improve healthcare, support environmental protection, or help communities understand an issue more clearly. In other words, impactful research should be both high-quality and useful to the world. If research stays locked inside academic circles and never reaches the people who could benefit from it, its real social value may be limited.
Using the ChatGPT 5.5 model as a tool on July 4, 2026, to analyse the 52 research proposals submitted to the Research Grants Council (RGC) by SBUS of HSUHK during the past 3 years, we explore how relevant our research proposals are to society. Our keywords for relevance include “society, business, sustainability, or industrial practice”. The statistics reveal that 25 proposals (48.1%) were identified as having the potential to create impacts beyond academia. The proportion of impactful research proposals increased from 30.0% in 2024/25 to 50.0% in 2025/26 and 53.6% in 2026/27, suggesting a growing emphasis on research with practical and societal relevance.
Research impact, on the other hand, is more about how research is being used as a foundation to conduct future research in the academic world.
While there are measures, the basic idea is to look at citations (both quality and quantity) of published research works in academic journals. It often refers to things like citation numbers, journal rankings, impact factors, and downloads. These numbers can be helpful because they show whether research is being noticed and used by other researchers. The research impact of SBUS is reflected in the scholarly output with an increasing number of publications. From Jan 1, 2024, to April 10, 2026, SBUS colleagues reached a satisfactory level of research performance, publishing 4 papers from the UTD journal list, 3 from the FT50 list, 16 A* papers, and 50 A papers from the ABDC list. As of May 13, 2026, over 40% of SBUS academic staff achieved an h-index of 4 and above by Scopus, among which, over half of them achieved 8 and greater. While you may not know much about the difficulty or the recognition in publishing papers in the journal lists of UTD, FT50, and the ABDC, please be assured that these are the most difficult and prestigious academic benchmarks used by top universities in the world to give tenure and promotion to their academic staff.
Nevertheless, research impact does not necessarily tell the whole story. A paper can be highly cited without making much difference to society, while another piece of research may quietly help a local community or improve real-life practice without attracting much academic attention. Therefore, at HSUHK, both issues matter. As a young university with a recently reformed business school, HSUHK is committed to both impactful research and research impact. As delivering impactful research and research impact require different sets of expertise, project duration, and resource support, SBUS has to design an appropriate framework to achieve these goals. In conclusion, a good research culture should reward work that is respected by scholars and also useful to society. Let’s encourage our academic colleagues to set sail to these uncharted waters and conquer the brave new world of “impacts”.
Impact Case 1
The i-score and its Impact on Understanding ESG Performance of Hong Kong Listed Firms
Prof. Louis Cheng began to explore ESG and green finance research in 2018. Through constantly engagement with the industry and the market, he identified an important industry need in ESG integration for asset management industry and listed firms in Hong Kong. Based on a 2019 working paper from the MIT team[1] on the ESG divergence, he began to develop the idea of i-score as an academic research issue while applying it in various industry engagement to create an impact for the professional community. In the story below, you can see how the i-score research journey and the industry engagement unfold.
[1] Berg, F., Kölbel, J., and Rigobon, R. (2019). Aggregate Confusion: The Divergence of ESG Ratings”. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3438533 ; the paper published at Review of Finance (2022).
Click here to see the impact story.
Latest Development of the i-score’s Impacts
In 2026, the i-score is adopted by Center for Environmental, Social, and Governance Studies (CESGS) at Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) to conduct an analysis on the ESG performance of 1,167 listed firms from 17 countries in the region. The report will be released at the ASBIF on June 21-23.
HSUHK Industry Reports
Public Submission for the Inaugural First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Hong Kong SAR (2026-2030)
Currently, a diverse group of international blue finance instruments is deployed to support oceanic biodiversity and the blue economy in Asia. In fact, Asian participation accounts for approximately half of the bond issues, indicating that there is a substantial need in the region for blue financing.
As a global financial hub and harbour city, Hong Kong is well-positioned to translate its green technology and finance expertise into guiding the blue economy. With Mainland China highlighting the significance of the blue economy and international cooperation within the 15th Five-Year Plan, Hong Kong has an opportunity to take the lead in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) to foster the blue finance function for China.
Click here to see the report.
A Multi-Agent Deep Framework for Indonesian Single-Stock Trading with an ESG Factor
This work proposes a new paradigm of algorithm trading system with AI agent utilizing ESG news and showcases how the system works effectively in the emerging market. ESG news is effectively traded with AI agent to generate superior performance. The research highlights the importance of ESG news.
Click here to see the report.
CILTHK & HSUHK 2023 Hong Kong Transport & Logistics Industry ESG Survey
The survey objectives are to explore the ESG progress, plan, needs and challenges in transport and logistics industry; identify gaps between companies and their clients; and provide recommendations for the industry and the HKSAR government to enhance competitiveness of the industry.
Click here to see the report.
Final Report on Innovation and Technology Fund Series Activities
The report provides comprehensive coverage of the project, and more significantly, it introduces our proprietary ESG sentiment indicator, the i-Composite Scorecard.
Click here to see the report.
ESG Stakeholder Survey Report
The investor survey aims to explore how the US and Mainland China investors adjust their expected returns conditional on corporate ESG performance. The objective of the consumer/employee survey is to understand how corporate ESG practices can be connected to employees’ own values and, in turn, affect their own green consumption behaviors.
Click here to see the report (including English and Chinese versions of the report).
Fintech Penetration Survey Report
This project is funded by The S. H. Ho Foundation and implemented by the Research Centre for ESG at the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong. The purpose of this Fintech survey is to find out, under COVID-19, how bank customers in Hong Kong view the financial services provided by traditional banks (both physical and online services), virtual banks, and online investment platforms. Specifically, we are interested in understanding which financial service provider can generate better customer satisfaction in five dimensions. They are 1) communication effectiveness, 2) competence level, 3) service quality, which in turn lead to 4) commitment and 5) trust from the customers.
Click here to see the report (including the full report in English and the Chinese summary).