Author(s): Jaehong Lee, Suyon Kim
In this study, we investigate the relationship between customer satisfaction and firms being selected as admired firms. Also, we confirmed the ESG effect on this correlation. Based on 8,126 Korean firms, we use regression analysis to examine the relationship between customer satisfaction and being designated as admired firms, using Korean firms from 2014 to 2018. Our study reports that the firms with satisfied customers are likely to be admired in the market. We also found when the firms are actively engaged in ESG, customer satisfaction plays a role positively, leading to being selected as admired. Among ESG index, the environment index positively impacts on the relationship between customer satisfaction and admired firms. Our findings suggest that customer satisfaction is an intangible asset that affect firm value positively. Our study has contributed that we examine the impact of customer satisfaction on non-financial information, explaining firm value. As we test the effect of firms’ customer satisfaction, we expanded the social contribution including environment, society and governance.