In recent years, with the deepening of the sustainable development concept, corporate’s environmental,social and governance(ESG) performance, as a non-financial performance, is closely watched by investors. In this context, exploring the relationship between corporate’s ESG performance and stock idiosyncratic risk is of great significance.Using a sample of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2013 to 2022, this study empirically examined the impact of ESG performance on the stock idiosyncratic risk. The research results indicate that stock idiosyncratic risk can be significantly suppressed by good ESG performance; the mediating role between the two is played by corporate reputation and investors’ heterogeneous beliefs; the negative relationship between the two is strengthened by media attention. From the perspective of sub-indicators, stock idiosyncratic risk can be reduced by good performance in the three dimensions of E, S, and G. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that a stronger inhibitory effect of ESG performance on stock idiosyncratic risk is exhibited in companies with high agency costs and non-high-tech companies.
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