企業透過永續報告書向利害關係人溝通永續績效，並且過去研究發現取得確信服務能夠增強永續報告書可信度。然而，是否採用永續報告書確信專家能夠進一步提升投資人信心則缺乏相關研究，因此本篇論文以2016至2022台灣上市櫃企業，排除KY股及金融業，出具永續報告書同時取得確信服務者為研究樣本，共1843筆公司年資料進行實證研究。發現企業出具永續報告書且由永續報告書確信專家確信與機構投資人持股比為正向顯著關聯性。環境敏感性產業與機構投資人持股比間為負向顯著關聯性，在該產業中，採用永續報告書確信專家與機構投資人持股比則不存在顯著關聯性。
在額外測試則發現在環境敏感性產業下，採用永續報告書確信專家與外國機構投資人持股比呈現負向顯著關聯性，在非環境敏感性產業下則呈現無顯著影響，兩種情況皆不論ESG績效好壞。而當企業屬於環境敏感性產業且ESG績效差或者不屬於環境敏感性產業且ESG績效好時，採用永續報告書確信專家，與國內機構投資人持股比皆呈現正向顯著關聯性。對於機構選擇偏好則發現當企業採用來自第三方機構之永續報告書確信專家，機構投資人持股比較高。

This study examines the link between sustainability report assurance specialists and institutional investor ownership in Taiwanese listed firms from 2016 to 2022. Based on 1,843 firm-year observations (excluding KY and financial firms), results show that using assurance specialists is positively associated with institutional ownership. However, in environmentally sensitive industries, this effect diminishes overall, though domestic investors still favor such firms, while foreign investors tend to avoid them. For non-sensitive industries, domestic investors prefer firms with specialists, but no significant pattern is found for foreign investors. Overall, assurance specialists enhance report credibility, attracting institutional investors through stronger risk identification and assessment.

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