IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v64y2024ics1544612324004574.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can government subsidies improve corporate ESG performance? Evidence from listed enterprises in China

Author

Listed:
  • Na, Chaohong
  • Ni, Zhixing
  • Shu, Qiu
  • Zhang, He

Abstract

The corporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance of businesses is crucial for the sustainable development of our evolving global economy. This study analyzes the mechanisms through which government subsidies influence ESG performance in corporations. The findings reveal that government subsidies significantly improve corporate ESG performance. Furthermore, government subsidies enhance corporate innovation investments and mitigate managerial myopia, leading to improved ESG performance in companies. Additional research indicates that in firms with lesser political connections and greater industry competition, the impact of government subsidies in elevating corporate ESG performance is more significant.

Suggested Citation

  • Na, Chaohong & Ni, Zhixing & Shu, Qiu & Zhang, He, 2024. "Can government subsidies improve corporate ESG performance? Evidence from listed enterprises in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:64:y:2024:i:c:s1544612324004574
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2024.105427
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612324004574
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2024.105427?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lily Fang & Josh Lerner & Chaopeng Wu & Qi Zhang, 2023. "Anticorruption, Government Subsidies, and Innovation: Evidence from China," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(8), pages 4363-4388, August.
    2. Zhihua Cheng & Feng Wang & Christine Keung & Yongxiu Bai, 2017. "Will Corporate Political Connection Influence the Environmental Information Disclosure Level? Based on the Panel Data of A-Shares from Listed Companies in Shanghai Stock Market," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 209-221, June.
    3. Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 2012. "Information Disclosure and Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(1), pages 195-234, February.
    4. Meuleman, Miguel & De Maeseneire, Wouter, 2012. "Do R&D subsidies affect SMEs’ access to external financing?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 580-591.
    5. Choi, Joonhwan & Lee, Jaegul, 2017. "Repairing the R&D market failure: Public R&D subsidy and the composition of private R&D," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1465-1478.
    6. Boeing, Philipp, 2016. "The allocation and effectiveness of China’s R&D subsidies - Evidence from listed firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(9), pages 1774-1789.
    7. Pamela Kent & Jenny Stewart, 2008. "Corporate governance and disclosures on the transition to International Financial Reporting Standards," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 48(4), pages 649-671, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Deng, Kebin & Ding, Zhong & Liao, Xiaojie & Zhu, Yushu, 2021. "Staged subsidies and corporate investments: Evidence from Chinese listed firms," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    2. Nadine Levratto & Aurelien Quignon, 2021. "Innovation Performance and the Signal Effect: Evidence from a European Program," Working Papers halshs-03466903, HAL.
    3. Xiang, Xiaojian & Liu, Chuanjiang & Yang, Mian, 2022. "Who is financing corporate green innovation?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 321-337.
    4. Chen, Jin & Heng, Cheng Suang & Tan, Bernard C.Y. & Lin, Zhijie, 2018. "The distinct signaling effects of R&D subsidy and non-R&D subsidy on IPO performance of IT entrepreneurial firms in China," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 108-120.
    5. Yang, Zhenbing & Shao, Shuai & Li, Chengyu & Yang, Lili, 2020. "Alleviating the misallocation of R&D inputs in China's manufacturing sector: From the perspectives of factor-biased technological innovation and substitution elasticity," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    6. Yanyang Yan & Juan Wang & Sijia Qiao, 2022. "Effects of Industrial Policy on Firms’ Innovation Outputs: Evidence From China," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(3), pages 21582440221, September.
    7. Pan, Xin & Chen, Xuanjin & Qiu, Shumin, 2024. "Pushing boundaries or overstepping? Exploring the paradoxical impact of radical innovation on government subsidies in Chinese SMEs," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    8. Zhenji Jin & Yue Shang & Jian Xu, 2018. "The Impact of Government Subsidies on Private R&D and Firm Performance: Does Ownership Matter in China’s Manufacturing Industry?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-20, June.
    9. Zhao, Kai & Wu, Wan-Shu & Ye, Jun-Mei, 2021. "“SMEs’ Innovation Policy” on Innovation of Technology-based SMEs: A Fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Design," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 62(1), pages 1-32, June.
    10. Xu, Zhe & Meng, Lu & He, Dan & Shi, Xiaoliang & Chen, Ke, 2022. "Government Support's signaling effect on credit financing for new-energy enterprises," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    11. Mei Feng & Ye Wang, 2023. "More Government Subsidies, More Innovation of New Energy Firms? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-23, May.
    12. Li, Fengshu & Andries, Petra & Pellens, Maikel & Xu, Jianzhong, 2021. "The importance of large firms for generating economic value from subsidized technological innovation: A regional perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    13. Lee, Jeongwon & Hwang, Junseok & Kim, Hana, 2022. "Different government support effects on emerging and mature ICT sectors," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    14. Cailou Jiang & Ying Zhang & Maoliang Bu & Weishu Liu, 2018. "The Effectiveness of Government Subsidies on Manufacturing Innovation: Evidence from the New Energy Vehicle Industry in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-11, May.
    15. Hassine, Haithem Ben & Mathieu, Claude, 2020. "R&D crowding out or R&D leverage effects: An evaluation of the french cluster-oriented technology policy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    16. Shuang Wang & Shukuan Zhao & Dong Shao & Hongyu Liu, 2020. "Impact of Government Subsidies on Manufacturing Innovation in China: The Moderating Role of Political Connections and Investor Attention," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-21, September.
    17. repec:idn:journl:v:21:y:2019:i:3g:p:1-22 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Wu, Ting & Yang, Shuwang & Tan, Jingjing, 2020. "Impacts of government R&D subsidies on venture capital and renewable energy investment -- an empirical study in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    19. Li, Beili & Fan, Xu & Li, Jianjiang, 2024. "Natural resource dependence and government-guided social forces participation in R&D investment: An analysis of the resource curse hypothesis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    20. Sharma, Narendra, 2014. "Extent of corporate governance disclosure by banks and finance companies listed on Nepal Stock Exchange," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 425-439.
    21. Han, Miao & Zhang, Dayong & Bi, Xiaogang & Huang, Wei, 2019. "Subsidized overexpansion of Chinese firms," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 69-79.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:64:y:2024:i:c:s1544612324004574. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.