IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/riibaf/v66y2023ics0275531923001873.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Greening through social trust?

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Jie
  • Chen, Zhongfei

Abstract

This study examines whether and how social trust affects corporate green innovation. Using the panel samples of Chinese non-financial listed companies from 2010 to 2015, this study finds that social trust has a significant positive impact on corporate green innovation, and this effect remains after a series of robustness checks. Heterogeneity analysis shows that this promotion effect is more pronounced in non-state owned enterprises, small enterprise facing severe financing constraints, and enterprises belonging to non-high-tech and non-heavily polluting industries. This positive impact is also more prominent in areas with high economic uncertainty, a strong Confucian cultural atmosphere, and non-environmentally friendly cities. Based on the theoretical framework of the trust triangle, the exploration of potential mechanisms reveals that the promotion effects of social trust on green innovation is achieved by increasing the external environmental pressure faced by enterprises, enhancing their reputation motivation and their environmental awareness. We further observe that social trust has a substitution effect on the formal institution. These results indicate that social trust plays a key role in affecting the green development of enterprises and can be used as a means of external governance.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Jie & Chen, Zhongfei, 2023. "Greening through social trust?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:riibaf:v:66:y:2023:i:c:s0275531923001873
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ribaf.2023.102061
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0275531923001873
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ribaf.2023.102061?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. Saeidi, Sayedeh Parastoo & Sofian, Saudah & Saeidi, Parvaneh & Saeidi, Sayyedeh Parisa & Saaeidi, Seyyed Alireza, 2015. "How does corporate social responsibility contribute to firm financial performance? The mediating role of competitive advantage, reputation, and customer satisfaction," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 341-350.
    2. Zhang, Cheng & Zhou, Bo & Tian, Xuan, 2022. "Political connections and green innovation: The role of a corporate entrepreneurship strategy in state-owned enterprises," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 375-384.
    3. Meng, Yijun & Yin, Chao, 2019. "Trust and the cost of debt financing," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 58-73.
    4. Bartikowski, Boris & Walsh, Gianfranco, 2011. "Investigating mediators between corporate reputation and customer citizenship behaviors," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 39-44, January.
    5. Richard Damania & Erkan Yalcin, 2005. "Corruption and Political Competition," Microeconomics 0510012, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Fonseka, Mohan & Samarakoon, Lalith P. & Tian, Gao-Liang & Seng, Ratney, 2021. "The impact of social trust and state ownership on investment efficiency of Chinese firms," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    7. Park, Jongchul & Lee, Hanjoon & Kim, Chankon, 2014. "Corporate social responsibilities, consumer trust and corporate reputation: South Korean consumers' perspectives," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 295-302.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liu, Deyu & Wang, Kefan & Liu, Jialin, 2024. "Can social trust foster green innovation?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).

    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. Yu-Muo Lee & Jin-Li Hu, 2018. "Integrated Approaches for Business Sustainability: The Perspective of Corporate Social Responsibility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-20, July.
    2. Wang, Yidi & Gu, Hongmei, 2024. "Impacts of trust on the cost of debt financing: The perspectives of in-group trust and out-group trust," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PA).
    3. Muflih, Muhammad, 2021. "The link between corporate social responsibility and customer loyalty: Empirical evidence from the Islamic banking industry," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    4. M. Isabel Sánchez-Hernández & Tomás M. Bañegil-Palacios & Ramón Sanguino-Galván, 2017. "Competitive Success in Responsible Regional Ecosystems: An Empirical Approach in Spain Focused on the Firms’ Relationship with Stakeholders," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-18, March.
    5. Su, Lujun & Pan, Yue & Chen, Xiaohong, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility: Findings from the Chinese hospitality industry," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 240-247.
    6. Walid Cheffi & Ahmed Abdel-Maksoud & Muhammad Omer Farooq, 2021. "CSR initiatives, organizational performance and the mediating role of integrating CSR into management control systems: Testing an inclusive model within SMEs in an emerging economy," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 333-367, September.
    7. Edward Fosu & Kaigang Yi & Deborah Asiedu, 2024. "The effect of CSR on corporate social performance: Mediating role of corporate image, green innovation and moderating role of corporate identity," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 69-88, January.
    8. Ayşe Cingöz & A. Asuman Akdoğan, 2019. "A Study on Determining the Relationships Among Corporate Social Responsibility, Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Ethical Leadership," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 16(04), pages 1-19, June.
    9. Ngoc Khuong Mai & Khoa Truong An Nguyen & Thanh Tung Do & Long Nhat Phan, 2023. "Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy Practices, Employee Commitment, Reputation as Sources of Competitive Advantage," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    10. Gerda Barauskaite & Dalia Streimikiene, 2021. "Corporate social responsibility and financial performance of companies: The puzzle of concepts, definitions and assessment methods," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(1), pages 278-287, January.
    11. Dang, Van Thac & Nguyen, Ninh & Pervan, Simon, 2020. "Retailer corporate social responsibility and consumer citizenship behavior: The mediating roles of perceived consumer effectiveness and consumer trust," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    12. Malik, Ihtisham A. & Chowdhury, Hasibul & Alam, Md Samsul, 2023. "Equity market response to natural disasters: Does firm's corporate social responsibility make difference?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    13. María Dolores Aledo‐Ruiz & Eva Martínez‐Caro & José Manuel Santos‐Jaén, 2022. "The influence of corporate social responsibility on students' emotional appeal in the HEIs: The mediating effect of reputation and corporate image," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(3), pages 578-592, May.
    14. Hans B. Christensen & Luzi Hail & Christian Leuz, 2021. "Mandatory CSR and sustainability reporting: economic analysis and literature review," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 1176-1248, September.
    15. Athanasios Krystallis & Vlad Zaharia & Antonis Zairis, 2021. "“When” Does It Pay to Be Good? Attributions Mediate the Way CSR Elements Impact on Consumer Responses, and Are Controllable," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-16, May.
    16. Park, Eunil, 2019. "Corporate social responsibility as a determinant of corporate reputation in the airline industry," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 215-221.
    17. Yu, Weiping & Han, Xiaoyun & Ding, Lei & He, Mingli, 2021. "Organic food corporate image and customer co-developing behavior: The mediating role of consumer trust and purchase intention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    18. Zia ur Rehman & Asad Khan & Asim Rahman, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility's influence on firm risk and firm performance: the mediating role of firm reputation," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(6), pages 2991-3005, November.
    19. Abdelsalam, Omneya & Chantziaras, Antonios & Joseph, Nathan Lael & Tsileponis, Nikolaos, 2024. "Trust matters: A global perspective on the influence of trust on bank market risk," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    20. Yoori Yang & Cynthia Stohl, 2020. "The (in)congruence of measures of corporate social responsibility performance and stakeholder measures of corporate social responsibility reputation," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 969-981, March.

    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:riibaf:v:66:y:2023:i:c:s0275531923001873. 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/ribaf .

    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.