IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i5p1475-d145140.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Information Disclosure on Hazards from Industrial Water Pollution Incidents: Latent Resistance and Countermeasures in China

Author

Listed:
  • Yanhong Tang

    (College of Resources and Environment, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China)

  • Xin Miao

    (School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China)

  • Hongyu Zang

    (School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China)

  • Yanhong Gao

    (College of Resources and Environment, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China)

Abstract

China has suffered frequent water pollution incidents in recent years, and information disclosure on relevant hazards is often delayed and insufficient. The purpose of this paper is to unearth the latent resistance, and analyze the institutional arrangements and countermeasures. After reviewing representative journal literature about environmental information disclosure, this paper provides a theoretical review based on a comparison of the ontological differences between stakeholder theory and fraud triangle theory. A tentative application of fraud triangle theory as a means of explaining the phenomenon is proposed. Empirical analysis is undertaken to verify the tentative theoretical explanation. Based on news reports from Chinese official news websites, content analysis on longitudinal case evidence of representative water pollution incidents is applied, to contribute to unearthing the mechanism of the latent resistance towards information disclosure. The results show that local government agencies have a dominant position vis a vis information disclosure, but that some important actors rarely participate in information disclosure, which provides a chance for local government agencies’ information disclosure to commit fraud. The phenomenon, its essence, and proposed countermeasures are discussed and explained by referring to recent governmental environmental practices in China. Promising research topics are illuminated, providing enlightenment for future study.

Suggested Citation

  • Yanhong Tang & Xin Miao & Hongyu Zang & Yanhong Gao, 2018. "Information Disclosure on Hazards from Industrial Water Pollution Incidents: Latent Resistance and Countermeasures in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-15, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:5:p:1475-:d:145140
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/5/1475/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/5/1475/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Charles H. Cho & Martin Freedman & Dennis M. Patten, 2012. "Corporate disclosure of environmental capital expenditures," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 25(3), pages 486-507, March.
    2. S. Zeng & X. Xu & H. Yin & C. Tam, 2012. "Factors that Drive Chinese Listed Companies in Voluntary Disclosure of Environmental Information," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(3), pages 309-321, September.
    3. Sheng Yao & Haotian Liang, 2017. "Firm location, political geography and environmental information disclosure," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(3), pages 251-262, January.
    4. Lopin Kuo & Chin‐Chen Yeh & Hui‐Cheng Yu, 2012. "Disclosure of Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management: Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(5), pages 273-287, September.
    5. Claus Holm & Pall Rikhardsson, 2008. "Experienced and Novice Investors: Does Environmental Information Influence Investment Allocation Decisions?," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 537-557.
    6. Jiandong Chen & Douglas Cumming & Wenxuan Hou & Edward Lee, 2016. "Does the External Monitoring Effect of Financial Analysts Deter Corporate Fraud in China?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(4), pages 727-742, April.
    7. Michael C. Jensen, 2010. "Value Maximization, Stakeholder Theory, and the Corporate Objective Function," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 22(1), pages 32-42, January.
    8. X. Meng & S. Zeng & C. Tam & X. Xu, 2013. "Whether Top Executives’ Turnover Influences Environmental Responsibility: From the Perspective of Environmental Information Disclosure," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 114(2), pages 341-353, May.
    9. Dahlander, Linus & Gann, David M., 2010. "How open is innovation?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 699-709, July.
    10. 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.
    11. He, Guizhen & Mol, Arthur P.J. & Zhang, Lei & Lu, Yonglong, 2013. "Public participation and trust in nuclear power development in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 1-11.
    12. Hau L. Lee & Christopher S. Tang, 2018. "Socially and Environmentally Responsible Value Chain Innovations: New Operations Management Research Opportunities," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(3), pages 983-996, March.
    13. Hongquan Chen & Saixing Zeng & Han Lin & Hanyang Ma, 2017. "Munificence, Dynamism, and Complexity: How Industry Context Drives Corporate Sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 125-141, February.
    14. Xin Miao, 2015. "China emissions: stop subsidizing emitters," Nature, Nature, vol. 527(7576), pages 38-38, November.
    15. Jian Zhang & Xiaolei Huang, 2015. "China needs more monitoring apps," Nature, Nature, vol. 520(7548), pages 436-436, April.
    16. Waymond Rodgers & Arne Söderbom & Andrés Guiral, 2015. "Corporate Social Responsibility Enhanced Control Systems Reducing the Likelihood of Fraud," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 131(4), pages 871-882, November.
    17. Tuqiao Zhang & Feifei Zheng & Tingchao Yu, 2016. "Citizens arrest river pollution in China," Nature, Nature, vol. 535(7611), pages 231-231, July.
    18. X. Meng & S. Zeng & C. Tam, 2013. "From Voluntarism to Regulation: A Study on Ownership, Economic Performance and Corporate Environmental Information Disclosure in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(1), pages 217-232, August.
    19. Pamela Murphy & M. Dacin, 2011. "Psychological Pathways to Fraud: Understanding and Preventing Fraud in Organizations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 101(4), pages 601-618, July.
    20. Yantuan Yu & Jianhuan Huang & Nengsheng Luo, 2018. "Can More Environmental Information Disclosure Lead to Higher Eco-Efficiency? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-20, February.
    21. Xiaotao Liu & Arnold Wright & Yi-Jing Wu, 2015. "Managers’ Unethical Fraudulent Financial Reporting: The Effect of Control Strength and Control Framing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 129(2), pages 295-310, June.
    22. Abeer Hassan & Essam Ibrahim, 2012. "Corporate Environmental Information Disclosure: Factors Influencing Companies' Success in Attaining Environmental Awards," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(1), pages 32-46, January.
    23. Huiming Zhang & Lifang Xiong & Yueming Qiu & Dequn Zhou, 2017. "How Have Political Incentives for Local Officials Reduced Environmental Pollution in Resource-Depleted Cities?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-14, October.
    24. Zhang, Cui, 2017. "Political connections and corporate environmental responsibility: Adopting or escaping?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 539-547.
    25. Michelle Rodrigue, 2014. "Contrasting realities: corporate environmental disclosure and stakeholder-released information," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 27(1), pages 119-149, January.
    26. Cheng-Li Huang & Fan-Hua Kung, 2010. "Drivers of Environmental Disclosure and Stakeholder Expectation: Evidence from Taiwan," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 96(3), pages 435-451, October.
    27. Matthias S. Fifka, 2013. "Corporate Responsibility Reporting and its Determinants in Comparative Perspective – a Review of the Empirical Literature and a Meta‐analysis," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 1-35, January.
    28. Kasim, M. Taha, 2017. "Evaluating the effectiveness of an environmental disclosure policy: An application to New South Wales," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 113-131.
    29. Yanhong Tang & Yanling Ma & Christina W.Y. Wong & Xin Miao, 2018. "Evolution of Government Policies on Guiding Corporate Social Responsibility in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-20, March.
    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. Shan Gao & Shuang Ling & Wenhui Liu, 2018. "The Role of Social Media in Promoting Information Disclosure on Environmental Incidents: An Evolutionary Game Theory Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-19, November.
    2. Xin Duan & Shengli Dai & Rui Yang & Ziwei Duan & Yanhong Tang, 2020. "Environmental Collaborative Governance Degree of Government, Corporation, and Public," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-14, February.
    3. Nan Li & Beibei Shi & Rong Kang, 2021. "Information Disclosure, Coal Withdrawal and Carbon Emissions Reductions: A Policy Test Based on China’s Environmental Information Disclosure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-24, August.
    4. Bing Wang & Si Xu & Kung-Cheng Ho & I-Ming Jiang & Hung-Yi Huang, 2019. "Information Disclosure Ranking, Industry Production Market Competition, and Mispricing: An Empirical Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-16, January.
    5. Guanyi Yu & Chunliang Xiu & Changsong Zhao & Zhengliang Ding, 2018. "Strategic Cross-Border Water Pollution in Songliao Basin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-19, December.
    6. Guolei Chen & Jing Luo & Chunyan Zhang & Liang Jiang & Lingling Tian & Guangping Chen, 2018. "Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Spatial Differentiation of Urban Black and Odorous Waters in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-17, December.
    7. Andrew Osei Agyemang & Kong Yusheng & Angelina Kissiwaa Twum & Emmanuel Caesar Ayamba & Maxwell Kongkuah & Mohammed Musah, 2021. "Trend and relationship between environmental accounting disclosure and environmental performance for mining companies listed in China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(8), pages 12192-12216, August.
    8. Yanhong Tang & Rui Yang & Yingwen Chen & Mengjin Du & Yichen Yang & Xin Miao, 2020. "Greenwashing of Local Government: The Human-Caused Risks in the Process of Environmental Information Disclosure in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-14, August.

    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. Rongbing Huang & Yubo Huang, 2020. "Does Internal Control Contribute to a Firm’s Green Information Disclosure? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-23, April.
    2. Pinglin He & Huayu Shen & Ying Zhang & Jing Ren, 2019. "External Pressure, Corporate Governance, and Voluntary Carbon Disclosure: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-20, May.
    3. Yuxuan Li & Xin Miao & Dequan Zheng & Yanhong Tang, 2019. "Corporate Public Transparency on Financial Performance: The Moderating Role of Political Embeddedness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-17, October.
    4. Ge Wang & Huijin Zhang & Saixing Zeng & Xiaohua Meng & Han Lin, 2023. "Reporting on sustainable development: Configurational effects of top management team and corporate characteristics on environmental information disclosure," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(1), pages 28-52, January.
    5. Raquel Garde-Sanchez & María Victoria López-Pérez & Antonio M. López-Hernández, 2018. "Current Trends in Research on Social Responsibility in State-Owned Enterprises: A Review of the Literature from 2000 to 2017," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-21, July.
    6. Lívia Maria da Silva Santos & Wenner Glaucio Lopes Lucena & Wesley Vieira da Silva & Tatiana Marceda Bach & Claudimar Pereira da Veiga, 2019. "Explanatory Factors of the Environmental Disclosure of Potentially Polluting Companies: Evidence From Brazil," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(1), pages 21582440198, February.
    7. Hongquan Chen & Saixing Zeng & Han Lin & Hanyang Ma, 2017. "Munificence, Dynamism, and Complexity: How Industry Context Drives Corporate Sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 125-141, February.
    8. Qiang Li & Tian Li & Hongtao Chen & Erwei Xiang & Wenjuan Ruan, 2019. "Executives' excess compensation, legitimacy, and environmental information disclosure in Chinese heavily polluting companies: The moderating role of media pressure," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(1), pages 248-256, January.
    9. Zhaojun Yang & Weihao Liu & Jun Sun & Yali Zhang, 2017. "Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-12, September.
    10. Lu Zhang & Shenggang Ren & Xiaohong Chen & Dayuan Li & Duanjinyu Yin, 2020. "CEO Hubris and Firm Pollution: State and Market Contingencies in a Transitional Economy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(2), pages 459-478, January.
    11. Li, Qiang & Wang, Shengying & He, Zichun & Li, Hanqiao & Xiang, Erwei, 2023. "Does stock market index adjustment affect environmental information disclosure? Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    12. Chen, Hongtao & Fang, Xiumei & Xiang, Erwei & Ji, Xiaojia & An, Maolin, 2023. "Do online media and investor attention affect corporate environmental information disclosure？Evidence from Chinese listed companies," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1022-1040.
    13. Shilei Hu & Xiaohong Wang, 2021. "The Origin of Proactive Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility (ECSR) of Large Firms: Institutional Embeddedness—Driven, Family Involvement-Promoted, or Resource-Dependent?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-23, January.
    14. Linyan Fan & Sheng Yao, 2022. "Analyst Site Visits and Corporate Environmental Information Disclosure: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-21, December.
    15. Daniel Reimsbach & Rüdiger Hahn, 2015. "The Effects of Negative Incidents in Sustainability Reporting on Investors’ Judgments–an Experimental Study of Third‐party Versus Self‐disclosure in the Realm of Sustainable Development," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 217-235, May.
    16. Md Ali Arshad Chowdhury & Mohammad Morshedur Rahman & Mouri Dey & Syed Moudud-Ul-Huq & Sk Alamgir Hossain, 2023. "Perceived Pressures and Motivations for Environmental Disclosures: Role of Certification," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    17. Xiaohua Meng & Saixing Zeng & Xuemei Xie & Hailiang Zou, 2019. "Beyond symbolic and substantive: Strategic disclosure of corporate environmental information in China," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 403-417, February.
    18. Lee, Gunhee & Bae, Mincheol & Sohn, Joongchan & Han, Chanwoo & Cho, Jinhyung, 2024. "Does voluntary environmental information disclosure prevent stock price crash risk? – Comparative analysis of chaebol and non-chaebol in Korea," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    19. Muhammad Kaleem Khan & R. M. Ammar Zahid & Adil Saleem & Judit Sági, 2021. "Board Composition and Social & Environmental Accountability: A Dynamic Model Analysis of Chinese Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-18, September.
    20. Laura Girella & Paola Rossi & Stefano Zambon, 2019. "Exploring the firm and country determinants of the voluntary adoption of integrated reporting," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(7), pages 1323-1340, November.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:5:p:1475-:d:145140. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.