IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i24p16638-d1295764.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environmental Credit Constraints and the Enterprise Choice of Environmental Protection Behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Chunrong Yan

    (School of Economics and Management, Shanghai Polytechnic University, Shanghai 201209, China)

  • Xintian Xiang

    (School of Economics and Management, Shanghai Polytechnic University, Shanghai 201209, China)

  • Liping Li

    (School of Economics and Social Welfare, Zhejiang Shuren University, Hangzhou 310015, China)

  • Guoxiang Li

    (School of Business, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210046, China)

Abstract

Choosing appropriate environmental protection strategies is important in improving enterprises’ economic and environmental performance. Based on the data of A-share listed enterprises from 2009 to 2019 in China, this paper uses the difference-in-differences model to identify the effects of environmental credit constraints on the enterprise choice of environmental protection behavior. We find that environmental credit constraints motivate some enterprises to choose active environmental behavior due to the incentive effect of environmental credit constraints on R&D investments. However, some enterprises may adopt evasive strategies because environmental credit constraints increase production costs and debt. State-owned enterprises prefer active environmental protection strategies to address environmental credit constraints, while private enterprises mainly adopt evasive strategies. Environmental credit constraints make high-interest and high-profitability enterprises choose active environmental strategies. Environmental credit constraints generated by enterprises’ evasive environmental behavior increase the probability of litigation and arbitration cases, and environmental credit system construction in the short term may exacerbate unemployment, which the government needs to pay attention to when developing and implementing a blacklist system for environmental fraud. Although there are limitations in this paper in terms of research objectives and samples, the results are important for improving the environmental management system and the operating performance of enterprises.

Suggested Citation

  • Chunrong Yan & Xintian Xiang & Liping Li & Guoxiang Li, 2023. "Environmental Credit Constraints and the Enterprise Choice of Environmental Protection Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-24, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:24:p:16638-:d:1295764
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/24/16638/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/24/16638/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ma, Xinru & He, Jingbin, 2023. "Air pollution and corporate green innovation in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    2. Xie, Dongchun & Li, Xiaofeng & Zhou, Di, 2022. "Does environmental information disclosure increase firm exports?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 620-638.
    3. Cui, Guanghui & Zhang, Yi & Ma, Jingwen & Yao, Wenyun, 2023. "Does environmental regulation affect the labor income share of manufacturing enterprises? Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    4. Du, Juntao & Shen, Zhiyang & Song, Malin & Vardanyan, Michael, 2023. "The role of green financing in facilitating renewable energy transition in China: Perspectives from energy governance, environmental regulation, and market reforms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    5. Tang, Zhipeng & Yu, Haojie & Zou, Jialing, 2023. "Neighbor impacts of environmental regulation: The case of low-carbon pilot program in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    6. Liu, Ying & Liu, Steve & Wu, Ziqi & Xiao, Yi, 2022. "How do technological innovations affect corporate investment and hiring?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    7. Zhu, Zhaohui & Tan, Yafei, 2022. "Can green industrial policy promote green innovation in heavily polluting enterprises? Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 59-75.
    8. Sutton, Trey & Bosse, Douglas A., 2023. "Corporate political activity and the constraint of stakeholder reciprocity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    9. Ye, Fei & Ouyang, You & Li, Yina, 2023. "Digital investment and environmental performance: The mediating roles of production efficiency and green innovation," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    10. Ma, Yechi & Sha, Yezhou & Wang, Zilong & Zhang, Wenjing, 2023. "The effect of the policy mix of green credit and government subsidy on environmental innovation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    11. He, Xiaolong & Wang, Chaoyi & Yang, Xiaowei & Lai, Zhoujing, 2021. "Do enterprise ownership structures affect financial performance in China's power and gas industries?," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    12. Kavehei, Emad & Jenkins, G.A. & Adame, M.F. & Lemckert, C., 2018. "Carbon sequestration potential for mitigating the carbon footprint of green stormwater infrastructure," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 1179-1191.
    13. Yao, Wenyun & Zhang, Yi & Ma, Jingwen & Cui, Guanghui, 2023. "Does environmental regulation affect capital-labor ratio of manufacturing enterprises: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    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. Wenqing Zhang & Jingrong Dong, 2023. "The Polarization Effect and Mechanism of China’s Green Finance Policy on Green Technology Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-26, June.
    2. Yang, Shubo & Jahanger, Atif & Hu, Juan & Awan, Ashar, 2024. "Impact of China's carbon emissions trading scheme on firm-level pollution abatement and employment: Evidence from a national panel dataset," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    3. Chen, Bo & Xu, Huange & Li, Guangchen, 2023. "Entry deregulation and labor share: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PD).
    4. Xie, Yu & Wu, Desheng & Li, Xiaoyan & Tian, Suhua, 2023. "How does environmental regulation affect productivity? The role of corporate compliance strategies," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    5. He, Zhenyu & Tang, Yuwei, 2023. "Local environmental constraints and firms’ export product quality: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    6. Satar Bakhsh & Md Shabbir Alam & Wei Zhang, 2024. "Green finance and Sustainable Development Goals: is there a role for geopolitical uncertainty?," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1-30, August.
    7. Song, Yang & Zhang, Zhiyuan & Sahut, Jean-Michel & Rubin, Ofir, 2023. "Incentivizing green technology innovation to confront sustainable development," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    8. Zhao, Xing & Guo, Yifan & Feng, Tianchu, 2023. "Towards green recovery: Natural resources utilization efficiency under the impact of environmental information disclosure," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    9. Arnaldo T. Coelho & Gustavo B. Menezes & Terezinha C. de Brito Galvão & Joaquim F. T. Coelho, 2021. "Performance of Rolled Erosion Control Products (RECPs) as Bioswale Revetments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-18, July.
    10. Xi, Mengjie & Liu, Yang & Fang, Wei & Feng, Taiwen, 2024. "Intelligent manufacturing for strengthening operational resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic: A dynamic capability theory perspective," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    11. Chi, Yeguang & He, Jingbin & Ma, Xinru & Wu, Fei, 2023. "Air pollution and institutional investors' valuation bias during initial public offerings," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    12. Licheng Yang & Shijie Song & Chunlin Liu, 2024. "Green signals: The impact of environmental protection support policies on firms' green innovation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 3258-3278, May.
    13. Huamei Shao & Gunwoo Kim & Qing Li & Galen Newman, 2021. "Web of Science-Based Green Infrastructure: A Bibliometric Analysis in CiteSpace," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-19, July.
    14. Kaifeng Li & Yun Chen & Jingren Chen, 2023. "How to Improve Industrial Green Total Factor Productivity under Dual Carbon Goals? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-13, June.
    15. Zhao, Lin & Chong, Kim Mee & Gooi, Leong-Mow & Yan, Luqing, 2024. "Research on the impact of government fiscal subsidies and tax incentive mechanism on the output of green patents in enterprises," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    16. Zheng, Deyuan & Song, Hang & Zhao, Chunguang & Liu, Yujiao & Zhao, Wenhao, 2024. "Is it possible for semiconductor companies to reduce carbon emissions through digital transformation? Evidence from China," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    17. Ran Gu & Zenghua He, 2023. "Can Environmental Regulation Improve Labor Allocation Efficiency? Evidence from China’s New Environmental Protection Law," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-15, March.
    18. Xi Zhao & Siqin Zhang & Najid Ahmad & Shuangguo Wang & Jiaxing Zhao, 2024. "Unlocking Sustainable Growth: The Transformative Impact of Green Finance on Industrial Carbon Emissions in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-21, September.
    19. Liu, Yun & Gao, Qun, 2024. "Economic policy uncertainty and enterprise innovation in China: From the perspective of equity financing and financing structure," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 17-33.
    20. Chu, Yihe & Li, Yujia & Che, Ming, 2024. "Population aging and the dynamics of the skill income gap: An analysis of a multiple mediation effect," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PB).

    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:15:y:2023:i:24:p:16638-:d:1295764. 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.