IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spt/admaec/v14y2024i4f14_4_6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Investor Attention Affect Corporate Greenwashing? Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Hui Zhi
  • Yuanying Chi
  • Rui Peng
  • Kaiye Gao

Abstract

Enhancing ESG performance has emerged as a crucial strategy for companies to bolster market value and competitiveness. However, this trend has sparked concerns about corporate greenwashing, where companies may selectively disclose ESG-related information to garner short-term benefits. Against this backdrop, using Chinese A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2022, we examine the impact of investor attention on corporate greenwashing. The findings reveal that investor attention significantly curbs corporate greenwashing. Mechanism analysis indicates that investor attention achieves this by alleviating corporate financing constraints and enhancing transparency in corporate information. Furthermore, moderating analysis suggests that enhancing internal controls and increasing environmental subsidies can strengthen the inhibitory effect of investor attention on corporate greenwashing. Finally, heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that the inhibitory effect of investor attention on corporate greenwashing is more pronounced in state-owned enterprises and companies facing high financing constraints. These findings not only contribute to the literature on investor attention but also offer insights for governing corporate greenwashing and advancing the dual-carbon goal. Â

Suggested Citation

  • Hui Zhi & Yuanying Chi & Rui Peng & Kaiye Gao, 2024. "Does Investor Attention Affect Corporate Greenwashing? Evidence from China," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 14(4), pages 1-6.
    • Handle: RePEc:spt:admaec:v:14:y:2024:i:4:f:14_4_6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.scienpress.com/Upload/AMAE%2fVol%2014_4_6.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pascual Berrone & Andrea Fosfuri & Liliana Gelabert, 2017. "Does Greenwashing Pay Off? Understanding the Relationship Between Environmental Actions and Environmental Legitimacy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(2), pages 363-379, August.
    2. Zhenjie Wang & Jiewei Zhang, 2023. "Nexus between corporate environmental performance and corporate environmental responsibility on innovation performance," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(10), pages 11645-11672, October.
    3. Zhao, Xuezhou & Fang, Libing & Zhang, Ke, 2023. "Online search attention, firms’ ESG and operating performance," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 223-236.
    4. Matt Wegener & Fayez A. Elayan & Sandra Felton & Jingyu Li, 2013. "Factors Influencing Corporate Environmental Disclosures," Accounting Perspectives, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(1), pages 53-73, March.
    5. Tan, Xiujie & Liu, Gufeng & Cheng, Si, 2024. "How does ESG performance affect green transformation of resource-based enterprises: Evidence from Chinese listed enterprises," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    6. Liu, Yuxiang & Zhang, Jiewei & Dai, Yue, 2023. "Analyst following and greenwashing decision," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PC).
    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. Wang, Yuxi & Hu, Fangjia & Wang, Yunyun, 2024. "Analyst coverage and greenwashing: Evidence from Chinese A-Share listed corporations," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    2. Guangrui Liu & Hao Qian & Yong Shi & Deli Yuan & Ming Zhou, 2024. "How do firms react to capital market liberalization? Evidence from ESG reporting greenwashing," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(5), pages 4329-4344, September.
    3. Contreras-Pacheco, Orlando E. & Claasen, Cyrlene, 2017. "Fuzzy reporting as a way for a company to greenwash: perspectives from the Colombian reality," MPRA Paper 85472, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Shi, Daqian & Lu, Shan & Fang, Ziwei, 2024. "The effect of executive green human capital on greenwashing," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    5. Zhang, Dongyang, 2023. "Does green finance really inhibit extreme hypocritical ESG risk? A greenwashing perspective exploration," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    6. Wei Li & Weining Li & Veikko Seppänen & Timo Koivumäki, 2022. "How and when does perceived greenwashing affect employees' job performance? Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1722-1735, September.
    7. Dong, Ciwei & Huang, Qianzhi & Pan, Yuqing & Ng, Chi To & Liu, Renjun, 2023. "Logistics outsourcing: Effects of greenwashing and blockchain technology," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    8. Dante I. Leyva-de la Hiz & J. Alberto Aragon-Correa & Andrew G. Earle, 2022. "Innovating for Good in Opportunistic Contexts: The Case for Firms’ Environmental Divergence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 176(4), pages 705-721, April.
    9. Joel A. Martínez-Regalado & Cinthia Leonora Murillo-Avalos & Purificación Vicente-Galindo & Mónica Jiménez-Hernández & José Luis Vicente-Villardón, 2021. "Using HJ-Biplot and External Logistic Biplot as Machine Learning Methods for Corporate Social Responsibility Practices for Sustainable Development," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(20), pages 1-16, October.
    10. Li, Dengjia & Ma, Chaoqun & Yang, Jinglan & Li, Hao, 2024. "ESG performance and corporate fraud," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PB).
    11. Eugene Kang & Nguyen Bao Lam, 2023. "The impact of environmental disclosure on initial public offering underpricing: Sustainable development in Singapore," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(1), pages 119-133, January.
    12. Birindelli, Giuliana & Chiappini, Helen & Jalal, Raja Nabeel-Ud-Din, 2024. "Greenwashing, bank financial performance and the moderating role of gender diversity," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    13. Frederik Dahlmann & Layla Branicki & Stephen Brammer, 2019. "Managing Carbon Aspirations: The Influence of Corporate Climate Change Targets on Environmental Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 1-24, August.
    14. Patrick Velte, 2023. "Which institutional investors drive corporate sustainability? A systematic literature review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 42-71, January.
    15. Yin, Lei & Yang, Yuanyuan, 2024. "How does digital finance influence corporate greenwashing behavior?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PB), pages 359-373.
    16. Torelli, Riccardo & Balluchi, Federica & Lazzini, Arianna, 2019. "Greenwashing and Environmental Communication: Effects on Stakeholders’ Perceptions," OSF Preprints 97vxn, Center for Open Science.
    17. Meisinger, Norman, 2022. "A tragedy of intangible commons: Riding the socioecological wave," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    18. Li, Yunzhong & Zhao, Yu & Ye, Chengfang & Li, Xiaofan & Tao, Yunqing, 2024. "ESG ratings and the cost of equity capital in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    19. Guoyi Zhang & Dong Chen, 2024. "Environmental Justice and Corporate Green Innovation: The Role of Legitimacy Pressures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-19, June.
    20. Francisco Javier Forcadell & Antonio Lorena & Elisa Aracil, 2023. "The firm under the spotlight: How stakeholder scrutiny shapes corporate social responsibility and its influence on performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 1258-1272, May.

    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:spt:admaec:v:14:y:2024:i:4:f:14_4_6. 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: Eleftherios Spyromitros-Xioufis (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.scienpress.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.