Do Holdings of Institutional Investors Spur Firms to"Greenwash"?——An Empirical Study Based on the Disclosure of Corporate Social Responsibility Reports of Heavily Polluting Enterprises
This study draws on a sample of 455 heavy-polluting firms listed on China's A-shares to probe the nexus between institutional investors and corporate"greenwashing."Empiri-cal evidence underscores that the greater the proportion of institutional investor holdings,the more inclined the firm is to issue a corporate social responsibility report,albeit with a decline in the completeness of report content disclosure;this suggests that institutional investor holdings induce firms to"greenwash."Mechanistic analysis reveals that institutional investor holdings can elevate the firm's profitability,thereby encouraging"greenwashing,"and also temper"greenwashing"by reducing the firm's debt level.Further analysis uncovers that after the advent of the green finance policy in 2016,the influence of institutional investor holdings in inducing firms to"greenwash"subsided.The effect of institutional investor equity on state-owned entities'"greenwashing"be-havior is found to be insignificant.It is therefore suggested to amplify the oversight of corporate green governance,encourage firms to reduce"greenwashing"activities,and better safeguard in-vestor interests and social benefits.
institutional investorsgreenwashing behaviorcorporate social responsibility re-portcontent completeness
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
