Environmental performance,sustainability, governance and financial performance: Evidence from heavily polluting industries in China

This study seeks to contribute to the existing business strategy and the environment literature by examining the effect of governance structures on Chinese firms' environmental performance, and consequently ascertain the extent to which the financial performance–environmental performance nexus is moderated by governance mechanisms. Using a sample of Chinese companies from heavily polluting industries over a 5-year period, our baseline findings suggest that, on average, board size and governing board meetings are positively associated with Chinese firms' environmental performance, whilst board independence and gender diversity have positive, but insignificant association with firms' environmental performance. Our evidence suggests further that the examined internal governance mechanisms have a mixed moderating effect on the link between financial performance and environmental performance. Our findings have important implications for company executives, environmental activists, policy-makers, and regulators. Our results support insights drawn from agency, resource dependence, stakeholder, and legitimacy theories.     

中国绿色发展中企业环境责任立法探讨

经济活动过程和结果的绿色化主要靠企业承担环境责任来实现,但基于企业的营利本质,期望企业自觉承担环境责任并不现实,必须通过立法从内外部保障、强制其承担环境责任。我国环境保护法及企业法中无法容纳大量的企业环境责任条款,因此我国有必要制定专门的《企业环境责任法》,要求企业承担产品从设计、生产直至废弃的环境责任,并建立环境信息披露、税收优惠等企业承担环境责任的激励约束措施。同时我国应修改环境保护法,提高企业污染环境的成本、将企业环境成本内部化。     

Corporate performance patterns of Canadian listed firms: Balancing financial and corporate social responsibility outcomes

Based on stakeholder theory and considering the conflicting performance interests of a wide range of stakeholders, this research investigates corporate performance patterns using a cluster analysis of financial, social, and environmental performance dimensions. An analysis of a Canadian sample of 771 company-year observations for the period 2014–2018 reveals three types of corporate performance: financially focused performance, balanced performance, and corporate social responsibility (CSR)-focused performance. Firms in the largest cluster, financially focused performance, deliver poor sustainable performance and prioritize financial performance over social and environmental performance. The CSR-focused performance cluster scores low for financial performance and high for environmental and social performance. The balanced-performance cluster also has higher levels of sustainable performance but is the smallest cluster, accounting for a quarter of the sample. Overall, this study presents a portrait of corporate performance balancing financial and CSR objectives and the evolution of this activity over the research period.     

Interactive effects of various institutional pressures on corporate environmental responsibility: Institutional theory and multilevel analysis

This study investigates the role of institutional pressures in corporate environmental responsibility (CER) by testing the interacting effects among cognitive, regulative, and normative pressures at cross levels. Specifically, this research decomposes the cognitive dimension of CER into perceived environmental benefit and perceived ethical obligation to differentiate their mechanisms. The sample is obtained from 212 firms within 34 industrial clusters. Results of two‐level regression modeling confirm that regulative and normative pressures play different roles in the positive effects of perceived environmental benefit and perceived ethical obligation on CER. Regulative pressure attenuates the effect of perceived environmental benefit and amplifies the effect of perceived ethical obligation. Meanwhile, normative pressure attenuates the effect of perceived ethical obligation. These findings suggest that heterogeneous interaction effects may reduce the efficiency of institutional pressures during the initial stage of CER diffusion. Implications for future research and policies are discussed.     

Crisis spillover of corporate environmental misconducts: The roles of perceived similarity,familiarity, and corporate environmental responsibility in determining the impact on oppositional behavioral intention

Negative impact of a firm's environmental misconduct can spread to other firms under the same category due to stakeholders' categorization. Such problem implies a sociocognitive process that has yet to be explored. Therefore, this study extends the current literature by exploring how interfirm similarity affects the spillover effects through stakeholders' engagement. We propose that interfirm similarity can be perceived by stakeholders as a categorization standard, which can lead to their opposition to other firms. Spillover of misconduct is caused by the decreasing stakeholders' trust, wherein the negative effect is contingent upon stakeholders' perceptions. A questionnaire study is conducted to investigate how people resist an innocent firm in China when a chemistry firm experienced an explosion accident. Our findings confirm that interfirm similarity increases stakeholders' opposition to the innocent firm by decreasing their trust. However, the negative effect is alleviated when the innocent firm is perceived as highly environmentally responsible. Our work contributes to the crisis spillover literature and carries important implications for the management of innocent firms that may lose from an industry peer's misconduct.     

Business strategy and firm efforts on environmental protection: Evidence from China

Although business strategy plays a fundamental role in firm operations, whether and how business strategy affects firms' environmental protection behaviors remain unclear. On the basis of a typical emerging market, we show that firms following prospector strategies take more environmental protection actions than do those following defender strategies. Our findings are robust to endogeneity checks and alternative measures of business strategy. We further find that prospectors engage in more environmental activities than do defenders when the degree of financial constraint or earning management is high. Our results are particularly pronounced in state‐owned enterprises, heavy‐polluting industries, and firms located in regions with strict environmental regulations. Overall, this study provides clear policy implications for regulators concerned with environmental protection.     

Sustainable environmental practices and financial performance: Evidence from listed small and medium‐sized enterprise in the United Kingdom

In this article, we investigate the financial implication of sustainable environmental practices on UK small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs)–traded firms. Existing literature indicates that there is a direct relationship between sustainable environmental practices and financial performance. However, studies looking at this relationship have focused mainly on large firms with little attention paid to SMEs. Further, those looking at environmental and financial performance relationships have often used a single measure of performance in their studies. This study bridges these research gaps by focusing on listed SMEs in the United Kingdom using multiple measures of sustainable environmental policy indices on a panel of 201 SMEs on the Alternative Investment Market from 2011 to 2016. Evidence from our panel data analysis suggests significant and a nonlinear (concave) relationship between sustainable environmental practices and firms' financial performance. Specifically, energy efficiency practices, greenhouse gases, material, and resource efficiency revealed an inverted U‐shaped relationship with financial performance. The results will offer guidance to management in terms of allocating resources to sustainable environmental practices investment.     

股市周期、投资者情绪与盈余管理——来自中国A股市场的证据

将中国大陆1394家上市公司2004年至2007年期间5576份年报,分为熊市悲观样本组与牛市乐观样本组,用Givoly&Hayn(2000)的应计项目模型和Ball&Shiva-kumar(2005)的应计项/现金流模型进行实证检验。研究发现:熊市悲观样本组的应计利润以及非经营性应计利润较低,会计盈余下降周期与熊市悲观周期吻合;牛市乐观样本组的应计利润以及非经营性应计利润较高,会计盈余上升周期与牛市乐观周期一致。上市公司经营者(代理人)操纵应计项目以及刻意安排应计项目在牛市与熊市之间回转,使得熊市悲观周期会计盈余被低估而牛市乐观周期会计盈余被高估,以迎合投资者(委托人)牛市过度乐观而熊市过度悲观的情绪和盈余预期。     

The economic consequences of environmental regulation in China: From a perspective of the environmental protection admonishing talk policy

Environmental regulation may lead to undesired economic consequences. China has tightened its environmental policies to deal with severe environmental pollution in recent years, but existing studies pay little attention to the economic consequences of China's environmental policies. Using the panel data of 211 prefecture‐level and above cities in China from 2003 to 2016, we for the first time estimate the economic impact of the environmental protection admonishing talk (EPAT) policy, a newly implemented environmental regulation policy in China. We use the difference‐in‐differences strategy to identify the economic effects of the EPAT policy combined with the propensity score matching method to control a potential selection problem. The results show that a relative decline occurs in gross domestic product per capita in target cities after the implementation of the EPAT, and the negative impact is exerted on the secondary industry rather than the tertiary industry. Furthermore, we find that target cities respond to the environmental protection requirements of higher authorities through a one‐size‐fits‐all approach of limiting the production activities of industrial enterprises. Meanwhile, the EPAT policy does not improve environmental efficiency. Such findings are instructive for policymakers who need to trade off economic welfare and environmental quality when formulating and implementing new environmental policies.     

Eco‐efficiency: GHG reduction related environmental and economic performance. The case of the companies participating in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme

Empirical findings on eco‐efficiency are still inconsistent. Using survey data based on a sample of 283 European carbon‐intensive companies participating in the EU ETS between 2005 and 2012, this article investigates the causal relationships between the corporate environmental strategy focus, proactive GHG reductions and related environmental and economic performance, while taking into account an important contingent factor: the initial state of technology. The study's findings show that eco‐efficiency was generally not obvious among the companies during the first two trading periods. It furthermore indicates that GHG emissions were generally not reduced cost‐effectively, as companies' intrinsic values were more likely to have influenced carbon reduction related decisions to a greater degree than the economic incentives resulting from the market mechanisms of the ETS. The results not only shed light on firm behavior with regard to technology management but also provide insights for policy makers into how to stimulate more cost‐effective environmental investments. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

The impact of perceived corporate social responsibility on organizational commitment and the moderating role of collectivism and masculinity: evidence from China

This study examines the relationship between employee perceptions of corporate social responsibility practices and their organizational commitment. Hierarchical regression analysis was utilized to analyze survey data on 280 employees from five export-oriented manufacturing firms in China. Employee perceptions of corporate social responsibility practices towards internal stakeholders were found to relate positively to their organizational commitment. In contrast, employee perceptions of corporate social responsibility practices to external stakeholders had a nonsignificant or marginally significant impact on organizational commitment. In addition, the collectivism and masculinity orientations of employees were found to moderate this relationship. These findings provide an insight into how corporate social responsibility practices may be utilized to motivate diverse groups of employees within China-based organizations.     

Beyond symbolic and substantive: Strategic disclosure of corporate environmental information in China

Under increasing regulatory pressure to disclose environmental impacts, corporate environmental information disclosure (EID) is becoming more prevalent. However, the motives for EID and disclosure approaches (i.e., symbolic or substantive) remain controversial. Using a sample of data for 742 listed manufacturing firms in China across 3 years, we provide evidence to show that the level of EID is significantly positively associated with a firm's advertising intensity and that firms in moderately competitive industries have a higher propensity for adopting an EID‐based differentiated strategy than firms in stronger or weaker competitive industries. We also find that firms that are more sensitive to environmental issues strategically understate their environmental impact when directly facing consumers. Our results suggest that the implementation of corporate EID is strategic and that firms have strong market motives, even under regulatory pressure to demonstrate legitimacy. We discuss this study's contributions to research on EID theory and implications for strategic EID management.     

The interplay of corporate entrepreneurship,environmental orientation,and performance in clean‐tech firms—A double‐edged sword

Clean‐tech innovations are an important driver in solving global issues such as climate change and for the sustainable development of economies around the world. Whereas a large part of the literature focuses on clean‐tech ventures, less is known on corporate entrepreneurship, that is, entrepreneurial behavior in established firms and its relation to sustainability. This paper extends the sustainable entrepreneurship debate to corporate entrepreneurship, which represents a fruitful avenue to further developing clean technologies. We focus particularly on clean‐tech firms' organizational preparedness for corporate entrepreneurship (OPCE), that is, how well a firm's structures and processes are set for entrepreneurial activities. On the basis of contingency theory, this study investigates how the level of OPCE influences the environmental and financial performance of clean‐tech firms and whether their environmental orientation affects these relationships. Building on data from 103 firms, we find support for a positive effect of OPCE on both environmental and financial performance. Both effects are stronger the higher the external environmental orientation. In contrast, the leverage of internal environmental orientation is not equally positive. Our study reveals that the effect of OPCE on financial performance diminishes for firms that are more strongly driven by an internal than an external environmental orientation.     

The impact of executive diversity on corporate innovation: Evidence from the natural experiment of high‐speed rail in China

We examine the impact of executive diversity on corporate innovation using an exogenous natural experiment: the implementation of high‐speed rail (HSR) in China. The findings suggest that after a city implements HSR, firms increase their executive diversity, resulting in better corporate innovation than firms in non‐HSR cities. Additional analysis suggests that when a firm belongs to a competitive industry, is located in a low marketization region, or operates in a poor transportation region, the impact of HSR on executive diversity and corporate innovation is magnified. Our findings carry implications for other emerging markets.     

Board gender diversity and corporate environmental performance: The moderating role of family and dual‐class majority ownership structures

While prior work has investigated the impact of (a) ownership structure and (b) board gender diversity separately on corporate environmental performance, researchers have not studied the potentially important relationship between ownership control and female board diversity in influencing corporate environmental performance jointly. We do so in the context of majority ownership in family‐controlled and dual‐class firms whose motives and influence are theoretically different from that of the firm's minority shareholders. Drawing on resource dependency, socioemotional wealth theory, and secondary agency theory, we hypothesize that majority family owners and dual‐class owners likely choose women directors to help advance their personal preferences for environmental corporate social responsibility. Our empirical tests utilizing 2,755 U.S. firm years over the 2010–2015 show that, as hypothesized, these two majority ownership types interact with board gender diversity to positively influence corporate environmental performance.     

Time horizons of environmental versus non‐environmental costs: evidence from US tort lawsuits

One explanation for a positive correlation between environmental and financial performance at the firm level is a bias in firms' investment evaluation processes caused by systematic differences between environmental and other investment opportunities. One of these systematic differences, often hypothesized but still unverified, is that environmental costs occur farther in the future than other costs. We empirically test this hypothesis, and find statistically significant support for it. In our data set the mean time lag for environmental costs was more than ten years, compared with five years for the control set costs. Such a difference could induce managers to accept too much environmental liability if they evaluate investments using discounted cash flow methods with a discount rate based on the firm‐wide cost of capital. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

内部审计质量与盈余管理——来自中国A股制造业上市公司的经验证据

通过对中国A股制造业上市公司2007年至2008年数据的分析,检验了高质量的内部审计质量与低水平的盈余管理间的关系。研究结果表明,内部审计质量与盈余管理抑制之间存在明显的相关性,从而为公司治理对财务报告的重要影响提供了新的经验证据。     

Firm resources and the development of environmental sustainability among small and medium‐sized enterprises: Evidence from the Australian wine industry

Scholars and industry professionals want clarification of the specific firm resources that influence the adoption and development of environmentally sustainable strategies. This paper, set in the context of the Australian wine industry, explores different firm resources that are beneficial for environmentally sustainable development and examines the role of management attitudes and norms in moderating this relationship. It establishes which resources small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) should invest in to be more successful in following environmental principles. The findings of a survey of the owner‐managers of Australian wine‐producing SMEs are reported, and partial least squares structural equation modelling is utilized to analyze the data. Results clearly indicate that successful firms that manage their resources more effectively influence the application of environmental behaviour, with one distinct resource significantly influencing the disclosure of such behaviour. A moderating effect is established which supports the notion that pro‐environmental decision‐making in SMEs is heavily influenced by the attitudes and norms held by management.     

公司治理特征与审计重大错报风险——来自中国证券市场的经验证据

最近的研究认为,中国的ROE代表了上市公司的会计信息风险和业绩风险。文章分别使用上市公司违规数据和ROE所代表的风险因素作为重大错报风险的替代变量,通过对2001年到2005年在上海和深圳证券交易所上市交易的A股公司数据的检验,得出了一些公司治理特征与审计重大错报风险相关性的有关证据。     

实际控制人的政治身份与审计师选择——来自我国民营上市公司的经验证据

民营上市公司实际控制人的政治身份对公司的经营活动以及审计师选择决策具有重要的影响。以2006年—2009年在深圳和上海证券交易所上市的民营企业为样本、实证检验了实际控制人的政治身份与审计师选择之间的关系后发现,实际控制人具有政治身份的民营上市公司更倾向于选择十大会计师事务所进行审计,并且实际控制人的政治身份级别越高,越倾向于选择十大会计师事务所。