Summary:
With the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization in China, ecological environment problems become more prominent, seriously hindering the inclusive growth of humans and nature. In recent years, China's green finance policies have led to a group of particular institutional investors—green investors. As the main body of social responsibility investment, they aim to choose the investment responsibility for the society, guide the enterprises to carry out the green concept into the social behaviors such as clean operation and promote the enterprises to pursue economic benefits and pay more attention to social responsibility and public interests. Whether and how green investors affect the participation of enterprises in green governance have become the critical issue of our research. To this end, our study first examines the impact of green investors on firms' participation in green governance, and then explores heterogeneity on the pollution level, the nature of property rights, and regional environmental awareness. Finally, we investigate the social and economic benefits of firms' participation in green governance. Using a sample of A-share listed firms from 2006 to 2016, we explore the impact of green investors on firms' participation in green governance. Our findings suggest that green investors play an active role in the promotion of corporate green governance. Further investigation indicates that the promotion effect of green investors on green action is more substantial in enterprises with weak environmental awareness, the impact on green expenditure is more substantial in heavy polluting enterprises and state-owned enterprises, and the effect on green governance performance is more substantial in non-heavy polluting enterprises and state-owned enterprises and enterprises in weak environmental awareness. Finally, we find that the enterprises with more green governance participation are more likely to be recognized by green investors; although the green expenditure reduces the performance(Roa), the green action and green governance performance increase the performance(Roa). The contributions of this paper are as follows: First, we explore the influencing factors of green governance from the enterprise level, which provides a new perspective for the research on corporate green governance. Second, starting from the investment purpose and green concept of green investors, considering the influence ways of “voting with hands” and “voting with feet”, we explore the influence mechanism of green investors on firm's participation in green governance, which is a useful supplement to the existing research. Our findings also have important policy implications. First, China should not only actively guide the investment of green investors and play an effective role in the implementation of sustainable development strategy, but also establish a sound green financial system, create an excellent external financing environment for corporate green governance. Second, from the perspective of its long-term sustainable development, enterprises should fully realize the scientific nature of incorporating green investors, corporate green governance, and long-term business performance into the framework of enterprise performance management, actively cooperate with and strive to practice the investment intention of green investors, establish a good corporate image to build a relationship network worthy of investors' trust. Moreover, enterprises should also strive to identify the cognitive requirements and expectations of social participants for the sustainable development of enterprises to obtain more green financing.
姜广省, 卢建词, 李维安. 绿色投资者发挥作用吗？——来自企业参与绿色治理的经验研究[J]. 金融研究, 2021, 491(5): 117-134.
JIANG Guangsheng, LU Jianci, LI Weian. Do Green Investors Play a Role？ Empirical Research on Firms' Participation in Green Governance. Journal of Financial Research, 2021, 491(5): 117-134.
Barnea, A., R. Heinkel, and A. Kraus. 2005. “Green Investors and Corporate Investment”, Structural Change & Economic Dynamics, 16(3): 332～346.
[21]
Beurden, P. V. and T. Goessling. 2008. “The Worth of Values-A Literature Review on the Relation between Corporate Social and Financial Performance”, Journal of Business Ethics, 82(2):407～424.
[22]
David, P., M. Bloom, and A. Hillman. 2007. “Investor Activism, Manager Responsiveness, and Corporate Social Performance”, Strategic Management Journal, 28(1): 91～100.
[23]
Davis, P. and B. Steil. 2001. “Institutional Investors”, the MIT Press, Cambridge MA.
[24]
Dhaliwal, D. S., O. Z. Li, A. Tsang, and Y. G. Yang. 2011. “Voluntary Non-Financial Disclosure and the Cost of Equity Capital: The Case of Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting”, Accounting Review, 86(1): 59～100.
[25]
Ghoul, S. E., O. Guedhami, C. C. Y. Kwok, and D. R. Mishra. 2011. “Does Corporate Social Responsibility Affect The Cost of Capital？” Journal of Banking & Finance, 35(9): 2388～2406.
[26]
Greene, W. H. 2003. “Simulated Likelihood Estimation of the Normal-Gamma Stochastic Frontier Function”, Journal of Productivity Analysis, 19(2～3): 179-190.
[27]
Harjoto, M. A., H.Jo, and Y. Kim. 2017. “Is Institutional Ownership Related to Corporate Social Responsibility？ The Nonlinear Relation and Its Implication for Stock Return Volatility”, Journal of Business Ethics, 146(1):1~33.
[28]
Heckman, J. J. and E. J. Vytlacil. 2007. “Chapter 70 Econometric Evaluation of Social Programs, Part I: Causal Models, Structural Models and Econometric Policy Evaluation”, Handbook of Econometrics, 6: 4779～4874.
[29]
Hong, H. and L. Kostovetsky. 2012. “Red and Blue Investing: Values and Finance”, Journal of Financial Economics, 103(1): 1～19.
[30]
Lewis, A. and C. Mackenzie. 2000. “Support for Investor Activism among UK Ethical Investors”, Journal of Business Ethics, 24(3): 215～222.
[31]
Lewis, B. W., J. L. Walls, and G. W. S. Dowell. 2014. “Difference in Degrees: CEO Characteristics and Firm Environmental Disclosure”, Strategic Management Journal, 35(5): 712～722.
[32]
Lin, Y. R. and X. M. Fu. 2017. “Does Institutional Ownership Influence Firm Performance？ Evidence from China”, International Review of Economics & Finance, 49(1): 17～57.
[33]
Neubaum, D. O. and S. A. Zahra. 2006. “Institutional Ownership and Corporate Social Performance: The Moderating Effects of Investment Horizon, Activism, and Coordination”, Journal of Management, 32(1): 108～131.
[34]
Patten, D. M. 2005. “The Accuracy of Financial Report Projections of Future Environmental Capital Expenditures: A Research Note”, Accounting Organizations & Society, 30(5): 457～468.
[35]
Petersen, H. L. and H. Vredenburg. 2009. “Morals or Economics？ Institutional Investor Preferences for Corporate Social Responsibility”, Journal of Business Ethics, 90(1): 1～14.
[36]
Porter, M. and M. R. Kramer. 2011. “The Big Idea, Creating Shared Value. How to Reinvent Capitalism—and Unleash a Wave of Innovation and Growth”, Harvard Business Review, 89(1～2): 62～77.
[37]
Reboredo, J. C., M. Quintela, and L. A. Otero. 2017. “Do Investors Pay a Premium for Going Green？ Evidence from Alternative Energy Mutual Funds”, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews,73: 512～520.
[38]
Scannell, L. and R. Gifford. 2010. “The Relations between Natural and Civic Place Attachment and Pro-Environmental Behavior”, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30(3): 289～297.
