Greenwashing in environmental, social and governance disclosures
| Autor: | Ellen Pei-yi Yu, Catherine Huirong Chen, Bac Van Luu |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
040101 forestry
050208 finance Scrutiny business.industry Corporate governance 05 social sciences Institutional investor Stakeholder engagement Accounting 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences Investment decisions 0502 economics and business Sustainability 0401 agriculture forestry and fisheries Business Management and Accounting (miscellaneous) Business Greenwashing Finance |
| Zdroj: | Research in International Business and Finance. 52:101192 |
| ISSN: | 0275-5319 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.ribaf.2020.101192 |
| Popis: | The environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data provided in firms’ sustainability reports is often unaudited. If ESG information disclosed by firms is not reliable, a firm’s greenwashing behavior can be a barrier to integrating ESG factors into investment decisions. In this paper, we study mechanisms to lessen firms’ greenwashing behavior in ESG dimensions holistically. Firstly, we identify “greenwashers” as firms which seem very transparent and reveal large quantities of ESG data but perform poorly in ESG aspects. By creating peer-relative greenwashing scores for a cross-country dataset comprised by 1925 large-cap firms, we measure the extent to which large-cap firms engage in greenwashing. We find evidence that greenwashing behavior in ESG dimensions can be deterred by scrutiny from (a) independent directors, (b) institutional investors, (c) influential public interests via a less corrupted country system, and (d) being cross-listed. Our results suggest that the two firm-level governance factors are most effective at attenuating firms’ misleading disclosure relating to ESG dimensions. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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