Will Corporate Political Connection Influence the Environmental Information Disclosure Level? Based on the Panel Data of A-Shares from Listed Companies in Shanghai Stock Market

The purpose of the Chinese Environmental Information Disclosure System is to protect the environment through public participation and public opinion. This paper uses data from listed Chinese companies in heavily polluted industries from 2008 to 2013 to examine the influence that corporate political...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of business ethics 2017-06, Vol.143 (1), p.209-221
Main Authors: Cheng, Zhihua, Wang, Feng, Keung, Christine, Bai, Yongxiu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Annual reports
Business and Management
Business Ethics
Business government relations
Citizen participation
Companies
Corporate governance
Decision makers
Disclosure
Education
Environmental ethics
Environmental management
Ethics
Industrial enterprises
Influence
Longitudinal studies
Management
Negative information
Panel data
Philosophy
Pollution
Public enterprise
Public opinion
Quality of Life Research
Rent-seeking
Resource management
Securities markets
Stock exchanges
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Summary:The purpose of the Chinese Environmental Information Disclosure System is to protect the environment through public participation and public opinion. This paper uses data from listed Chinese companies in heavily polluted industries from 2008 to 2013 to examine the influence that corporate political connection has on corporate environmental information disclosure (CEID) level. The results show that firstly, while environmental disclosure level has improved over time, negative information that reflects the real status of environmental management has also been concealed. Secondly, although corporate political connection can influence companies to more actively disclose environmental information, it can also mask political rentseeking in the guise of protecting the environment. This is especially prevalent in state-owned enterprises where political connection has a significant positive impact on in the eastern and western parts of China. If political connections influence it will be difficult to improve the quality of environmental disclosure and provide useful information for decision makers. There is an urgent need to standardize and strictly regulate listed companies' system for environmental information disclosure.
ISSN:0167-4544
1573-0697
DOI:10.1007/s10551-015-2776-0