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Literatures focus on whether formal environmental regulatory policies can effectively stimulate green total factor productivity (GTFP), but generally ignore the role of informal institutions such as public environmental appeals. This paper uses inter-provincial panel data and Non-Radial Slacks-Based Measure (SBM) model to measure GTFP. With the Bai...
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Citations
... Currently, there is considerable literature examining public environmental concerns. Some scholars investigated the public environmental concern as an independent variable, exploring its effects on corporate green total factor productivity [2], urban environmental pollution [3], corporate ESG performance [4], and operational efficiency [5]. Additionally, other scholars explored public environmental concern as a mediating variable, examining whether environmental regulations can influence air pollution through it [6]. ...
... In model (2), the estimated coefficient of the interaction term PEC×ETF is the effect of public environmental concern on CER through the mechanism variable. If the estimated coefficient is positive, it indicates that ETF has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between public environmental concern and CER. ...
... Executives may recognize the connection between environmental responsibility and the company's long-term sustainability, leading them to support environmental measures and policies in their strategic decisions. Table 5 shows the regression results of model (2). Column (1) shows the total regression results of the impact of public environmental concern and ETF on CER. ...
... This is testified by the empirical result of the work: IER impairs firms performance. While the work's finding does not echo that of Wang et al. (2023), who found that civil environmental claims contribute to GTFP through creative innovation. Neither this research's finding is consistent with that of Yu and Zeng (2023), which held that IER had an active impact on green economy based on provincial dataset. ...
Decades of debates on the economy-based effects of environmental regulations (ERs) have yet reached an agreement. The inconsistent conclusions drawn may be attributed to variations in research samples, regulatory tools, and institutional backgrounds. This study aims to provide more persuasive results by conducting a case study in China to scrutinize the correlation between regulations and economic consequences. Based on an available sample of 120 Chinese companies operating in heavily polluting industries (HPCs) between 2010 and 2017, this study clarifies whether differentiated ERs affect HPCs’ financial performance, with marketization as a possible moderator. The main findings are as follows: First, regulations exert pronounced negative impacts on HPCs’ performance regardless of the proxies used for command-and-control, market-based, and informal ERs. Second, marketization moderates the nexus between regulations and HPCs’ performance by transferring regulations to promote improved performance. Third, the moderating effects of marketization are subject to the stringency of regulations, the external development environment, and firms’ characteristics in terms of scale and ownership. This research offers two key policy implications: (1) A double-winned goal harmonizing the environment and the economy is predictable, and the performance-enhancing effects of regulations should be acknowledged in this regard. (2) The catalyst role of marketization in enhancing performance should attract considerable attention.This study enriches insights into the economic outcomes of regulations and provides theoretical evidence for developing countries to strengthen market-based institutional reforms to sustain healthy development, which could benefit other economies, especially transitional and developing economies. Additionally, policymakers should incorporate marketization into environmental regulation mechanisms to promote sustainable development.
... Thus, single-factor indicators are not capable of fully measuring CO 2 emission efficiency (10). Because of this limitation, some studies add capital and labor inputs into the analysis of carbon emission efficiency and propose the TFCEE as an alternative superior indicator (20). ...
Information and communication technology (ICT) has great potential to propel economic development toward a low-carbon direction. This study aims to investigate the effect of ICT development on total-factor carbon emission efficiency (TFCEE), as well as its public health co-benefits. We use dynamic (threshold) models and a panel of 30 Chinese provinces from 2008 to 2019. The results suggest that ICT significantly and positively impacts the TFCEE. Specifically, for every 10 per cent increase in the internet development index, the TFCEE increases by 0.11 per cent. Moreover, we find that ICT development indirectly improves the TFCEE by promoting green innovation and energy structure optimization. Furthermore, when green innovation (energy structure represented by the share of coal) switches from below to above (above to below) its threshold value, the promotion effect of ICT development on the TFCEE increases. Additionally, the results show that improving the TFCEE can lead to co-benefits in strengthening China's public health. This study delivers novel insights on promoting the TFCEE through the ICT channel and highlights its positive health-related externalities. Furthermore, we offer policy recommendations to Chinese decision-makers, which can apply to other emerging economies battling similar issues.
... The presence of a positive connection within the matrix indicates that there is a concurrent increase in carbon productivity as economic growth progresses. This correlation suggests that expanding economic activities and industrial processes, which are frequently associated with higher GDP and output levels, are accompanied by endeavors to improve carbon efficiency (Wang et al. 2023;Khalid et al. 2021). The proposition posits that economies undergoing growth are not just increasing their production but are also doing so with a heightened awareness of carbon emissions, potentially through adopting cleaner technologies or implementing energy-efficient measures. ...
Emerging economies have prioritized the enhancement of carbon and energy productivity to uphold environmental integrity. Consequently, the policymakers introduced the environmental policy stringency measure to control emission activities. Accordingly, this study explores the environmental stringency policy’s impact on carbon, energy, and non-energy productivity over the period of 1995–2020. This study addresses the impact of environmental policy stringency on quality of life (exposure to environmental risk). Regardless of variation, growing economies have higher carbon productivity. It is worth noting that energy productivity compared to carbon is higher. Based on the findings derived from the CS-ARDL model, it can be concluded that environmental stringency policies significantly positively impact carbon productivity in emerging countries. Economies that implement stringent environmental rules have the potential to enhance both energy and non-energy productivity to a greater extent. Meanwhile, the environmental policy effectively reduces environmental risk exposure and increases the quality of life. Environmental technology is inefficient in promoting emerging economies’ environmental productivity. Similarly, trade promotes carbon activities and may involve comparative advantage race, pollution heaven hypothesis possible to exist. This study provides empirical evidence supporting the notion that investing in human capital is crucial in enhancing productivity. The findings suggest a more comprehensive and integrated approach to environmental policy in rising economies. This all-encompassing strategy is considered crucial for making significant gains in carbon productivity and simultaneously promoting sustainable green growth.
... The public can always expose and report on industrial enterprises' emission evasion on self-media platforms such as Weibo, TikTok, government information message boards, and WeChat public numbers, forming a kind of social supervision for industrial enterprises and forcing them to make a green transformation (Wang, Liu, et al., 2022). ...
... Higher levels of industrial greenness are typically associated with better digital infrastructure and deeper integration with De, resulting in increased resource allocation and technology effects from De and Igt . However, when the level of De is excessively high, the promotion effect exhibits decay characteristics (Wang, Jiang, & Xu, 2022;Wang, Liu, et al., 2022). When Igt level is high, the role of De is fully realized, and other tools are sought to promote Igt. ...
... It has enhanced spatiotemporal factor flows and linkages through its highly integrated and networked characteristics. Referring to Wang, Liu, et al. (2022), Wang, Jiang, and Xu (2022), this study verifies the evolutionary characteristics of De and Igt in spatiotemporal distribution using spatial kernel density analysis. Spatial kernel density is designed to explore the distribution pattern of De and Igt by calculating the density degree of event point distribution in a certain area and to analyze the spatial correlation of De and Igt to be supported. ...
The rapid advancements in the digital economy have created numerous opportunities and solutions for industrial green transformation. However, the complex relationship between these two has received relatively less attention. Therefore, this study analyses how the digital economy impacts industrial green transformation across 30 Chinese provinces. The empirical findings highlight the digital economy's significant role in driving industrial green transformation. Within this dynamic framework, two crucial operational mechanisms have been identified: heightened public awareness of environmental issues and the vigorous innovation of green technologies. It becomes evident that the digital economy can energize and sustain the momentum of industrial green transformation. Notably, this influence is most pronounced in eastern‐central China. However, its impact in western China appears relatively weaker, especially at higher quantiles. We observe a strong correlation between the evolution of the digital economy and industrial green transformation in terms of space and time. Higher spatiotemporal regression coefficients are primarily found in areas south of the Hu line, while lower values are more common in the northern regions. These findings provide insights into how the digital economy can be strategically applied to drive industrial green transformation.
... PT environmental regulation requires public participation in environmental governance, and public appeal is conducive to improving green total factor productivity (GTFP) [48]. When negotiating investment matters with enterprises, the regional government can take into account the inhibition effect of public environmental demands and environmental regulations on the early stage of economic growth. ...
In this paper, we take the Yangtze River Economic Belt as the study area and analyze three types of environmental regulation tools, namely, command-and-control (CAC), market-incentivized (MI) and public-type (PT). We apply the threshold effect to test the impact of each of these tools on regional economic growth and analyze the relationships between the tools and environmental regulation. The entropy method is used to calculate the comprehensive environmental pollution index of each province and city in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Using Stata 14.0 measurement software and based on provincial data with respect to the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2014 to 2021, a panel threshold model is used to test the impact of the three types of environmental regulation tools on regional economic growth and analyze the relationship between environmental regulation and regional economic growth. It is found that the relationship between environmental regulation and economic growth is non-linear. There is no significant relationship between CAC environmental regulation and regional economic growth; there is a single threshold effect between market-incentive environmental regulation and public participation environmental regulation on the economic growth of the Yangtze River economic belt.
... Some studies thought it could help urban economy to realize green and sustainable development (Zhang et al. 2022), others thought it has negative effect on developing green economy (Li and Ramanathan 2018). Besides formal environmental regulation, Wang et al. (2022) found that the informal environmental regulation is good for improving GTFP, such as public environmental appeals. In addition to environmental regulation, Raza et al. (2020) thought the financial development could reduce the carbon emission by promoting green investment, promoting enterprise innovation, providing capital support, and upgrading industrial structure. ...
Green economy is the core content of the high-quality economic development, and the digital economy is the new driving force to accelerate the realization of high-quality economic development. In this regard, this paper selects 248 resource-based cities in China from 2011 to 2019 as the research objects and uses the fixed effect model and mediation effect model to test the relationship between digital economy and regional green total factor productivity. We get the following conclusions: First, there is the nonlinear relationship between digital economy and regional green total factor productivity, and this relationship shows the inverted U-shape. Secondly, digital economy can influence regional green total factor productivity through the path transmission mechanism of regional technological innovation, industrial structure, and environmental regulation. Finally, the effect of digital economy on regional green total factor productivity is heterogeneous, especially in the eastern region and cities with high human capital level. Based on the digital economy, the findings of this paper provide theoretical basis and reference suggestions for promoting the green development of regional economy. The government should attach importance to regional green development, actively guide the digital economy to promote green development, accelerate the development of the digital economy, and achieve high-quality economic development finally.
... In the study on environmental protection requirements: Yan et al. [56] used data envelopment analysis to measure industrial GTFP and found that environmental regulation can promote the growth of industrial GTFP; Tong et al. [57] concluded that strict environmental regulations significantly improved China's GTFP. Wang et al. [58] used Chinese provincial panel data and non-radial SBM models to measure GTFP, and found that public environmental protection demands are conducive to improving GTFP. In the study on green innovation: Wu et al. [59] selected the economic environment statistics at provincial and municipal levels in China from 2004 to 2019, and found that enterprise green innovation improved GTFP; Zhao et al. [60] found that green innovation has a significant positive impact on GTFP, while financial development, population density and environmental regulation are negatively correlated with GTFP. ...
At present, social capital is considered to be one of the important reasons for promoting economic development and causing regional economic differences, but in the existing research, there is little literature on the impact of regional social capital on enterprises’ green innovation behavior and green total factor productivity (GTFP), so this paper aims to enrich the research in this area. This paper builds a regional social capital evaluation index system and uses the super-SBM model to measure the enterprise GTFP. Then, this paper brings regional social capital, enterprise green innovation and GTFP into a unified framework for the first time and further reveals the quantitative relationship between the three by using OLS and Tobit two-step methods based on the panel data of 30 provinces from 2011 to 2019. The results show that regional social capital has a positive effect on enterprise GTFP and green innovation (except for strategic green innovation output), enterprise green innovation output has a positive role in promoting GTFP, and enterprise green innovation capital investment has a masking effect between regional social capital and GTFP. Furthermore, the expansive study finds that there are differences in the impact of regional social capital on green innovation and the GTFP of heterogeneous enterprises, and financing constraints have a positive regulatory effect on the relationship between regional social capital and the GTFP of state-owned enterprises, while having an inhibitory effect on the GTFP of private enterprises. Fiscal decentralization has a partial mediating effect between regional social capital and enterprise GTFP, while urbanization and CO2 emissions have a masking effect. Additionally, this paper aims to provide a reference for the improvement of regional social capital theory, the strategic choice of green innovation of enterprises, and the high-quality development of the economy.
The present study employs fixed‐effect models to examine the complex and dynamic relationship between economic growth and environmental awareness. The empirical analysis reveals a discernible negative correlation between economic growth and environmental awareness, indicating a potential trade‐off between economic development and environmental sustainability. This finding aligns with the theoretical underpinnings of the environmental Kuznets curve. Moreover, consistent patterns in the impact of economic growth on environmental awareness are identified across different platforms. Additionally, regional heterogeneity is observed in the influence of economic growth on environmental awareness. These findings underscore the necessity for nuanced policymaking tailored to the specific regional contexts and stages of economic development. This study advocates for strategies that strike a balance between fostering economic growth and promoting environmental awareness, thereby contributing to the scholarly discourse on sustainable economic development.
Purpose
This study investigates whether Chinese local governments’ environmental attention can mitigate corporate “greenwashing,” focusing on the extent of environmental content in annual government work reports as indicative of government environmental attention. This study aims to determine whether enterprises respond to changes in local governmental attention by improving the quality of their environmental information disclosures.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from China’s A-share listed companies spanning 2013–2021 were sourced from the CSMAR database and company annual reports. Environmental attention data were manually gathered from local government work reports published on official local government websites by using text analysis methods. These datasets were analyzed empirically to assess the impact of local governments’ environmental attention on corporate greenwashing behavior.
Findings
Results show that increased governmental environmental attention significantly reduces corporate greenwashing behavior by alleviating corporate financing constraints, enhancing independent engagement in environmental initiatives and bolstering stakeholder oversight. Moreover, heterogeneity analysis indicates that the influence of government environmental concerns is pronounced in non-state-owned enterprises, firms with subpar audit quality and those exhibiting myopic management tendencies.
Originality/value
This study enriches the existing literature on the government–business nexus. It also introduces methodological innovations by employing a lexical analysis of environmental themes in local government work reports instead of using typical event study approaches. Furthermore, it uses a mediating effect model to identify the mechanisms through which government environmental attention influences corporate greenwashing, namely, government subsidies, corporate environmental initiatives and external stakeholder oversight.
