Research On The Relationship Between Equity Incentives,Environmental Information Disclosure And Corporate Performance

The agency problem in corporate governance has been a long-standing challenge.As a type of incentive mechanism,equity incentives encourage management to create long-term value for the company,aligning the interests of management with those of the company’s shareholders,and to some extent,improving the company’s governance and performance.On this basis,the impact of equity incentives on management behavior,such as whether management voluntarily discloses environmental information,is also worthy of in-depth research.As China’s economy shifts from high-speed growth to high-quality development,and with the introduction of the "carbon peak" and "carbon neutrality" goals,environmental pollution has become a focus of current research.Against the backdrop of global attention to environmental protection and sustainable development,environmental information disclosure has become an important part of corporate social responsibility.By disclosing environmental information,companies can increase transparency,gain more public trust and brand value,effectively manage environmental risks,improve company performance,and achieve sustainable development.Based on this background,this paper focuses on studying the impact of equity incentives on company performance and delves into the mediating role of environmental information disclosure.Based on agency theory,incentive theory,sustainable development theory,and other theories,combined with the current research status at home and abroad,and using industrial enterprise data from the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share markets from 2012 to 2019 as the research sample,this paper uses STATA 16.0 software and multiple regression models to test the impact of management equity incentives on company performance and their mechanisms,taking into account equity incentive modes and the effects of different equity incentive types on company performance.The paper introduces environmental information disclosure as a mediating variable to explore whether there is a mediating effect of environmental information disclosure on the impact of equity incentives on company performance.The research results show that:(1)there is a positive correlation between management equity incentives and company performance;(2)management equity incentives can improve the company’s level of environmental information disclosure;(3)environmental information disclosure plays a partial mediating effect in the impact of equity incentives on company performance,that is,there is an "equity incentives-environmental information disclosure-company performance" path of influence;(4)further analysis shows that the positive effect of stock options on company performance is significantly better than that of restricted stock.Finally,based on the empirical analysis results,this paper provides recommendations at both the national and corporate levels."This paper incorporates environmental information disclosure as a mediating variable in exploring the impact of equity incentives on corporate performance.It enriches the existing literature on the relationship between equity incentives and corporate performance from a research perspective and provides new insights for environmental accounting research.The research findings of this article offer valuable empirical references for enhancing the performance of listed companies,thus holding certain practical significance.