Study On The Relationship Between Corporate Greenwashing Behavior And Corporation Value

As the whole society pays more and more attention to the concept of sustainable development,higher requirements are put forward for the sustainable development ability of enterprises.In order to comply with the development trend and meet the expectations of the public,enterprises have issued green statements one after another,indicating their determination to engage in green development and the practical actions they have taken,and announced the green achievements that have been achieved.At the same time,a hypocritical green development phenomenon—greenwashing—has emerged,in which companies promote false environmental protection information in order to shape a public image that is responsible for the environment.In recent years,the phenomenon of corporate greenwashing has emerged one after another.Since 2009,my country’s "Southern Weekend" has begun to expose greenwashing companies.Compared with real environmental protection companies,greenwashing companies can win the public’s trust with less cost input and active publicity,successfully create a green corporate image,attract consumers and investors,and seek their own interests.Therefore,through greenwashing,enterprises can bring the same economic benefits as "true green" enterprises or even more than "true green" enterprises.However,there are relatively few studies on the economic consequences of corporate greenwashing,and most of the available literature focuses on the market reaction of corporate greenwashing after exposure,while few studies focus on the economic impact of corporate greenwashing before exposure.In addition,the purpose of enterprises choosing greenwashing is to obtain the economic benefits brought by "green" at a lower cost,so whether the actual results meet the original expectations of enterprises is still worth exploring.Therefore,this paper focuses on the stage before corporate greenwashing behavior is exposed,and explores the impact of corporate greenwashing behavior on short-and long-term enterprise value,in order to explore the real market response to corporate greenwashing behavior.Then we explore the influence of information asymmetry degree and market share on the relationship between enterprise greenwashing behavior and short-term enterprise value.By selecting A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from2016 to 2020 as a sample,this paper empirically studies the impact of corporate greenwashing behavior on enterprise value,and tests the moderating effect of information asymmetry and market share on this impact.This paper finds that:(1)corporate greenwashing behavior can promote the short-term improvement of enterprise value before exposure,but it has an adverse effect on long-term enterprise value;(2)the higher the degree of information asymmetry,the greater the impact of corporate greenwashing on short-term enterprise value.(3)The larger the market share of the enterprise,the stronger the positive correlation between enterprise greenwashing behavior and short-term enterprise value;(4)Command-controlled environmental regulation can exert effective governance effect on enterprises’ greenwashing behavior,while market-incentive environmental regulation and public-voluntary environmental regulation have no obvious governance effect.Finally,this paper tries to provide some reference for the greenwashing behavior governance of government departments and the green management development of enterprises through policy suggestions on the enterprise,social and government levels.