Does “Green” Have Economic Value? A Study Based on the Data of Listed Companies in China

Abstract

At present, China’s economy has entered a new period of slowing-down growth, structural optimization and the pursuit of development quality. How to coordinate the relationship between economic development and eco-environmental protection has become a major challenge in the transition period. The report of the 19th CPC National Congress made it clear that the overall layout of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the “five-in-one”, including the construction of ecological civilization. In response to the call of the government, enterprises have implanted green development strategies into their development blueprints. At present, one of the mainstream views on corporate green responsibility is “profit-driven”, but there is no consistent answer to how green responsibility affects corporate value.From the perspective of social legitimacy, this paper discusses the effect of green responsibility on corporate value, and analyzes the nature of corporate property rights and the regulatory effect of media reports on the above relationship based on the resource dependence theory and the degree of attention of enterprises. Based on the data of Chinese listed companies from 2010 to 2016, the following important findings are obtained. First, green responsibility has a significant positive effect on the promotion of corporate value. Second, corporate ownership plays a significant role in regulating “green responsibility–corporate value”. Compared with other types of enterprises, the implementation of green responsibility by private enterprises plays a more obvious role in the promotion of value in the later stage. Third, media reports play a significant positive role in regulating “green responsibility–corporate value”, that is, the more media reports, the more significant the role of green responsibility on the promotion of corporate value. Finally, media reports also play a significant secondary regulatory role in the relationship between the corporate ownership and “green responsibility–corporate value”, that is, private enterprises are more able to benefit from media reports, so as to enhance the role of green responsibility in promoting the economic value of enterprises.Our paper aims to make several contributions to the literature. First, based on the resource dependence theory, we discuss the regulatory role of the corporate ownership in the relationship between “green responsibility and corporate value”. It is helpful to further understand the important role of green responsibility in promoting the value of private enterprises from the perspective of resource dependence theory. Second, we discuss the regulatory role of media reports in the relationship between “green responsibility and corporate value”, which is helpful to understand the impact of green responsibility on corporate value from the perspective of external governance. At the same time, we further discuss the secondary regulation effect of media reports on the relationship between the nature of corporate ownership and “green responsibility–corporate value”, which complements the research content of resource dependence theory from the perspective of media participation in governance. Third, considering that there are great differences in economic system and market completeness between economies in transition such as China and developed countries, the research experience based on developed countries may not be applicable to developing countries. The research of this paper not only provides data support for supporting the economic value of corporate green responsibility, but also enriches the applicable situation of the relationship between “green responsibility and corporate value”.