The influence of marine ecological compensation policy on enterprises’ environmental investment

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PurposeThis article investigates the influence of marine ecological compensation policy on enterprises’ environmental investment and explores whether enterprise ownership could impact the said influence.Design/methodology/approachUsing the data of China's A-share listed enterprises for the period 2007–2020, the paper develops a difference-in-differences model and a moderating effect model.FindingsThe outcomes corroborate that the marine ecological compensation policy positively influences enterprises' environmental investment, and the effect is nonlinear. Specifically, the marine ecological compensation policy significantly impacts enterprises with lower and higher environmental investment. The empirical evidence from the moderation model shows that the effect of the policy is more significant on the non-state-owned enterprises’ environmental investment.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings are based on a sample of 559 listed A-share enterprises in China. Additional studies could focus on data from other countries.Practical implicationsBased on the present scenario of Chinese enterprises' environmental investment, the results report that the marine compensation policy needs to be differentiated for firms having different ownership and different levels of environmental investment. The study provides valuable insights for the government to formulate marine ecological compensation policies.Originality/valueMarine ecology increasingly affects the economic development of countries, and the study on the influence of relevant environmental policies is of practical significance. However, most scholars concentrate on the research of environmental regulation, and have little focus on the policy effect of marine environmental compensation. This paper studies how marine ecological compensation policy influences the environmental investment behavior of enterprises, and further analyzes the difference in the policy effect caused by the nature of enterprises’ ownership, which not only fills the gap in this field, but also provides a scientific basis for the formulation and adjustment of marine ecological compensation policy.