Level Of Information Disclosure Research Articles

The Dual Leverage and Mechanism of ESG Information Disclosure on Investor Behavior

Abstract: With the global emphasis on sustainable development, ESG information disclosure has become a key factor for investors to assess corporate value and risk. The academic value of this paper lies in an in-depth analysis of the reverse effect, which is not mentioned in most literature. It stands from the perspective of investors' investment purposes and interests, the attitudes of long-term investors who desire sustainable development and short-term investors who only care about immediate returns in a short period when facing ESG information disclosure. On the other hand, there are negative impacts on investors due to reasons such as government policy standards or the level of corporate ESG information disclosure itself, which may also prevent investors from achieving their expected goals, leading to investment risks and ultimately investors may flow out of the company. At the same time, some external factors can also lead to a dual leverage effect, such as the economic slowdown caused by the pandemic.

Moderating effects of technological innovation and information environment on market response to information disclosure reforms

Constructing an institutional environment centered around information disclosure (ID) is the direction of development for capital market reforms. This paper innovatively explores the stock market response (MR) to companies' enhanced ID due to institutional changes. Using data from Chinese companies listed on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board (STIB) from 2019 to 2023, the study employs Information Asymmetry Theory and Stakeholder Theory to analyze the relationship between ID levels and MR. The empirical analysis reveals a "U-shaped" relationship between ID level and MR. Furthermore, by introducing variables related to the information environment (IE) and technological innovation (TI), the study finds that their signaling effects vary among different audiences. High transparency in the IE and strong TI capabilities significantly mitigate the negative MR effects caused by revealing deficiencies during the enhancement of ID. This paper provides theoretical support and empirical evidence for capital market reform, improved financial regulation, enhanced credit quality of listed companies, and investor protection.

The Impact of Green Credit Policy on the Environmental Information Disclosure Level of "Two Highs and One Remaining" Enterprises

The Impact of Green Credit Policy on the Environmental Information Disclosure Level of "Two Highs and One Remaining" Enterprises

The Impact of Board of Directors on the Disclosure of Sustainable Development of Listed Firms

Vietnam is a developing country with many remarkable achievements. However, in recent years, economic and social development in Vietnam still relies heavily on the exploitation of natural resources; labor productivity is still low; production technology and consumption models still use a lot of energy and raw materials and emit a lot of waste. Vietnam's development process is facing many severe challenges, with potential risks of unsustainable development such as climate change, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, etc. Therefore, Vietnamese firms need to be aware that economic development is always associated with environmental protection activities and social responsibility. This study is conducted to investigate the impact level of the disclosure of sustainable development of Vietnamese listed firms. The study determines the impact of board of directors on the level of sustainable development information disclosure of these firms. Data was collected from annual reports, corporate sustainability reports, management reports, and financial reports of 345 firms in 2023. The results reveal that the level of disclosure of sustainable development of Vietnamese listed firms is low, no firm discloses 100% fully, some firms do not publish sustainable development information. The findings also show that the level of mandatory disclosure of sustainable development is higher than the level of voluntary disclosure of sustainable development. The research results show that The board of directors factors do not impact the level of mandatory disclosure of sustainable development. There are four determinants related to the board of directors that impact the level of voluntary disclosure of sustainable development, including board size, board independence, the proportion of foreign BOD members, the chairman-cum-CEO have a positive impact (in the same direction) on the level of disclosure of sustainable development. Based on the findings, several recommendations are proposed for promoting the disclosure of sustainable development information on the side of Vietnamese listed firms.

The impact of environmental court construction on the quality of corporate environmental information disclosure

This study evaluates the relationship between establishing environmental courts and corporate environmental information disclosure quality. We use panel data from 28,718 Chinese listed companies between 2008 and 2022 and investigate whether the quality of environmental information disclosure by companies improves owing to the establishment of regional environmental courts. The results indicate that the quality of environmental information disclosure increase significantly after establishing environmental courts in the region. Factors such as corporate green culture, public environmental awareness, and local environmental regulatory strength play intermediary roles in this relationship. In the heterogeneous analysis, we find that the effect of environmental court construction on improving the quality of environmental information disclosure is more significant for highly polluting industries and state-owned enterprises. Additionally, environmental courts are more effective in enhancing the quality of corporate environmental information disclosure in regions with the low level of legalization and the high level of environmental information disclosure. Our research contributes to environmental court construction and corporate environmental information disclosure literature and provides decision-making references for businesses and governments.

Varying Levels of Financial and Non-Financial Information Disclosure in the European Union - FSE and BSE Analysis

Varying Levels of Financial and Non-Financial Information Disclosure in the European Union - FSE and BSE Analysis

The influence of board characteristics, ownership structure and public attention on climate change disclosure in banking sector companies

AbstractThis study aims to analyze the influence of board characteristics, ownership structure, and public attention on the disclosure of information related to climate change in the banking industry. This study uses panel data from financial reports and corporate sustainability in the banking sector. The data is processed using the Eviews application, using a sample of 348 companies from 2018 to 2021. The results show that the presence of women on the board, foreign board members, foreign ownership, and public attention all have a positive and significant effect influence. In contrast, board size and institutional ownership have a negative influence on the disclosure of climate change information by banking companies in different countries. Statistical tests also show that although the level of climate change information disclosure by banking companies is relatively good, there is still room for improvement to be in line with evolving standards. The study also looks at public attention through media coverage, as measured through Google Trends, which has the potential to impact climate change information disclosure, especially in sectors that are sensitive to the issue. Furthermore, the study conducted additional tests by categorizing the sample based on companies located in countries with high and medium rankings in the climate change performance index, as well as grouping them by region (Asia, Americas, and Europe). This research has important practical and theoretical contributions, advancing the understanding of the application of legitimacy and stakeholder theories to climate change and the factors that influence climate change disclosure strategies.

Abnormal audit fees and financial reporting quality: A meta-analysis

Increasing levels of information disclosure and firm transparency are drawing researchers’ attention to abnormal audit fees (AAFs), and a growing body of literature is focused on the association between AAFs and financial reporting quality (FRQ). These studies use various FRQ constructs and theoretical lenses, and find contradictory results. Thus, it remains unclear whether AAFs are positively or negatively associated with FRQ. This meta-analysis of the literature assesses (a) the association between AAFs and FRQ; (b) the extent to which the FRQ proxies used in the literature are homogeneous; and (c) the different theoretical frameworks that are used to interpret the association between AAFs and FRQ. The results show that higher AAFs are associated with reduced FRQ, and this finding is robust to different FRQ constructs and theoretical frameworks.

Impact of top executive salary incentive on the quality of environmental information disclosure

The influence of top executive salary incentive on the quality of enterprise environmental information disclosure has not yet been given a clear answer. The article chooses Chinese A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2021 as study samples and empirically analyzes the result of top executive salary incentive on environmental disclosure quality. The research results indicate that top executive salary incentive is beneficial for improving the level of environmental information disclosure. Furthermore, the article uses heterogeneity analysis and moderating effect to analyze the research conclusion. Meanwhile, the level of accrued management was also used as a mediating variable for mechanism analysis, revealing its mediating role between top executive salary incentive and the level of enterprise environmental information disclosure. The research conclusion of this paper not only enriches the research on enterprise environmental information disclosure and top executive salary incentive but also provides relevant policy recommendations for relevant departments, assisting the enterprise management in providing support for decision-making on the level of environmental information disclosure.

Media pressure, internal control, and corporate environmental information disclosure

This article delves into the intricate connection between media pressure, corporate environmental information disclosure, and internal controls. It uncovers that media pressure and internal controls exert a substantial influence on corporate environmental information disclosure. Media pressure serves as a catalyst, compelling companies to bolster their environmental information disclosure in response to public concerns and market demands, thereby augmenting their reputation and image. Notably, online media pressure plays a particularly significant role in this regard. Conversely, a robust internal control system enhances the level of corporate environmental information disclosure. In the context of the relationship between media pressure and corporate environmental information disclosure, internal controls assume a mediating role.

Trust and inter-regional M&As: Evidence from China

This paper investigates the economic impact of trust on inter-region mergers and acquisitions (M&As) using a large sample of M&As in China. We find that trust distance among regions negatively predicts frequency of inter-region mergers, merger volume and synergy gains. Economic mechanism analysis shows that trust distance lowers merger gains through imposing transaction cost on the deal. The negative effects of trust distance on inter-region M&As activities and synergy gains are less pronounced when legal institution level distance between regions are smaller, consistent with trust being a substitute for formal institutions; it is less prominent when corporate governance and information disclosure level distance between regions are smaller, suggesting that trust is more important in transactions with higher information asymmetry; it is less salient when financial market development level distances between regions are smaller, consistent with trust is less important with repeated interactions between economic parties. Overall, our results highlight the role trust plays in shaping corporate decisions and economic outcomes.

The Differences of Registration Systems in Chinese and the U.S. and Implications

As a matter of fact, registration systems are crucial for stock markets and financing of companies, which is different in different countries and regimes. In November 2013, the purpose of China securities regulatory commission is to strength the status of market as the role of resource allocation. With the continuous development the issuance, trading system of listed companies’ reforms registration system, which promotes the efficiency of market operation and information disclosure level. With this in mind, this paper tracks the history of registration system in the United States, analyses the risk in the progress of market registration. Due to significant different political and cultural system, this paper also discusses the differences between the registration systems of China and the United States, the reasons for the differences and the enlightenment to the development of the registration system in China. Overall, these results shed light on guiding further exploration of registration system development.

Nonlinear effects of enterprise digital transformation on environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance: evidence from China

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate whether the corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance of enterprise is influenced by the enterprise digital transformation. In addition, this study explains how enterprise digital transformation affects ESG performance.Design/methodology/approachThe sample covers 4,646 nonfinancial companies listed on China’s A-share market from 2009 to 2021. The study adopts the fixed-effects multiple linear regression to perform the data analysis.FindingsThe study finds that enterprise digital transformation has a significant inverted U-shaped impact on ESG performance. Moderate digital transformation can improve enterprise ESG performance, whereas excessive digital transformation will bring new organizational conflicts and increase enterprise costs, which is detrimental to ESG performance. This inverted U-shaped effect is more pronounced in industrial cities, manufacturing industries and enterprises with less financing constraints and executives with financial backgrounds. Enterprise digital transformation mainly affects ESG performance by affecting the level of internal information communication and disclosure, the level of internal control and the principal-agent cost.Practical implicationsThe government should take multiple measures to encourage enterprises to choose appropriate digital transformation based on their own production behaviors and development strategies, encourage them to innovate and upgrade their organizational management and development models in conjunction with digital transformation and guide them to use digital technology to improve ESG performance.Social implicationsThis study shows that irrational digital transformation cannot effectively improve the ESG performance of enterprises and promote the sustainable development of the country. Enterprises should carry out reasonable digital transformation according to their own development needs and finally improve the green and sustainable development ability of enterprises and promote the sustainable development of society.Originality/valueThis study examines the relationship between enterprise digital transformation and ESG performance. Different from the linear relationship between the two in previous major studies, this study proves the inverse U-shaped relationship between enterprise digital transformation and ESG performance through mathematical theoretical model derivation and empirical test. This study also explores in detail how corporate digital transformation affects ESG performance, as well as discusses heterogeneity at the city, industry and firm levels. It is proposed that enterprises should take into account their own characteristics and carry out reasonable digital transformation according to their development needs.

Does the resignation of an independent director affect audit fees? An empirical study based on Chinese A-share listed companies

Based on the data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2006 to 2020, the article empirically examines the impact of independent directors quitting on audit fees when it occurs in listed companies, using independent directors quitting as an entry point. The empirical results show a significant positive relationship between independent directors quitting and audit fees and the positive effect still holds after controlling for firm fixed effects, instrumental variable method, and variable substitution test. The above effect is the early resignation of independent directors, more significant in listed companies of a nonstate nature, employing nonBig Four accounting firms, and firms where the positions of chairperson and general manager are separated. Furthermore, this study provides empirical evidence for the study of the effect between independent directors' quit and audit fees. The results also have some reference value for listed companies to improve the information disclosure level and how auditors make reasonable pricing.

Revealing or concealing: The impact of environmental penalty spillover effects on corporate environmental information disclosure

Abstract As a way of environmental protection, environmental administrative punishment affects the environmental decision-making of enterprises to a certain extent. This paper proposes the industry spillover effect of environmental administrative punishment, utilizes the variable factors affecting the quality of corporate environmental information disclosure, and puts forward the hypothesis of the relationship between the spillover effect of environmental punishment and the level and quality of environmental information disclosure, whether it is “displaying” or “disguising”. Companies listed in the heavy pollution industry are selected as research objects to test the relevance of each influencing factor on environmental information disclosure. The double-difference method is used to construct the regression model to verify the influence of government regulation on the level of environmental information disclosure, analyze the impact of environmental information disclosure level on the market value of enterprises, and the relationship between environmental administrative penalties and environmental information disclosure. The regression equation passed the F-test with an adjusted R 2 of 0.425 and the coefficient of EDI of 0.362. It passed the 1% significance level test, indicating that the level of environmental information disclosure is positively related to enterprise value. The higher the level of disclosure of the environment, the higher the market value. Whether the listed company is engaged in legitimacy management or impression management, manipulating environmental disclosure during this period has an impact on the level and quality of environmental disclosure.

Current Situation and Consequences of Environmental Information Disclosure in China's Automobile Manufacturing Industry --Taking SAIC Motor Corporation Limited as an Example

A sincere commitment to establishing a community of human destiny is made through achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality. Following the pace of affluent nations, China has incorporated carbon peak and carbon neutrality into overall economic and social development. Environmental information disclosure is the most basic and major part of environmental accounting, following the sustainable development strategy because of daily accounting supervision and accounting. In this research, a case study of SAIC Group's environmental information disclosure in China from 2019 to 2022 is chosen, and analyzes SAIC Group's operating capacity, profitability, solvency and development capacity by combining information asymmetry theory and stakeholder theory. This paper investigates the roots of environmental information disclosure in the automobile manufacturing industry, chooses a representative SAIC Group to summarize its environmental information disclosure, assesses the current level of corporate environmental information disclosure, and provides relevant departments with pointers and relates for the development of an environmental information disclosure system for enterprises in this industry. Finally, optimization recommendations are offered for the growth of listed businesses' environmental information disclosure in China's vehicle manufacturing sector.

What should a robot disclose about me? A study about privacy-appropriate behaviors for social robots.

For robots to become integrated into our daily environment, they must be designed to gain sufficient trust of both users and bystanders. This is in particular important for social robots including those that assume the role of a mediator, working towards positively shaping relationships and interactions between individuals. One crucial factor influencing trust is the appropriate handling of personal information. Previous research on privacy has focused on data collection, secure storage, and abstract third-party disclosure risks. However, robot mediators may face situations where the disclosure of private information about one person to another specific person appears necessary. It is not clear if, how, and to what extent robots should share private information between people. This study presents an online investigation into appropriate robotic disclosure strategies. Using a vignette design, participants were presented with written descriptions of situations where a social robot reveals personal information about its owner to support pro-social human-human interaction. Participants were asked to choose the most appropriate robot behaviors, which differed in the level of information disclosure. We aimed to explore the effects of disclosure context, such as the relationship to the other person and the information content. The findings indicate that both the information content and relationship configurations significantly influence the perception of appropriate behavior but are not the sole determinants of disclosure-adequacy perception. The results also suggest that expected benefits of disclosure and individual general privacy attitudes serve as additional influential factors. These insights can inform the design of future mediating robots, enabling them to make more privacy-appropriate decisions which could foster trust and acceptance.

How Do Users Experience Traceability of AI Systems? Examining Subjective Information Processing Awareness in Automated Insulin Delivery (AID) Systems

When interacting with artificial intelligence (AI) in the medical domain, users frequently face automated information processing, which can remain opaque to them. For example, users with diabetes may interact daily with automated insulin delivery (AID). However, effective AID therapy requires traceability of automated decisions for diverse users. Grounded in research on human-automation interaction, we study Subjective Information Processing Awareness (SIPA) as a key construct to research users’ experience of explainable AI. The objective of the present research was to examine how users experience differing levels of traceability of an AI algorithm. We developed a basic AID simulation to create realistic scenarios for an experiment with N = 80, where we examined the effect of three levels of information disclosure on SIPA and performance. Attributes serving as the basis for insulin needs calculation were shown to users, who predicted the AID system’s calculation after over 60 observations. Results showed a difference in SIPA after repeated observations, associated with a general decline of SIPA ratings over time. Supporting scale validity, SIPA was strongly correlated with trust and satisfaction with explanations. The present research indicates that the effect of different levels of information disclosure may need several repetitions before it manifests. Additionally, high levels of information disclosure may lead to a miscalibration between SIPA and performance in predicting the system’s results. The results indicate that for a responsible design of XAI, system designers could utilize prediction tasks in order to calibrate experienced traceability.

How green credit affects corporate environmental information disclosure: evidence from new energy listed companies in China

IntroductionEnvironmental information disclosure is an important means to protect the ecological environment, and global climate change puts forward higher requirements for corporate environmental information disclosure. New energy companies play an important role in addressing climate change and environmental information disclosure, and should strengthen environmental information disclosure and actively participate in ecological environmental protection.MethodsThis paper selected Chinese new energy listed companies as the research sample to investigate the impact of green credit on corporate environmental information disclosure, and proposed and empirically tested the hypothesis on the mechanism of the effect of green credit on environmental information disclosure.ResultsThe regression results indicated that green credit can effectively improve the quality of corporate environmental information disclosure, and this conclusion is still significantly valid after robustness test; The impact mechanism tests showed that green credit can change the level of corporate environmental information disclosure by controlling company size. This paper also tested the heterogeneity and adjustment effects, showing that the relationship between green credit and environmental information disclosure are affected by multiple factors.DiscussionsCombining the research of this paper and previous research results, it is found that the positive impact of green credit on corporate environmental information disclosure has been confirmed by academic research and practical verification. However, the implementation effect of green credit policy will be affected by the economic level, regional differences, and the comprehensive impact from companies, financial institutions and government departments.

The nonlinear relationship between resource endowments and carbon emissions: threshold effects of marketization degree and urban services agglomeration

ABSTRACT With increasing carbon emissions, previous studies surrounding the relationship between resources and carbon emissions mainly focus on the linear framework. However, there are countries with high resource endowments and low carbon emissions, which can’t be explained by the linear framework. Therefore, this study revisits this issue from the perspective of curvilinear threshold model using data of 56 COP26 member countries from 2002 to 2021. Results show that the association between resource endowments and carbon emissions is curvilinear based on two threshold variables: marketization degree and urban services agglomeration. Before they reach certain levels, resource endowments aggravate carbon emissions. After that, resource endowments help carbon reduction. Unlike previous studies that hold resource endowments aggravate emissions, this study finds a condition where resource endowments help sustainable environmental growth. This study also finds that the two threshold variables change with different levels of environmental regulations, R&D expenditures, and enterprise information disclosure. The more favourable these three factors create an easier path to take advantage of resources to reduce carbon emissions. Accordingly, this study recommends enhancing marketization degree and urban services agglomeration to cross the threshold value, and formulating related policies based on countries’ conditions with regards to the three moderate factors.