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Does going green pay off in the long run?

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  • Chien, Chin-Chen
  • Peng, Chih-Wei

Abstract

This study uses mandatory disclosures of environmental expenditures for public companies in Taiwan, to examine the impact of investment in pollution control on long-run financial performance. We break down pollution control investments into the following two categories by analyzing the content of the disclosures made in annual reports: (1) pollution prevention and (2) end-of-pipe solutions. Based on a sample of five major polluting industries in Taiwan from 1989 to 2006, we find that firms moving forward proactively with pollution prevention investments have significantly outperformed their counterparts who react sluggishly with end-of-pipe solutions. In addition to the notion that environmental expenditures are not necessarily detrimental to firms, our results also suggest that the often conflicting goals of financial reporting, namely representational faithfulness and macroeconomic growth, may be harmonized if the accounting standards embody the different features of pollution control investments.

Suggested Citation

  • Chien, Chin-Chen & Peng, Chih-Wei, 2012. "Does going green pay off in the long run?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(11), pages 1636-1642.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:65:y:2012:i:11:p:1636-1642
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.10.023
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    3. Olga Goncalves & Elisabeth Robinot & Hélène Michel, 2015. "Does It Pay to Be Green? The Case of French Ski Resorts," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) hal-01591790, HAL.
    4. Min Zhang & Yu Su & Peng Zhu, 2022. "Will Green Innovation Bring about the Financial Spillover Effect? Evidence from China’s High-Carbon Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-20, December.
    5. Elif Akben-Selcuk, 2019. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance: The Moderating Role of Ownership Concentration in Turkey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-10, July.
    6. Sher Jahan Khan & Puneet Kaur & Fauzia Jabeen & Amandeep Dhir, 2021. "Green process innovation: Where we are and where we are going," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(7), pages 3273-3296, November.
    7. Kyung-Hee Park & Jinho Byun & Paul Moon Sub Choi, 2019. "Managerial Overconfidence, Corporate Social Responsibility Activities, and Financial Constraints," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-14, December.
    8. Hu, Yi & Jin, Shuchang & Ni, Juan & Peng, Kai & Zhang, Lei, 2023. "Strategic or substantive green innovation: How do non-green firms respond to green credit policy?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    9. Olga Goncalves & Elisabeth Robinot & Hélène Michel, 2015. "Does It Pay to Be Green? The Case of French Ski Resorts," Post-Print hal-01591790, HAL.
    10. Katrina Lintukangas & Jukka Hallikas & Anni‐Kaisa Kähkönen, 2015. "The Role of Green Supply Management in the Development of Sustainable Supply Chain," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(6), pages 321-333, November.

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