IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i9p3696-d353561.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Corporate Financialization Affect Corporate Environmental Responsibility? An Empirical Study of China

Author

Listed:
  • Zhenghui Li

    (Guangzhou International Institute of Finance and Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China)

  • Yan Wang

    (School of Economics and Statistics, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China)

  • Yong Tan

    (Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics, Huddersfield Business School, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, UK)

  • Zimei Huang

    (School of Economics and Statistics, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China)

Abstract

This paper explores the effects and mechanisms of corporate financialization on corporate environmental responsibility (CER), using panel regression and the panel quantile regression model. The data is from 484 Chinese A-share non-financial listed companies, over the period 2008–2015. Some valuable results were achieved, as follows. Firstly, corporate financialization has a significantly negative impact on CER. We attribute this fact to the hard constraint of shareholder value maximization and the soft constraint of CER by taking an extrinsic analysis. Moreover, this negative impact shows heterogeneity. As the CER level increases, the remarkable restraint taken by the corporate financialization on CER is gradually weakened. This results in the corporation aiming not only at the shareholder value maximization, but also at the social effect, rather than only the former. In addition, the effect of the moderating role played by corporate leverage and ownership concentration in the influence of corporate financialization on the CER is captured in different kinds of corporations, while different performances are shown.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhenghui Li & Yan Wang & Yong Tan & Zimei Huang, 2020. "Does Corporate Financialization Affect Corporate Environmental Responsibility? An Empirical Study of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-19, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:9:p:3696-:d:353561
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/9/3696/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/9/3696/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ozgür Orhangazi, 2008. "Financialisation and capital accumulation in the non-financial corporate sector:," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 32(6), pages 863-886, November.
    2. Chengzhi Long & Jing Lin, 2018. "The impact of corporate environmental responsibility strategy on brand sustainability," Nankai Business Review International, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 9(3), pages 366-394, August.
    3. Nollet, Joscha & Filis, George & Mitrokostas, Evangelos, 2016. "Corporate social responsibility and financial performance: A non-linear and disaggregated approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 52(PB), pages 400-407.
    4. Demir, FIrat, 2009. "Financial liberalization, private investment and portfolio choice: Financialization of real sectors in emerging markets," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 314-324, March.
    5. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    6. Elena Escrig‐Olmedo & María Jesús Muñoz‐Torres & María Ángeles Fernández‐Izquierdo & Juana María Rivera‐Lirio, 2017. "Measuring Corporate Environmental Performance: A Methodology for Sustainable Development," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 142-162, February.
    7. Amama Shaukat & Yan Qiu & Grzegorz Trojanowski, 2016. "Board Attributes, Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy, and Corporate Environmental and Social Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(3), pages 569-585, May.
    8. Richard Arend, 2014. "Social and Environmental Performance at SMEs: Considering Motivations, Capabilities, and Instrumentalism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(4), pages 541-561, December.
    9. Ferrell, Allen & Liang, Hao & Renneboog, Luc, 2016. "Socially responsible firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(3), pages 585-606.
    10. Engelbert Stockhammer, 2004. "Financialisation and the slowdown of accumulation," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 28(5), pages 719-741, September.
    11. Fei Xu & Mian Yang & Qiangyi Li & Xiaolei Yang, 2020. "Long‐term economic consequences of corporate environmental responsibility: Evidence from heavily polluting listed companies in China," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2251-2264, September.
    12. Stijn Claessens & Simeon Djankov & Joseph P. H. Fan & Larry H. P. Lang, 2002. "Disentangling the Incentive and Entrenchment Effects of Large Shareholdings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(6), pages 2741-2771, December.
    13. Zhenghui Li & Zhehao Huang & Hao Dong, 2019. "The Influential Factors on Outward Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from the “The Belt and Road”," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(14), pages 3211-3226, November.
    14. Kolk, Ans, 2016. "The social responsibility of international business: From ethics and the environment to CSR and sustainable development," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 23-34.
    15. Mike Burkart & Denis Gromb & Fausto Panunzi, 1997. "Large Shareholders, Monitoring, and the Value of the Firm," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(3), pages 693-728.
    16. John R. Hamman & George Loewenstein & Roberto A. Weber, 2010. "Self-Interest through Delegation: An Additional Rationale for the Principal-Agent Relationship," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(4), pages 1826-1846, September.
    17. Han, Seungjin & Qiu, Jiaping, 2007. "Corporate precautionary cash holdings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 43-57, March.
    18. Karl V. Lins & Henri Servaes & Ane Tamayo, 2017. "Social Capital, Trust, and Firm Performance: The Value of Corporate Social Responsibility during the Financial Crisis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(4), pages 1785-1824, August.
    19. Hailiang Zou & Xuemei Xie & Guoyou Qi & Mengyu Yang, 2019. "The heterogeneous relationship between board social ties and corporate environmental responsibility in an emerging economy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 40-52, January.
    20. Hidemichi Fujii & Kazuyuki Iwata & Shinji Kaneko & Shunsuke Managi, 2013. "Corporate Environmental and Economic Performance of Japanese Manufacturing Firms: Empirical Study for Sustainable Development," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 187-201, March.
    21. Camelia-Daniela Hategan & Nicoleta Sirghi & Ruxandra-Ioana Curea-Pitorac & Vasile-Petru Hategan, 2018. "Doing Well or Doing Good: The Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Profit in Romanian Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-23, April.
    22. Davis, Morris A. & Van Nieuwerburgh, Stijn, 2015. "Housing, Finance, and the Macroeconomy," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 753-811, Elsevier.
    23. Elsayed, Khaled & Paton, David, 2005. "The impact of environmental performance on firm performance: static and dynamic panel data evidence," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 395-412, September.
    24. Andreas Andrikopoulos & Nikoleta Kriklani, 2013. "Environmental Disclosure and Financial Characteristics of the Firm: The Case of Denmark," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(1), pages 55-64, January.
    25. Lloret, Antonio, 2016. "Modeling corporate sustainability strategy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 418-425.
    26. Levine, Ross, 2005. "Finance and Growth: Theory and Evidence," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 12, pages 865-934, Elsevier.
    27. Farman Ullah Khan & Junrui Zhang & Muhammad Usman & Alina Badulescu & Muhammad Safdar Sial, 2019. "Ownership Reduction in State-Owned Enterprises and Corporate Social Responsibility: Perspective from Secondary Privatization in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-13, February.
    28. Anat R. Admati, 2017. "A Skeptical View of Financialized Corporate Governance," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(3), pages 131-150, Summer.
    29. Sebastiano Cupertino & Costanza Consolandi & Alessandro Vercelli, 2019. "Corporate Social Performance, Financialization, and Real Investment in US Manufacturing Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-15, March.
    30. Stephen Brammer & Stephen Pavelin, 2008. "Factors influencing the quality of corporate environmental disclosure," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(2), pages 120-136, February.
    31. Chao Bian & Christopher Gan & Zhaohua Li & Baiding Hu, 2016. "Corporate social responsibility engagement, corporate financial performance and CEO characteristics," International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 11(3), pages 243-265.
    32. René M. Stulz, 1996. "Rethinking Risk Management," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 9(3), pages 8-25, September.
    33. Shi, Xinzheng & Xu, Zhufeng, 2018. "Environmental regulation and firm exports: Evidence from the eleventh Five-Year Plan in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 187-200.
    34. Hakkon Kim & Kwangwoo Park & Doojin Ryu, 2017. "Corporate Environmental Responsibility: A Legal Origins Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 140(3), pages 381-402, February.
    35. Christoph Trumpp & Thomas Guenther, 2017. "Too Little or too much? Exploring U‐shaped Relationships between Corporate Environmental Performance and Corporate Financial Performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 49-68, January.
    36. Clarkson, Peter M. & Li, Yue & Richardson, Gordon D. & Vasvari, Florin P., 2008. "Revisiting the relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: An empirical analysis," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(4-5), pages 303-327.
    37. X. H. Meng & S. X. Zeng & X. M. Xie & G. Y. Qi, 2016. "The impact of product market competition on corporate environmental responsibility," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 267-291, March.
    38. Caterina Tantalo & Richard L. Priem, 2016. "Value creation through stakeholder synergy," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 314-329, February.
    39. Xiao, Jihong & Hu, Chunyan & Ouyang, Guangda & Wen, Fenghua, 2019. "Impacts of oil implied volatility shocks on stock implied volatility in China: Empirical evidence from a quantile regression approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 297-309.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ruiqian Li & Ramakrishnan Ramanathan & Guanghua Xu, 2023. "The impact of penalties for environmental violations on corporate environmental responsibility," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(3), pages 1343-1363, June.
    2. Jiang, Fuxiu & Shen, Yanyan & Cai, Xinni, 2022. "Can multiple blockholders restrain corporate financialization?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    3. Jong-Wan Bae & Sang-Joon Kim, 2022. "How Do Active Firms Implementing Corporate Environmental Responsibility Take Technological Approaches to Environmental Issues? A Resource-Allocation Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-13, July.
    4. Trofimov, Ivan D., 2020. "Health Care Spending and Economic Growth: Armey-Rahn Curve in a Panel of European Economies," MPRA Paper 106705, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Xue-Zhou Zhao & Jun Chen & Feng-Wen Chen & Wei Wang & Senmao Xia, 2020. "How High-Polluting Firms Suffer from Being Distracted form Intended Purpose: A Corporate Social Responsibility Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-29, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhenghui Li & Gaoke Liao & Khaldoon Albitar, 2020. "Does corporate environmental responsibility engagement affect firm value? The mediating role of corporate innovation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1045-1055, March.
    2. Fang Yang & Xu Li, 2023. "Corporate Financialization, ESG Performance and Sustainability Development: Evidence from Chinese-Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-28, February.
    3. Jun Xie & Wataru Nozawa & Michiyuki Yagi & Hidemichi Fujii & Shunsuke Managi, 2019. "Do environmental, social, and governance activities improve corporate financial performance?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 286-300, February.
    4. Gu, Leilei & Liu, Zhongyang & Ma, Sichao & Wang, Hongyu, 2022. "Social trust and corporate financial asset holdings: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    5. Wang, Yun & Wilson, Craig & Li, Yanxi, 2021. "Gender attitudes and the effect of board gender diversity on corporate environmental responsibility," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    6. Jongmoo Jay Choi & Hoje Jo & Jimi Kim & Moo Sung Kim, 2018. "Business Groups and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 931-954, December.
    7. Attiya Y. Javid & Robina Iqbal, 2010. "Corporate Governance in Pakistan : Corporate Valuation, Ownership and Financing," Governance Working Papers 22830, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    8. Qi, Yong & Yang, Yudi & Yang, Shuo & Lyu, Simeng, 2021. "Does government funding promote or inhibit the financialization of manufacturing enterprises? Evidence from listed Chinese enterprises," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    9. Tzouvanas, Panagiotis & Kizys, Renatas & Chatziantoniou, Ioannis & Sagitova, Roza, 2020. "Environmental disclosure and idiosyncratic risk in the European manufacturing sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    10. Karsten Kohler & Alexander Guschanski & Engelbert Stockhammer, 2019. "The impact of financialisation on the wage share: a theoretical clarification and empirical test," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 43(4), pages 937-974.
    11. Chun Jiang & Qiang Fu, 2019. "A Win-Win Outcome between Corporate Environmental Performance and Corporate Value: From the Perspective of Stakeholders," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-18, February.
    12. Ge Wang & Huijin Zhang & Saixing Zeng & Xiaohua Meng & Han Lin, 2023. "Reporting on sustainable development: Configurational effects of top management team and corporate characteristics on environmental information disclosure," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(1), pages 28-52, January.
    13. Pi‐Hui Ting & Hsien‐yu Yin, 2018. "How do corporate social responsibility activities affect performance? The role of excess control right," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(6), pages 1320-1331, November.
    14. Tori, Daniele & Onaran, Özlem, 2018. "Financialisation, financial development, and investment: evidence from European non-financial corporations," Greenwich Papers in Political Economy 22196, University of Greenwich, Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre.
    15. Jiang, Fuxiu & Shen, Yanyan & Cai, Xinni, 2022. "Can multiple blockholders restrain corporate financialization?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    16. Monika Wieczorek-Kosmala & Dorota Marquardt & Jarosław Kurpanik, 2021. "Drivers of Sustainable Performance in European Energy Sector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-17, October.
    17. Kong, Dongmin & Ji, Mianmian & Zhang, Fan, 2022. "Individual investors’ dividend tax reform and corporate social responsibility," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    18. Gong, Cynthia M. & Gong, Pu & Jiang, Mengting, 2023. "Corporate financialization and investment efficiency: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    19. Tang, Huoqing & Zhang, Chengsi, 2019. "Investment risk, return gap, and financialization of non-listed non-financial firms in China⁎," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    20. Xue, Lixing & Chen, Chong & Wang, Na & Zhang, Lirong, 2023. "Gambling culture and corporate financialization: Evidence from China's welfare lottery sales," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:9:p:3696-:d:353561. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.