IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecanpo/v85y2025icp1625-1644.html

Does institutional investors’ environmental attention influence corporate environmental investment?

Author

Listed:
  • Wu, Qinqin
  • Xie, Tingting
  • Lu, Jing

Abstract

We use the number of questions related to the environmental governance of listed companies raised by institutional investors during site visits to proxy the institutional investors’ environmental attention and explore how it drives firms’ environmental investment. The results show that institutional investors’ environmental attention during site visits positively relates to the visited firms’ environmental investment. This positive effect is more significant in non-state-owned enterprises and firms with low financing constraints. Moreover, institutional investors’ environmental attention mainly promotes visited firms’ environmental investment through monitoring and media coverage’s information dissemination channels. This study contributes to the crucial effects of informal environmental regulations on corporate environmental governance.

Suggested Citation

  • Wu, Qinqin & Xie, Tingting & Lu, Jing, 2025. "Does institutional investors’ environmental attention influence corporate environmental investment?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 1625-1644.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecanpo:v:85:y:2025:i:c:p:1625-1644
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eap.2025.02.015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S031359262500044X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eap.2025.02.015?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Emirhan Ilhan & Philipp Krueger & Zacharias Sautner & Laura T Starks, 2023. "Climate Risk Disclosure and Institutional Investors," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 36(7), pages 2617-2650.
    2. Ramelli, Stefano & Ossola, Elisa & Rancan, Michela, 2021. "Stock price effects of climate activism: Evidence from the first Global Climate Strike," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    3. Guo, Yingwen & Li, Jingjing & Lin, Bingxuan, 2023. "Corporate site visit and tax avoidance: The effects of monitoring and tax knowledge dissemination," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    4. Chen, Tao & Dong, Hui & Lin, Chen, 2020. "Institutional shareholders and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(2), pages 483-504.
    5. Stucki, Tobias, 2019. "Which firms benefit from investments in green energy technologies? – The effect of energy costs," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 546-555.
    6. Cohen, Shira & Kadach, Igor & Ormazabal, Gaizka, 2023. "Institutional investors, climate disclosure, and carbon emissions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2).
    7. Gollier, Christian & Pouget, Sébastien, 2014. "The "Washing Machine": Investment Strategies and Corporate Behavior with Socially Responsible Investors," TSE Working Papers 14-457, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    8. Xue, Shuyu & Zhang, Bohui & Zhao, Xiaofeng, 2021. "Brain drain: The impact of air pollution on firm performance," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    9. Xiao, Zhongyi & Chen, Haitao & Chen, Kang, 2023. "How does institutional investors' information acquisition inhibit share pledging? Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    10. Zhang, Hua & Xu, Tiantian & Feng, Chao, 2022. "Does public participation promote environmental efficiency? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment of environmental information disclosure in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    11. Yang, Jun & Lu, Jing & Xiang, Cheng, 2020. "Do disclosures of selective access improve market information acquisition fairness? Evidence from company visits in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    12. Jiang, Yahan & Wang, Cai & Li, Sha & Wan, Jing, 2022. "Do institutional investors' corporate site visits improve ESG performance? Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    13. Qiang Cheng & Fei Du & Brian Yutao Wang & Xin Wang, 2019. "Do Corporate Site Visits Impact Stock Prices?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(1), pages 359-388, March.
    14. Jeff L. McMullin & Bryce Schonberger, 2020. "Entropy-balanced accruals," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 84-119, March.
    15. Zhou, Taiyun & Gan, Jiawu, 2022. "Institutional investors' site visits and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    16. Shaojian Chen & Hui Mao & Junqin Sun, 2022. "Low-Carbon City Construction and Corporate Carbon Reduction Performance: Evidence From a Quasi-Natural Experiment in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(1), pages 125-143, September.
    17. Shasha Liu & Yunhao Dai & Dongmin Kong, 2017. "Does It Pay to Communicate with Firms? Evidence from Firm Site Visits of Mutual Funds," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(5-6), pages 611-645, May.
    18. Michael C. Jensen, 2010. "Value Maximization, Stakeholder Theory, and the Corporate Objective Function," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 22(1), pages 32-42, January.
    19. Cao, Jerry & Wang, Hanyang & Zhou, Sili, 2022. "Soft activism and corporate dividend policy: Evidence from institutional investors site visits," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    20. Qi, Zhen & Chu, Chien-Chi & Zhou, Yixiao & Chen, Jian, 2022. "Corporate site visits and firm performance," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 598-608.
    21. Wayne B Gray & Ronald J Shadbegian, 1993. "Environmental Regulation And Manufacturing Productivity At The Plant Level," Working Papers 93-6, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    22. Sun, Yanming & Shen, Simiao & Zhou, Chuanyu, 2023. "Does the pilot emissions trading system in China promote innovation? Evidence based on green technology innovation in the energy sector," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    23. Liu, Huan & Hou, Canran, 2023. "The impact of institutional investors' corporate site visits on corporate social responsibility," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    24. Geoffrey Heal, 2005. "Corporate Social Responsibility: An Economic and Financial Framework," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 30(3), pages 387-409, July.
    25. Dyck, Alexander & Lins, Karl V. & Roth, Lukas & Wagner, Hannes F., 2019. "Do institutional investors drive corporate social responsibility? International evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(3), pages 693-714.
    26. Lirong Chen & Siyi Liu & Xin Liu & Jiani Wang, 2022. "The Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme and Corporate Environmental Investments: A Quasi-natural Experiment from China," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(9), pages 2670-2681, July.
    27. Jeong‐Bon Kim & Bing Li & Zhenbin Liu, 2018. "Does social performance influence breadth of ownership?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(9-10), pages 1164-1194, October.
    28. Peter Roosenboom & Frederik P. Schlingemann & Manuel Vasconcelos, 2014. "Does Stock Liquidity Affect Incentives to Monitor? Evidence from Corporate Takeovers," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(8), pages 2392-2433.
    29. Hong, Harrison & Kacperczyk, Marcin, 2009. "The price of sin: The effects of social norms on markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 15-36, July.
    30. Zhang, Qi & Yu, Zhi & Kong, Dongmin, 2019. "The real effect of legal institutions: Environmental courts and firm environmental protection expenditure," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    31. Mark T. Buntaine & Michael Greenstone & Guojun He & Mengdi Liu & Shaoda Wang & Bing Zhang, 2024. "Does the Squeaky Wheel Get More Grease? The Direct and Indirect Effects of Citizen Participation on Environmental Governance in China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(3), pages 815-850, March.
    32. Philipp Krueger & Zacharias Sautner & Laura T Starks, 2020. "The Importance of Climate Risks for Institutional Investors," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(3), pages 1067-1111.
    33. Jia, Fansheng & Li, Guangzhong & Lu, Xiaoyan & Xie, Sujuan, 2021. "CEO given names and corporate green investment," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    34. Jiang, Xuanyu & Yuan, Qingbo, 2018. "Institutional investors' corporate site visits and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 148-168.
    35. Fard, Amirhossein & Javadi, Siamak & Kim, Incheol, 2020. "Environmental regulation and the cost of bank loans: International evidence," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    36. Liu, Guangqiang & Yang, Zhiqing & Zhang, Fan & Zhang, Nan, 2022. "Environmental tax reform and environmental investment: A quasi-natural experiment based on China's Environmental Protection Tax Law," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    37. Hong, Xin & Zhuang, Zhuang & Kang, Di & Wang, Zhibin, 2019. "Do corporate site visits impact hedge fund performance?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 113-128.
    38. Charles J. Hadlock & Joshua R. Pierce, 2010. "New Evidence on Measuring Financial Constraints: Moving Beyond the KZ Index," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(5), pages 1909-1940.
    39. Heinkel, Robert & Kraus, Alan & Zechner, Josef, 2001. "The Effect of Green Investment on Corporate Behavior," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 36(4), pages 431-449, December.
    40. Chen, Shuai & Oliva, Paulina & Zhang, Peng, 2022. "The effect of air pollution on migration: Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    41. Michael E. Porter & Claas van der Linde, 1995. "Toward a New Conception of the Environment-Competitiveness Relationship," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 97-118, Fall.
    42. Gao, Yihong, 2022. "Green credit policy and trade credit: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    43. Tang, Dragon Yongjun & Zhang, Yupu, 2020. "Do shareholders benefit from green bonds?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    44. Daron Acemoglu & Philippe Aghion & Leonardo Bursztyn & David Hemous, 2012. "The Environment and Directed Technical Change," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 131-166, February.
    45. Qian, Xuesong & Ding, Hai & Ding, Zifang, 2023. "Governmental inspection and firm environmental protection expenditure: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    46. Barker, Richard & Hendry, John & Roberts, John & Sanderson, Paul, 2012. "Can company-fund manager meetings convey informational benefits? Exploring the rationalisation of equity investment decision making by UK fund managers," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 207-222.
    47. Guojun He & Shaoda Wang & Bing Zhang, 2020. "Watering Down Environmental Regulation in China," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(4), pages 2135-2185.
    48. Ding, Qian & Huang, Jianbai & Chen, Jinyu, 2023. "Does digital finance matter for corporate green investment? Evidence from heavily polluting industries in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    49. James Heckman, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    50. Franklin Allen, 2005. "Corporate Governance in Emerging Economies," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 21(2), pages 164-177, Summer.
    51. Zhao, Lei & Li, Na & Wu, Yanjun, 2023. "Institutional investors' site visits, information asymmetry, and investment efficiency," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    52. Liao, Xianchun & Shi, Xunpeng (Roc), 2018. "Public appeal, environmental regulation and green investment: Evidence from China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 554-562.
    53. Zhang, Dongyang, 2022. "Does the green loan policy boost greener production? – Evidence from Chinese firms," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(PB).
    54. Brian W. Jacobs & Vinod R. Singhal, 2020. "Shareholder Value Effects of the Volkswagen Emissions Scandal on the Automotive Ecosystem," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(10), pages 2230-2251, October.
    55. Su, Fei & Feng, Xu & Tang, Songlian, 2021. "Do site visits mitigate corporate fraudulence? Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    56. Cepni, Oguzhan & Şensoy, Ahmet & Yılmaz, Muhammed Hasan, 2024. "Climate change exposure and cost of equity," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    57. He Xiao, 2023. "Institutional investors' corporate site visits and corporate investment efficiency," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 23(2), pages 359-392, June.
    58. Qiang Cheng & Fei Du & Xin Wang & Yutao Wang, 2016. "Seeing is believing: analysts’ corporate site visits," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 1245-1286, December.
    59. Minhang Deng & Yunyi Wang & Gaoliang Tian & Bozhi Xu & Yuyan Tang, 2023. "Institutional investors' corporate site visits and resource extraction: Evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(5), pages 5211-5243, December.
    60. Yang, Xiaolei & He, Lingyun & Xia, Yufei & Chen, Yufeng, 2019. "Effect of government subsidies on renewable energy investments: The threshold effect," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 156-166.
    61. Katharina Pistor, 2005. "Governing Stock Markets in Transition Economies: Lessons from China," American Law and Economics Review, American Law and Economics Association, vol. 7(1), pages 184-210.
    62. Kaijuan Gao & Manya Wang & Renyun Zhang, 2023. "Institutional investors' corporate site visits and firm management earnings forecasts," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(4), pages 4479-4504, December.
    63. Sengupta, Aditi, 2015. "Competitive investment in clean technology and uninformed green consumers," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 125-141.
    64. Chi, Yi & Hu, Ning & Lu, Dong & Yang, Yang, 2023. "Green investment funds and corporate green innovation: From the logic of social value," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    65. JOSEPH A. McCAHERY & ZACHARIAS SAUTNER & LAURA T. STARKS, 2016. "Behind the Scenes: The Corporate Governance Preferences of Institutional Investors," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(6), pages 2905-2932, December.
    66. John Maxwell & Christopher Decker, 2006. "Voluntary Environmental Investment and Responsive Regulation," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 33(4), pages 425-439, April.
    67. Lingna Sun & Hieu V. Phan & Thuy Simpson, 2021. "Blockholder exit threats and corporate cash holdings," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 56(4), pages 821-843, November.
    68. Zhang, Hao & Tao, Lunchen & Yang, Biyun & Bian, Wenlong, 2023. "The relationship between public participation in environmental governance and corporations’ environmental violations," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    69. Xiaofeng Quan & Cheng Xiang & Donghui Li & Kelvin Jui Keng Tan, 2023. "To see is to believe: Corporate site visits and mutual fund herding," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 52(4), pages 711-740, December.
    70. Heutel, Garth, 2011. "Plant vintages, grandfathering, and environmental policy," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 36-51, January.
    71. Yang, Xia & Ma, Zhong, 2022. "Institutional investors’ corporate site visits and dividend payouts," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 697-716.
    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. Zhou, Hui, 2025. "Major shareholders' equity pledge and the “All talk and no action” strategy in digital transformation," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 1630-1652.

    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. Lin, Yongjia & Deng, Hong & Wang, Yizhi, 2025. "Institutional investors’ site visits and corporate financialization in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    2. Song, Yanheng & Xian, Rui, 2024. "Institutional investors' corporate site visits and firm-level climate change risk disclosure," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    3. Wang, Kai & Peng, Yihui & Hao, Jing, 2025. "Do institutional investors’ site visits promote corporate environmental engagement?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(PB).
    4. Yang, Ge & Tan, Zelong & Zhao, Yiyi, 2026. "Green funds and green innovation in family firms: A perspective of long-term value congruence," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    5. Hong Deng & Yongjia Lin & Yizhi Wang, 2025. "Site Visits and Corporate Digitization," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 65(5), pages 4487-4506, December.
    6. Xu, Xiaofang & Wan, Qi & Ma, Jingru & Peng, Qilin, 2025. "What drives institutional investors' site visit decisions: The role of local business environment in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    7. Qian, Shuitu & Yang, Zhenyu & Yang, Lingxiao & Zhang, Yun, 2025. "Institutional investors’ green attention and corporate greenwashing: The effectiveness of external governance," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 2192-2206.
    8. Jiang, Yahan & Wang, Cai & Li, Sha & Wan, Jing, 2022. "Do institutional investors' corporate site visits improve ESG performance? Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    9. Qiu, Wenkang & Xiang, Cheng & Li, Chunhong & Chen, Yinong, 2025. "Institutional investor cliques and ESG performance: Evidence from Chinese firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    10. Zhou, Taiyun & Gan, Jiawu, 2022. "Institutional investors' site visits and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    11. Wu, Kai & Zhang, Yue & Li, Donghui, 2026. "Onsite oversight: Institutional site visits and stock return volatility," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    12. Baibing Huang & Shaohua Tian & Yang Zhang & Huanhuan Zheng, 2025. "From Site Visits to Swift Audits: The Influence of Institutional Investors," Working Papers 202533, University of Macau, Faculty of Business Administration.
    13. Liao, Ke & Si, Yi & Zhu, Xinyu, 2025. "Exceed your duty: The substitution effect of minority investor governance on institutional site visits," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    14. Liu, Huan & Hou, Canran, 2023. "The impact of institutional investors' corporate site visits on corporate social responsibility," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    15. Feng, Chao & Wang, Ying & Cheng, Xi, 2025. "Local governmental environmental responsibility and corporate greenwashing: Quasi-experimental evidence from China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    16. Wu, Fang & Cao, June & Zhang, Xiaosan, 2023. "Do non-executive employees matter in curbing corporate financial fraud?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    17. Yang, Xia & Ma, Zhong, 2022. "Institutional investors’ corporate site visits and dividend payouts," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 697-716.
    18. Minhang Deng & Yunyi Wang & Gaoliang Tian & Bozhi Xu & Yuyan Tang, 2023. "Institutional investors' corporate site visits and resource extraction: Evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(5), pages 5211-5243, December.
    19. Gillan, Stuart L. & Koch, Andrew & Starks, Laura T., 2021. "Firms and social responsibility: A review of ESG and CSR research in corporate finance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    20. Cao, Zhiling & Chen, Meng & Zhao, Lili & Yang, Guozheng, 2025. "Corporate site visits and the speed of leverage adjustment," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:eee:ecanpo:v:85:y:2025:i:c:p:1625-1644. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/economic-analysis-and-policy .

    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.