Under dual pressures of compliance and reputation: the impact of antitrust law on corporate green economic narratives

This study examines the impact of strengthened Anti-Monopoly Law enforcement following China's 2018 antitrust institutional reform on corporate green economic narratives, using a sample of A-share listed companies from 2013 to 2023. It explores the underlying mechanisms through which dual pressures of compliance and reputation shape corporate environmental communication. The findings show that the Anti-Monopoly reinforcement significantly enhanced green narratives in high-monopoly firms, and this effect remains robust across various sensitivity tests. Mechanism analysis identifies three main pathways: first, intensifying industry competition, which motivates firms to seek differentiated advantages; second, reducing institutional investors' shareholding proportion, thereby alleviating the short-term performance pressure that constrains green communication; and third, fostering long-term strategic orientation, which strengthens firms' willingness to engage in environmental communication. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that these effects are most pronounced in state-owned enterprises and high-pollution industries. This study highlights the intrinsic link between economic and environmental governance, demonstrating that non-environmental policies can generate significant "spillover effects" on corporate environmental behavior. It provides novel theoretical insights and empirical evidence for governments seeking to coordinate policy tools and effectively guide market forces toward the green transition.