IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finana/v102y2025ics105752192500198x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dual transformation of family businesses under China's dual carbon goals: Exploring social impact and economic benefits

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Tao
  • Tian, Jie

Abstract

China's dual carbon goals are a pivotal strategic measure to drive business transformation and promote the nation's sustainable development. This study focuses on micro-enterprises' sustainable development through the lens of green investment. Using data from family businesses listed on the Chinese A-share capital market from 2010 to 2023, this study empirically examines the impact of green investment on these businesses' sustainable development. The findings indicate that green investments by family businesses enhance resulting economic and social benefits, fostering sustainable development. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the positive impact of green investment on sustainable development varies depending on corporate reputation and political connections. Specifically, in terms of economic benefits, green investment significantly enhances sustainable development for firms with low reputations and political connections. Regarding social benefits, green investment generally promotes overall sustainable development, with more pronounced effects on businesses with low reputations and political connections. This study broadens the scope of micro-level studies under China's dual carbon goals and provides empirical evidence and insights for advancing family businesses' sustainable development through green transformation.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Tao & Tian, Jie, 2025. "Dual transformation of family businesses under China's dual carbon goals: Exploring social impact and economic benefits," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:102:y:2025:i:c:s105752192500198x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104111
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S105752192500198X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.irfa.2025.104111?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. Hu, Qianlin & Mijit, Razia & Xu, Jingxuan & Miao, Shan, 2024. "Can government-led urban expansion simultaneously alleviate pollution and carbon emissions? Staggered difference-in-differences evidence from Chinese firms," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 1-25.
    2. Chen, Yufeng & Ma, Yanbai, 2021. "Does green investment improve energy firm performance?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    3. Dong, Kangyin & Ni, Guohua & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad & Zhao, Congyu, 2023. "Does smart transportation matter in inhibiting carbon inequality?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    4. Yinpeng Zhang & Ying Chen & You Wu & Panpan Zhu, 2022. "Investor attention and carbon return: evidence from the EU-ETS," Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(1), pages 709-727, December.
    5. Deng, Xiang & Li, Weihao & Ren, Xiaohang, 2023. "More sustainable, more productive: Evidence from ESG ratings and total factor productivity among listed Chinese firms," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    6. Boulanger, Paul-Marie & Brechet, Thierry, 2005. "Models for policy-making in sustainable development: The state of the art and perspectives for research," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 337-350, November.
    7. Zhang, Xiaoke & Zhao, Xuankai & Qu, Linshan, 2021. "Do green policies catalyze green investment? Evidence from ESG investing developments in China," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    8. Broadstock, David C. & Chan, Kalok & Cheng, Louis T.W. & Wang, Xiaowei, 2021. "The role of ESG performance during times of financial crisis: Evidence from COVID-19 in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    9. Wong, Woei Chyuan & Batten, Jonathan A. & Ahmad, Abd Halim & Mohamed-Arshad, Shamsul Bahrain & Nordin, Sabariah & Adzis, Azira Abdul, 2021. "Does ESG certification add firm value?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    10. James Levinsohn & Amil Petrin, 2003. "Estimating Production Functions Using Inputs to Control for Unobservables," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 70(2), pages 317-341.
    11. Florackis, Chris & Fu, Xi & Wang, Jingjing, 2023. "Political connections, environmental violations and punishment: Evidence from heavily polluting firms," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    12. Yan Wu & Chunlai Chen & Cong Hu, 2023. "The impacts of trade intensity with China on carbon emissions in belt and road countries," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(2), pages 558-577, April.
    13. Sohag, Kazi & Hassan, M. Kabir & Bakhteyev, Stepan & Mariev, Oleg, 2023. "Do green and dirty investments hedge each other?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    14. Yan Wu & Chunlai Chen & Cong Hu, 2021. "Does the Belt and Road Initiative Increase the Carbon Emission Intensity of Participating Countries?," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 29(3), pages 1-25, May.
    15. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    16. Zhi Yu & Yali Cao & Mo Liu, 2022. "Does carbon emission trading policy affect bank loans of firms? Evidence from China," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(18), pages 1709-1714, October.
    17. Hou, Xiang & Hu, Qianlin & Liang, Xin & Xu, Jingxuan, 2023. "How do low-carbon city pilots affect carbon emissions? Staggered difference in difference evidence from Chinese firms," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 664-686.
    18. Liu, Liyun & Zhao, Zhenzhi & Zhang, Mingming & Zhou, Dequn, 2022. "Green investment efficiency in the Chinese energy sector: Overinvestment or underinvestment?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    19. Xu, Hao & Xu, Jingxuan & Wang, Jie & Hou, Xiang, 2023. "Reduce production or increase efficiency? Hazardous air pollutants regulation, energy use, and the synergistic effect on industrial enterprises' carbon emission," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    20. 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).
    21. 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.
    22. Mielke, Jahel & Steudle, Gesine A., 2018. "Green Investment and Coordination Failure: An Investors' Perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 88-95.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Dai, Jiapeng, 2025. "Is policy pilot a viable path to sustainable development? Attention allocation perspective," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    2. Luo, Zhenxiang & Zhou, Xiaolin, 2025. "Environmental courts, environmental investment, and corporate carbon emissions," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    3. Cai, Xiaotong & Yuan, Bo & Wu, Chao, 2025. "An integrated CEEMDAN and TCN-LSTM deep learning framework for forecasting," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    4. Wang, Danting & Sun, Yemeng, 2025. "Impact of green finance incentive policies on China's carbon neutrality capability: An evaluation based on the difference-in-differences model," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    5. Wang, Juling & Liu, Lihua & Ou, Yangchao, 2024. "Low-carbon city pilot policy and corporate environmental violations: Evidence from heavily polluting firms in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    6. Chen, Songyi & Fan, Qianqian, 2025. "Can market-based environmental regulation promote corporate intelligent transformation: Evidence from the carbon emission trading system," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    7. Jiang, Yuan & Wang, Xiaomei & Wang, Wenting, 2025. "Financial technology and regional carbon emission reduction: Mediating effect of green technology innovation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    8. Zhang, Ruifeng & Song, Shuhong & Xiu, Weiya, 2025. "Does the efficiency of capital allocation have spatial carbon emission spillover effects?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    9. Peng, Shengnan & Liu, Chan & Wang, Ze & Ye, Zihan & Sun, Xialing & Tan, Zhanglu, 2024. "The impact of the carbon reduction policy effectiveness on energy companies' ESG performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PB).
    10. Wan, Min & Wei, Dedai & Yu, Chenming, 2025. "Low-carbon pilot cities and financialization of listed companies: Inhibitory effects and policy analysis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    11. Wang, Jingru & Liu, Tinghua & Aziz, Noshaba & Sui, Hongguang, 2024. "Exploring the role of trade credit in facilitating low-carbon development: Insights from Chinese enterprises," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PB).
    12. Goodell, John W. & Gurdgiev, Constantin & Karim, Sitara & Palma, Alessia, 2024. "Carbon emissions and liquidity management," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PA).
    13. Chang, Lulu & Fang, Senhui, 2025. "Bringing carbon emission reduction to fruition: Insights from city’s low-carbon policy intensity," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    14. Zhonghua Cheng & Lele Han, 2025. "Environmental and social governance performance and enterprise total factor productivity," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(2), pages 1411-1428, April.
    15. Ren, Xiaohang & Lu, Qian & Gozgor, Giray & Fu, Haiqin, 2025. "Natural gas and the battle of carbon emissions: Interpreting the spatial effects of provincial carbon emissions in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    16. Yu, Chenzi & Jin, Hong, 2025. "Labor agglomeration, industrial structure upgrading and low-carbon economic development," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    17. Huang, Yuting & Wen, Wen & Bao, Rui, 2024. "Carbon emission right circulation and corporate green innovation: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 69(PA).
    18. Yu, Lianchao & Liu, Donghui & Liu, Qiang & Han, Hongling, 2025. "De-localization of environmental governance and corporate innovation structure: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(PA).
    19. Gong, Zhenting & Chen, Yanbei & Zhang, He & Chen, Fan, 2024. "Tail risk connectedness in the Carbon-Finance nexus: Evidence from a quantile spillover approach in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 67(PB).
    20. Li, Yu & Yaacob, Mohd Hasimi & Xie, Tao, 2024. "Effects of China's low carbon pilot city policy on corporate green innovation: Considering the mediating role of public environmental concern," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:finana:v:102:y:2025:i:c:s105752192500198x. 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.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620166 .

    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.