IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v86y2025ipfs1544612325021282.html

Can government public data openness help enterprises achieve sustainable development? Empirical evidence based on corporate ESG greenwashing

Author

Listed:
  • Qiang, Guoling
  • Ruan, Jiangyu

Abstract

This paper examines how public data openness affects the sustainable development of enterprises from the perspective of greenwashing. The fingdings revreal that, first, government data openness significantly curbs corporate greenwashing. Second, the disclosure of tax, market, credit, and related data, enhances investor trust, eases financing constraints, and discourages superficial green initiatives. Meanwhile, by publicly releasing information such as registration details, operational status, and tax records, government data openness strengthens external supervision and further suppresses greenwashing behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Qiang, Guoling & Ruan, Jiangyu, 2025. "Can government public data openness help enterprises achieve sustainable development? Empirical evidence based on corporate ESG greenwashing," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 86(PF).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:86:y:2025:i:pf:s1544612325021282
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2025.108875
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612325021282
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2025.108875?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. Lepetit, Laetitia & Strobel, Frank, 2015. "Bank insolvency risk and Z-score measures: A refinement," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 13(C), pages 214-224.
    2. Elizabeth Blankespoor & Brian P. Miller & Hal D. White, 2014. "Initial evidence on the market impact of the XBRL mandate," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1468-1503, December.
    3. Ma, Rufei & Chen, Yuhua & Ji, Qiang & Zhai, Pengxiang, 2025. "How does environmental regulatory stringency shape ESG? Evidence from cross-listing," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 104(PB).
    4. Ascioglu, Asli & Hegde, Shantaram P. & McDermott, John B., 2005. "Auditor compensation, disclosure quality, and market liquidity: Evidence from the stock market," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 325-354.
    5. Yang, Xiaoping & Cao, Dongmei & Andrikopoulos, Panagiotis & Yang, Zonghan & Bass, Tina, 2020. "Online social networks, media supervision and investment efficiency: An empirical examination of Chinese listed firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    6. Mitsuru Mizuno, 2010. "Institutional Investors, Corporate Governance And Firm Performance In Japan," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(5), pages 653-665, December.
    7. Zhang, Dongyang, 2022. "Green financial system regulation shock and greenwashing behaviors: Evidence from Chinese firms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    8. Ye, Fei & Ouyang, You & Li, Yina, 2023. "Digital investment and environmental performance: The mediating roles of production efficiency and green innovation," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    9. Wu, Lingling & Zhang, Yi, 2024. "Social credit system construction and corporate debt dilemmas," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    10. Abhishek Nagaraj, 2022. "T he P rivate I mpact of P ublic D ata: L andsat S atellite M aps I ncreased G old D iscoveries and E ncouraged E ntry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(1), pages 564-582, January.
    11. Xingqiang Du, 2015. "Does Confucianism Reduce Minority Shareholder Expropriation? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(4), pages 661-716, December.
    12. Hu, Bin & Xu, Qian, 2025. "Environmental regulation penalties and corporate environmental information disclosure," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    13. Du, Jiayue & Gao, Haoyu & Wen, Huiyu & Ye, Yanyi, 2024. "Public data acces and stock price synchronicity: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    14. Irfan Hameed & Zeeshan Hyder & Muhammad Imran & Kashif Shafiq, 2021. "Greenwash and green purchase behavior: an environmentally sustainable perspective," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(9), pages 13113-13134, September.
    15. Abhishek Nagaraj & Esther Shears & Mathijs de Vaan, 2020. "Improving data access democratizes and diversifies science," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 117(38), pages 23490-23498, September.
    16. Zhou, Zhongsheng & Yuan, Zhichao & He, Chao, 2025. "Can digital transformation promote firms' sustainable development? Evidence based on ESG performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    17. Aggarwal, Raj & Goodell, John W., 2009. "Markets and institutions in financial intermediation: National characteristics as determinants," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1770-1780, October.
    18. Zhong, Yuan & Lai, Huisu & Zhang, Liang & Guo, Lixiang & Lai, Xiaobing, 2025. "Does public data openness accelerate new quality productive forces? Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 1409-1427.
    19. Davide Cantoni & Yuyu Chen & David Y. Yang & Noam Yuchtman & Y. Jane Zhang, 2017. "Curriculum and Ideology," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 125(2), pages 338-392.
    20. Li, Pei & Lu, Yi & Wang, Jin, 2016. "Does flattening government improve economic performance? Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 18-37.
    21. Wu, Desheng & Xie, Yu, 2024. "Unveiling the impact of public data access on collaborative reduction of pollutants and carbon emissions: Evidence from open government data policy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    22. Davide Cantoni & Yuyu Chen & David Y. Yang & Noam Yuchtman & Y. Jane Zhang, 2017. "Curriculum and Ideology," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 125(2), pages 338-392.
    23. Gao, Lifang & Yin, Heng, 2025. "Managerial myopia and greenwashing: A machine learning and text analysis approach," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    24. Geng, Yuqing & Liu, Liwen & Chen, Lingyan, 2023. "Rural revitalization of China: A new framework, measurement and forecast," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    25. Chemmanur, Thomas J. & Tian, Xuan, 2018. "Do Antitakeover Provisions Spur Corporate Innovation? A Regression Discontinuity Analysis," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(3), pages 1163-1194, June.
    26. Nie, Song & Wang, Shihao & Ji, Qiang, 2025. "Break down data silos: Does public data openness improve corporate ESG performance?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    27. Jun Huang & Zhixin Duan & Mingsheng Hu & Yun Li, 2022. "More Stable, More Sustainable: Does TMT Stability Affect Sustainable Corporate Social Responsibility?," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(4), pages 921-938, March.
    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. Wu, Desheng & Xie, Yu, 2026. "Government data accessibility and firm dynamics: Encouraging entrepreneurship or accelerating exit?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    2. Qiwen Dai & Ju He & Zhongyuan Guo & Yanqiao Zheng & Yue Zhang, 2025. "Green finance for sustainable development: analyzing the effects of green credit on high-polluting firms’ environmental performance," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Ren, Xiaohang & Zeng, Gudian & Dong, Kangyin & Wang, Kun, 2023. "How does high-speed rail affect tourism development? The case of the Sichuan-Chongqing Economic Circle," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    4. Tan, Xiujie & Xiao, Ziwei & Liu, Yishuang & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad & Wang, Banban & Dong, Hanmin, 2022. "The effect of green credit policy on energy efficiency: Evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    5. Yang, Jinghao & Chen, Siyu, 2023. "Corporate financialization, digitalization and green innovation: A panel investigation on Chinese listed firms," Innovation and Green Development, Elsevier, vol. 2(3).
    6. Ran Gu & Zenghua He, 2023. "Can Environmental Regulation Improve Labor Allocation Efficiency? Evidence from China’s New Environmental Protection Law," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-15, March.
    7. Li, Dongdong & Gui, Mingxia & Ma, Rui & Feng, Yiwen, 2024. "Public data accessibility and corporate maturity mismatch: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    8. Wang, Menghan & Zhang, Yinglin & Gong, Xiaoxiao, 2025. "The impacts of social credit environment improvement on corporate ESG greenwashing: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    9. Lu, Shengfeng & Chen, Sixia & Wang, Peigang, 2019. "Language barriers and health status of elderly migrants: Micro-evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 94-112.
    10. Prusa, Thomas J. & Teh, Robert & Zhu, Min, 2022. "PTAs and the incidence of antidumping disputes," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    11. Nuoyan Li & Liangjian Wang & Qilin Zhang & Huwei Wen, 2025. "Low-carbon policy and employment: heterogeneity of workers with different skills," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(11), pages 26761-26781, November.
    12. Zhang, Yiren & Ran, Congjing, 2023. "Effect of digital economy on air pollution in China? New evidence from the “National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Area” policy," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 986-1004.
    13. Wang, Xuhui & Xi, Haonan, 2023. "Carbon mitigation policy and international tourism. Does the European Union Emissions Trading System hit international tourism from member states?," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    14. Ji, Xi & Wu, Guowei & Su, Pinyi & Luo, Xuanyuan & Long, Xianling, 2022. "Does legislation improvement alleviate the decoupling between welfare and wealth in China?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    15. Xu, Lan & Yang, Jun & Cheng, Jixin & Dong, Hanghang, 2022. "How has China's low-carbon city pilot policy influenced its CO2 abatement costs? Analysis from the perspective of the shadow price," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    16. Wu, Maozhen & Zhang, Penglong, 2024. "Poverty alleviation and pollution reduction: Evidence from the poverty hat removal program in China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 56-76.
    17. Zhang, Xiaoming & Luo, Weijie & Xiang, Di, 2025. "Strategic emerging industries and innovation: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    18. Lin, Xin & Hui, Eddie Chi-man & Cong, Zhenglong & Shen, Jianfu, 2026. "Solving coordination failures: Collective land transfer rights and rural entrepreneurship," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    19. Ding, Zijia & Liu, Qian & Che, Dexin, 2025. "Specialization in Bank lending and firm deleveraging: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    20. Zhao, Ziying & Lu, Chao & Xia, Xiaoxue, 2024. "Regulator as a minority shareholder and corporate fraud: Quasi-natural experiment evidence from the pilot project of China Securities Investor Services Center," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(5).

    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:finlet:v:86:y:2025:i:pf:s1544612325021282. 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/frl .

    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.