IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i7p1167-d218875.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Influence of Top Managers on Environmental Information Disclosure: The Moderating Effect of Company’s Environmental Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Yuan Ma

    (College of Economics and Management, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266590, China)

  • Qiang Zhang

    (College of Economics and Management, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266590, China)

  • Qiyue Yin

    (College of Economics and Management, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266590, China)

  • Bingcheng Wang

    (College of Economics and Management, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266590, China)

Abstract

Abundant extant literature emphasizes the impact of board members attributes’ influence on environmental information disclosure. Considering the voluntary nature of environmental information disclosure, executives have strong managerial discretion when they make such decisions, so this article focuses on top managers’ influence on environmental information disclosure. We hypothesize that top managers’ educational background and age will affect companies’ environmental decision. The hypotheses are verified with the data from Chinese listed manufacturing companies. As the results show, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) educational background and average age of top managers positively affect environmental information disclosure, while the impact of legal educational background is negative. The company’s environmental performance plays a U-shaped moderating effect on the relationship between MBA educational background and environmental information disclosure.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuan Ma & Qiang Zhang & Qiyue Yin & Bingcheng Wang, 2019. "The Influence of Top Managers on Environmental Information Disclosure: The Moderating Effect of Company’s Environmental Performance," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-15, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:7:p:1167-:d:218875
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/7/1167/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/7/1167/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Qiang Li & Tian Li & Hongtao Chen & Erwei Xiang & Wenjuan Ruan, 2019. "Executives' excess compensation, legitimacy, and environmental information disclosure in Chinese heavily polluting companies: The moderating role of media pressure," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(1), pages 248-256, January.
    2. Dayuan Li & Min Huang & Shenggang Ren & Xiaohong Chen & Lutao Ning, 2018. "Environmental Legitimacy, Green Innovation, and Corporate Carbon Disclosure: Evidence from CDP China 100," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(4), pages 1089-1104, July.
    3. Taïeb Hafsi & Gokhan Turgut, 2013. "Boardroom Diversity and its Effect on Social Performance: Conceptualization and Empirical Evidence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 112(3), pages 463-479, February.
    4. Lin Liao & Teng (Philip) Lin & Yuyu Zhang, 2018. "Corporate Board and Corporate Social Responsibility Assurance: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 211-225, June.
    5. Valentina Lagasio & Nicola Cucari, 2019. "Corporate governance and environmental social governance disclosure: A meta‐analytical review," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(4), pages 701-711, July.
    6. Walid Ben-Amar & Millicent Chang & Philip McIlkenny, 2017. "Board Gender Diversity and Corporate Response to Sustainability Initiatives: Evidence from the Carbon Disclosure Project," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(2), pages 369-383, May.
    7. Marianne Bertrand & Antoinette Schoar, 2003. "Managing with Style: The Effect of Managers on Firm Policies," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(4), pages 1169-1208.
    8. Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 2012. "Information Disclosure and Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(1), pages 195-234, February.
    9. Krista Bondy & Jeremy Moon & Dirk Matten, 2012. "An Institution of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Multi-National Corporations (MNCs): Form and Implications," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 111(2), pages 281-299, December.
    10. Abdul Hadi Ibrahim & Mustafa Mohd Hanefah, 2016. "Board diversity and corporate social responsibility in Jordan," Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 14(2), pages 279-298, October.
    11. Fabrizio Cerbioni & Antonio Parbonetti, 2007. "Exploring the Effects of Corporate Governance on Intellectual Capital Disclosure: An Analysis of European Biotechnology Companies," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 791-826.
    12. Ioanna Boulouta, 2013. "Hidden Connections: The Link Between Board Gender Diversity and Corporate Social Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 113(2), pages 185-197, March.
    13. Qiu, Yan & Shaukat, Amama & Tharyan, Rajesh, 2016. "Environmental and social disclosures: Link with corporate financial performance," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 102-116.
    14. Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R., 2001. "The theory and practice of corporate finance: evidence from the field," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2-3), pages 187-243, May.
    15. Doris M. Merkl‐Davies & Niamh M. Brennan & Stuart J. McLeay, 2011. "Impression management and retrospective sense‐making in corporate narratives," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(3), pages 315-344, March.
    16. Sanjay Sharma & Irene Henriques, 2005. "Stakeholder influences on sustainability practices in the Canadian forest products industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 159-180, February.
    17. Xingqiang Du & Wei Jian & Quan Zeng & Yingjie Du, 2014. "Corporate Environmental Responsibility in Polluting Industries: Does Religion Matter?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(3), pages 485-507, October.
    18. Shan Gao & Shuang Ling & Wenhui Liu, 2018. "The Role of Social Media in Promoting Information Disclosure on Environmental Incidents: An Evolutionary Game Theory Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-19, November.
    19. Anastasia Axjonow & Jürgen Ernstberger & Christiane Pott, 2018. "The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure on Corporate Reputation: A Non-professional Stakeholder Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(2), pages 429-450, August.
    20. Bhuian, Shahid N. & Menguc, Bulent & Bell, Simon J., 2005. "Just entrepreneurial enough: the moderating effect of entrepreneurship on the relationship between market orientation and performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 9-17, January.
    21. Curtis M. Grimm & Ken G. Smith, 1991. "Research notes and communications management and organizational change: A note on the railroad industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(7), pages 557-562, October.
    22. X. Meng & S. Zeng & C. Tam & X. Xu, 2013. "Whether Top Executives’ Turnover Influences Environmental Responsibility: From the Perspective of Environmental Information Disclosure," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 114(2), pages 341-353, May.
    23. Idoya Ferrero‐Ferrero & María Ángeles Fernández‐Izquierdo & María Jesús Muñoz‐Torres, 2015. "Integrating Sustainability into Corporate Governance: An Empirical Study on Board Diversity," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(4), pages 193-207, July.
    24. Asghar Afshar Jahanshahi & Alexander Brem, 2018. "Antecedents of Corporate Environmental Commitments: The Role of Customers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-10, June.
    25. Yonghua Zou & Wanxia Zhao & Robert Mason & Meizhen Li, 2015. "Comparing Sustainable Universities between the United States and China: Cases of Indiana University and Tsinghua University," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(9), pages 1-19, August.
    26. Magali A. Delmas & Michael W. Toffel, 2008. "Organizational responses to environmental demands: opening the black box," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(10), pages 1027-1055, October.
    27. Doris M. Merkl-Davies & Niamh Brennan & Stuart McLeay, 2011. "Impression management and retrospective sense-making in corporate narratives : a social psychology perspective," Open Access publications 10197/2900, Research Repository, University College Dublin.
    28. Pablo Archel & Javier Husillos & Carlos Larrinaga & Crawford Spence, 2009. "Social disclosure, legitimacy theory and the role of the state," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(8), pages 1284-1307, October.
    29. Guidry, Ronald P. & Patten, Dennis M., 2012. "Voluntary disclosure theory and financial control variables: An assessment of recent environmental disclosure research," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 81-90.
    30. Elizabeth Stanny & Kirsten Ely, 2008. "Corporate environmental disclosures about the effects of climate change," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(6), pages 338-348, November.
    31. McGuinness, Paul B. & Vieito, João Paulo & Wang, Mingzhu, 2017. "The role of board gender and foreign ownership in the CSR performance of Chinese listed firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 75-99.
    32. Ronald P. Guidry & Dennis M. Patten, 2012. "Voluntary disclosure theory and financial control variables: An assessment of recent environmental disclosure research," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(2), pages 81-90, June.
    33. Cedric Dawkins & John Fraas, 2011. "Coming Clean: The Impact of Environmental Performance and Visibility on Corporate Climate Change Disclosure," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 100(2), pages 303-322, May.
    34. Krishnamurti, Chandrasekhar & Velayutham, Eswaran, 2018. "The influence of board committee structures on voluntary disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions: Australian evidence," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 65-81.
    35. Peter M. Clarkson & Michael B. Overell & Larelle Chapple, 2011. "Environmental Reporting and its Relation to Corporate Environmental Performance," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 47(1), pages 27-60, March.
    36. Yue Li & Gordon D. Richardson & Daniel B. Thornton, 1997. "Corporate Disclosure of Environmental Liability Information: Theory and Evidence," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(3), pages 435-474, September.
    37. Lorne S. Cummings, 2008. "Managerial attitudes toward environmental management within Australia, the People's Republic of China and Indonesia," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(1), pages 16-29, January.
    38. Corinne Post & Noushi Rahman & Cathleen McQuillen, 2015. "From Board Composition to Corporate Environmental Performance Through Sustainability-Themed Alliances," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(2), pages 423-435, August.
    39. Liu, Chelsea, 2018. "Are women greener? Corporate gender diversity and environmental violations," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 118-142.
    40. X. Meng & S. Zeng & C. Tam, 2013. "From Voluntarism to Regulation: A Study on Ownership, Economic Performance and Corporate Environmental Information Disclosure in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 116(1), pages 217-232, August.
    41. Christopher Marquis & Cuili Qian, 2014. "Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting in China: Symbol or Substance?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(1), pages 127-148, February.
    42. 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.
    43. Talke, Katrin & Salomo, Søren & Kock, Alexander, 2011. "Top ManagementTeam Diversity and Strategic Innovation Orientation: The Relationship and Consequences for Innovativeness and Performance," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 63286, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    44. Nicola Cucari & Salvatore Esposito De Falco & Beatrice Orlando, 2018. "Diversity of Board of Directors and Environmental Social Governance: Evidence from Italian Listed Companies," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(3), pages 250-266, May.
    45. Gary Peters & Andrea Romi, 2014. "Does the Voluntary Adoption of Corporate Governance Mechanisms Improve Environmental Risk Disclosures? Evidence from Greenhouse Gas Emission Accounting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(4), pages 637-666, December.
    46. Healy, Paul M. & Palepu, Krishna G., 2001. "Information asymmetry, corporate disclosure, and the capital markets: A review of the empirical disclosure literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 405-440, September.
    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. Xie, Xuemei & Han, Yuhang & Hoang, Thu Thao, 2022. "Can green process innovation improve both financial and environmental performance? The roles of TMT heterogeneity and ownership," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    2. Hua Yin & Mingyu Li & Yuan Ma & Qiang Zhang, 2019. "The Relationship between Environmental Information Disclosure and Profitability: A Comparison between Different Disclosure Styles," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-14, May.
    3. Tianshun Ruan & Ying Gu & Xinhao Li & Rong Qu, 2022. "Research on the Practical Path of Resource-Based Enterprises to Improve Environmental Efficiency in Digital Transformation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-17, October.
    4. Yongliang Yang & Jin Wen & Yi Li, 2020. "The Impact of Environmental Information Disclosure on the Firm Value of Listed Manufacturing Firms: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-20, February.
    5. Guo, Chong & Jiang, Yalin & Yu, Fang & Wu, Yingyu, 2023. "Does environmental information disclosure promote or prohibit financialization of non-financial firms? Evidence from China," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 200-214.
    6. Weizhou Su & Nieping Wei & Zihan Yuan & Sidai Guo, 2023. "The Impact of Environmental Information Disclosure on the Efficiency of Enterprise Capital Allocation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-19, July.
    7. Wen-Jun Tu & Xiao-Guang Yue & Wei Liu & M. James C. Crabbe, 2020. "Valuation Impacts of Environmental Protection Taxes and Regulatory Costs in Heavy-Polluting Industries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-21, March.

    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. Dewan Muktadir‐Al‐Mukit & Firoz Haroon Bhaiyat, 2024. "Impact of corporate governance diversity on carbon emission under environmental policy via the mandatory nonfinancial reporting regulation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 1397-1417, February.
    2. Thi H.H. Nguyen & Mohamed H. Elmagrhi & Collins G. Ntim & Yue Wu, 2021. "Environmental performance, sustainability, governance and financial performance: Evidence from heavily polluting industries in China," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 2313-2331, July.
    3. Lucrezia Songini & Anna Pistoni & Patrizia Tettamanzi & Fabrizio Fratini & Valentina Minutiello, 2022. "Integrated reporting quality and BoD characteristics: an empirical analysis," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 26(2), pages 579-620, June.
    4. Mohamed H. Elmagrhi & Collins G. Ntim & Ahmed A. Elamer & Qingjing Zhang, 2019. "A study of environmental policies and regulations, governance structures, and environmental performance: The role of female directors," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 206-220, January.
    5. Rongbing Huang & Yubo Huang, 2020. "Does Internal Control Contribute to a Firm’s Green Information Disclosure? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-23, April.
    6. Tesfaye T. Lemma & Martin Feedman & Mthokozisi Mlilo & Jin Dong Park, 2019. "Corporate carbon risk, voluntary disclosure, and cost of capital: South African evidence," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 111-126, January.
    7. Mariasole Bannò & Emilia Filippi & Sandro Trento, 2023. "Women in top echelon positions and their effects on sustainability: a review, synthesis and future research agenda," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 27(1), pages 181-251, March.
    8. Giorgio Mion & Cristian R. Loza Adaui, 2019. "Mandatory Nonfinancial Disclosure and Its Consequences on the Sustainability Reporting Quality of Italian and German Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-28, August.
    9. Nguyen, Thi Hong Hanh & Ntim, Collins G. & Malagila, John K., 2020. "Women on corporate boards and corporate financial and non-financial performance: A systematic literature review and future research agenda," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    10. James J. Cordeiro & Giorgia Profumo & Ilaria Tutore, 2020. "Board gender diversity and corporate environmental performance: The moderating role of family and dual‐class majority ownership structures," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1127-1144, March.
    11. Saeed, Abubakr & Riaz, Hammad & Liedong, Tahiru Azaaviele & Rajwani, Tazeeb, 2022. "The impact of TMT gender diversity on corporate environmental strategy in emerging economies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 536-551.
    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. Jun Xie & Wataru Nozawa & Shunsuke Managi, 2020. "The role of women on boards in corporate environmental strategy and financial performance: A global outlook," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(5), pages 2044-2059, September.
    14. Ayman Issa & Mohammad A. A. Zaid & Jalal Rajeh Hanaysha, 2022. "Exploring the relationship between female director's profile and sustainability performance: Evidence from the Middle East," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(6), pages 1980-2002, September.
    15. My Hanh Doan & Remmer Sassen, 2020. "The relationship between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: A meta‐analysis," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 24(5), pages 1140-1157, October.
    16. Qiang Li & Tian Li & Hongtao Chen & Erwei Xiang & Wenjuan Ruan, 2019. "Executives' excess compensation, legitimacy, and environmental information disclosure in Chinese heavily polluting companies: The moderating role of media pressure," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(1), pages 248-256, January.
    17. Paul B. McGuinness & João Paulo Vieito & Mingzhu Wang, 2020. "Proactive government intervention, board gender balance, and stakeholder engagement in China and Europe," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 719-762, September.
    18. Geoffrey Frost & Stewart Jones & Muchen Yu, 2023. "Voluntary Carbon Reporting Prediction: A Machine Learning Approach," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 59(4), pages 1116-1166, December.
    19. Atif, Muhammad & Hossain, Mohammed & Alam, Md Samsul & Goergen, Marc, 2021. "Does board gender diversity affect renewable energy consumption?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    20. Lu Zhang & Shenggang Ren & Xiaohong Chen & Dayuan Li & Duanjinyu Yin, 2020. "CEO Hubris and Firm Pollution: State and Market Contingencies in a Transitional Economy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(2), pages 459-478, January.

    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:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:7:p:1167-:d:218875. 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.