IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i7p6068-d1112998.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Green M&A Listed Companies’ Size on the Rural Ecological Environment—Digitalization as Moderating Effect

Author

Listed:
  • Lingling Zhou

    (Graduate School of Management, Management and Science University, University Drive, Off Persiaran Olahraga, Section 13, Shah Alam 40100, Malaysia)

  • Wenqi Li

    (School of Economics and Trade, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, China)

  • Brian Sheng-Xian Teo

    (International Academic Affairs Department, Management and Science University, Shah Alam 40100, Malaysia)

  • Siti Khalidah Md Yusoff

    (Graduate School of Management, Management and Science University, University Drive, Off Persiaran Olahraga, Section 13, Shah Alam 40100, Malaysia)

Abstract

In promoting high-quality economic development, environmental protection has become an essential responsibility for the sustainable development of listed companies. This research constructs and measures the level of rural ecological environment in China based on panel data on the rural ecological environment in Chinese inland provinces. Further, the impact of the size of green M&A listed companies on the rural ecological environment and its moderating effect is analyzed. This study uses the entropy method to measure the Rural Ecosystem Index (REI) and STATA software to conduct OLS, 2SLS, IV-GMM regressions, and regressions on moderating variables. This research aims to analyze the impact of listed companies on the environment and explore the role of the digitalization level’s moderating effect. The results show that the size of green M&A listed companies has a negative effect on the development of the rural ecological environment, and the digitalization level positively moderates the relationship between them. The following conclusions are drawn: (1) The average value of the rural ecological index for the 22 provinces in China ranged from 17.32 to 65.17. The index value is higher in the southeastern coastal region, with the highest values in Jiangsu, Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Fujian provinces. (2) From 2010–2020, green M&A listed companies were divided into 14 sectors. The industries with the most extensive green M&A are the raw chemical, non-metallic, rubber, and plastic industries. (3) During 2010–2016, the quantity of green M&A listed companies in China showed an upward trend with prominent regional non-equilibrium characteristics, then gradually declined in 2017–2020. It shows that the number is higher in the eastern coastal areas and lower in the inland regions. (4) The size of green M&A listed companies has a negative impact on the rural ecological environment. This negative impact has prominent heterogeneous characteristics, and the higher the index of the rural ecological environment is, the more significant its negative impact is. (5) The digitalization level positively moderates the size of green M&A listed companies and the rural ecological environment. The positive influence of the size of green M&A listed companies on the development level of the rural ecological environment is more significant in the regions with a higher degree of rural digitalization. In other words, the increase in the level of rural digitalization can improve the negative effect of the size of green M&A listed companies on the ecological environment. Based on the above findings, this paper puts forward corresponding countermeasure suggestions.

Suggested Citation

  • Lingling Zhou & Wenqi Li & Brian Sheng-Xian Teo & Siti Khalidah Md Yusoff, 2023. "The Impact of Green M&A Listed Companies’ Size on the Rural Ecological Environment—Digitalization as Moderating Effect," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-20, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:7:p:6068-:d:1112998
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/7/6068/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/7/6068/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ekundayo P. Mesagan & Titilope C. Adewuyi & Olugbenga Olaoye, 2022. "Corporate Finance, Industrial Performance and Environment in Africa: Lessons for Policy," Working Papers 22/026, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    2. Vasileiou, Efi & Georgantzis, Nikolaos & Attanasi, Giuseppe & Llerena, Patrick, 2022. "Green innovation and financial performance: A study on Italian firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(6).
    3. Shengzhong Zhang & Yingmin Yu & Qihong Zhu & Chun Martin Qiu & Aixuan Tian, 2020. "Green Innovation Mode under Carbon Tax and Innovation Subsidy: An Evolutionary Game Analysis for Portfolio Policies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-22, February.
    4. Fan, Wei & Yan, Ling & Chen, Boyang & Ding, Wangwang & Wang, Ping, 2022. "Environmental governance effects of local environmental protection expenditure in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    5. Engler, Daniel & Gutsche, Gunnar & Simixhiu, Amantia & Ziegler, Andreas, 2023. "On the relationship between corporate CO2 offsetting and pro-environmental activities in small- and medium-sized firms in Germany," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    6. Zeng, Huixiang & Ran, Hangxin & Zhou, Qiong & Jin, Youliang & Cheng, Xu, 2022. "The financial effect of firm digitalization: Evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    7. Zhang, Bingbing & Yu, Lan & Sun, Chuanwang, 2022. "How does urban environmental legislation guide the green transition of enterprises? Based on the perspective of enterprises' green total factor productivity," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    8. Muhammad Imran & Xiangyang Liu & Rongyu Wang & Shah Saud & Yun Zhao & Muhammad Jalal Khan, 2022. "The Influence of Digital Economy and Society Index on Sustainable Development Indicators: The Case of European Union," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-16, September.
    9. Wan, Qilong & Miao, Xiaodong & Afshan, Sahar, 2022. "Dynamic effects of natural resource abundance, green financing, and government environmental concerns toward the sustainable environment in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    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. Li, Jiaman & Dong, Kangyin & Wang, Kun & Dong, Xiucheng, 2023. "How does natural resource dependence influence carbon emissions? The role of environmental regulation," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    2. Zhao, Xing & Guo, Yifan & Feng, Tianchu, 2023. "Towards green recovery: Natural resources utilization efficiency under the impact of environmental information disclosure," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    3. Wenke Wang & Xiaoqiong You & Kebei Liu & Yenchun Jim Wu & Daming You, 2020. "Implementation of a Multi-Agent Carbon Emission Reduction Strategy under the Chinese Dual Governance System: An Evolutionary Game Theoretical Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-21, November.
    4. Sun, Yunpeng & Gao, Pengpeng & Tian, Wenjuan & Guan, Weimin, 2023. "Green innovation for resource efficiency and sustainability: Empirical analysis and policy," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    5. Qianqian Gu & Lei Hang, 2022. "A Game Analysis-Based Behavioral Interaction Framework between Governments and Innovative Enterprises for Intellectual Property Regulation Policies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-20, May.
    6. Zhao, Desen & Dou, Yao & Tong, Lu, 2022. "Effect of fiscal decentralization and dual environmental regulation on green poverty reduction: The case of China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    7. Liping Wang & Zhijia Wang & Lili Tian & Chuang Li, 2022. "Evolutionary Game and Numerical Simulation of Enterprises’ Green Technology Innovation: Based on the Credit Sales Financing Service of Supply Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-25, December.
    8. Can Zhang & Tengfei Liu & Jixia Li & Mengzhi Xu & Xu Li & Huachun Wang, 2023. "Economic Growth Target, Government Expenditure Behavior, and Cities’ Ecological Efficiency—Evidence from 284 Cities in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-30, January.
    9. Gianluca Biggi & Andrea Mina & Federico Tamagni, 2023. "There are different shades of green: heterogeneous environmental innovations and their effects on firm performance," Papers 2310.08353, arXiv.org.
    10. Xie, Rui & Yao, Siling & Han, Feng & Zhang, Qi, 2022. "Does misallocation of land resources reduce urban green total factor productivity? An analysis of city-level panel data in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    11. Shang, Yunfeng & Lian, Yi & Chen, Hui & Qian, Fangbin, 2023. "The impacts of energy resource and tourism on green growth: Evidence from Asian economies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    12. Wanjuan Wang & Hongbo Gong, 2022. "Formation Mechanism of a Coastal Zone Environment Collaborative Governance Relationship: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis Based on fsQCA," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-26, September.
    13. Deng, Youyi & Dong, Kangyin & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad & Xue, Jinjun, 2023. "How does environmental regulation affect the double dividend for energy firms? Evidence from China’s EPT policy," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 807-820.
    14. Olugbenga Olaoye & Risikat O.S Dauda, 2022. "Energy Use, Financial Development and Pollution in Selected African Countries," Journal of Economic Impact, Science Impact Publishers, vol. 4(3), pages 188-195.
    15. Ma, Qiang & Liu, Xin & Wang, Wei-Guo & Xue, Jing, 2023. "Natural resources extraction and COP26 target: Evaluating the role of green finance," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    16. Luan Carlos Santos Silva & Carla Schwengber Ten Caten & Silvia Gaia & Rodrigo de Oliveira Souza, 2023. "Tool for Assessment of the Green Technology Transfer Structure in Brazilian Public Universities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-18, April.
    17. Mesagan, Ekundayo Peter & Alimi, Olorunfemi Yasiru & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2022. "The asymmetric effects of exchange rate on trade balance and output growth," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 26(C).
    18. Ruomeng Zhou & Yunsheng Zhang, 2023. "Measurement of Urban Green Total Factor Productivity and Analysis of Its Temporal and Spatial Evolution in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-32, June.
    19. Lili Li & Yaobo Shi & Yun Huang & Anlu Xing & Hao Xue, 2022. "The Effect of Governance on Industrial Wastewater Pollution in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-15, July.
    20. Changling Sun & Ziang Lin & Marek Vochozka & Zuzana Vincúrová, 2022. "Digital transformation and corporate cash holdings in China’s A-share listed companies," Oeconomia Copernicana, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 13(4), pages 1081-1116, December.

    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:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:7:p:6068-:d:1112998. 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.