IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i13p5901-d1688333.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Two-Pronged Approach: Capital Market Openness Promotes Corporate Green Total Factor Productivity

Author

Listed:
  • Ziyang Zhan

    (School of Finance, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 102206, China)

  • Junfeng Li

    (School of Finance, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 102206, China)

  • Dongxing Jia

    (School of Finance, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 102206, China)

  • Kai Wu

    (School of Finance, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 102206, China)

Abstract

This study examines the impact of capital market openness on corporate green total factor productivity (GTFP) using a quasi-natural experiment based on the Shanghai-Hong Kong and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect policies. Employing a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) approach, the findings reveal that capital market openness significantly enhances corporate GTFP through two primary mechanisms: strengthening firms’ green financial resources and technological innovation (green “hard strength”) and improving corporate environmental governance, green information disclosure, and managerial green expertise (green “soft strength”). Further heterogeneity analysis suggests that firms with greater institutional investor engagement, higher market competition, and non-state ownership exhibit stronger responses. These results provide policy insights into leveraging financial liberalization to drive corporate sustainability and green economic growth. This study highlights the role of financial markets in supporting global carbon neutrality and sustainable development goals.

Suggested Citation

  • Ziyang Zhan & Junfeng Li & Dongxing Jia & Kai Wu, 2025. "Two-Pronged Approach: Capital Market Openness Promotes Corporate Green Total Factor Productivity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-24, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:13:p:5901-:d:1688333
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/13/5901/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/13/5901/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kan Li & Randall Morck & Fan Yang & Bernard Yeung, 2004. "Firm-Specific Variation and Openness in Emerging Markets," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(3), pages 658-669, August.
    2. Chari, Anusha & Blair Henry, Peter, 2008. "Firm-specific information and the efficiency of investment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(3), pages 636-655, March.
    3. Lee, Chi-Chuan & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2022. "How does green finance affect green total factor productivity? Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    4. Fukuyama, Hirofumi & Weber, William L., 2009. "A directional slacks-based measure of technical inefficiency," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 274-287, December.
    5. Xiaodong Xu & Saixing Zeng & Hongquan Chen, 2018. "Signaling good by doing good: How does environmental corporate social responsibility affect international expansion?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 946-959, November.
    6. Wang, Ye & Liu, Xufeng & Wan, Die, 2023. "Stock market openness and ESG performance: Evidence from Shanghai-Hong Kong connect program," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 1306-1319.
    7. Sha, Yezhou & Zhang, Ping & Wang, Yiru & Xu, Yifan, 2022. "Capital market opening and green innovation——Evidence from Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong stock connect," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    8. Chen, Zhian & Du, Jinmin & Li, Donghui & Ouyang, Rui, 2013. "Does foreign institutional ownership increase return volatility? Evidence from China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 660-669.
    9. 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).
    10. Bhutta, Umair Saeed & Tariq, Adeel & Farrukh, Muhammad & Raza, Ali & Iqbal, Muhammad Khalid, 2022. "Green bonds for sustainable development: Review of literature on development and impact of green bonds," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(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. Sun, Zhennan & Du, Qunyang & Du, Anna Min & Li, Zhongyuan & Yang, Tianle, 2024. "The information environment and ecological environment perspectives: Capital market openness and firm ESG rating divergence," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    2. Lim, Kian-Ping & Kim, Jae H., 2011. "Trade openness and the informational efficiency of emerging stock markets," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 2228-2238, September.
    3. Zhenglin Sun & Jinyue Zhang, 2022. "Impact of Resource-Saving and Environment-Friendly Society Construction on Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-25, September.
    4. Peter Blair Henry, 2007. "Capital Account Liberalization: Theory, Evidence, and Speculation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(4), pages 887-935, December.
    5. Ying Fu & Zhaohan Wang & Yun Wang, 2024. "Green Financial Policy for Fostering Green Technological Innovation: The Role of Financing Constraints, Science Expenditure, and Heightened Industrial Structure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-26, October.
    6. Xie, Li & Huang, Zhisheng, 2025. "Electricity price cross-subsidies and enterprises’ green total factor productivity: Empirical evidence from Chinese industrial listed enterprises," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    7. Ding, Jian & Liu, Baoliu & Shao, Xuefeng, 2022. "Spatial effects of industrial synergistic agglomeration and regional green development efficiency: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    8. Lingling Cao & Huawei Niu, 2022. "Green Credit and Total Factor Carbon Emission Performance—Evidence from Moderation-Based Mediating Effect Test," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-19, June.
    9. Zhou, Lu Jolly & Deng, Nan & Li, Chenchen, 2025. "Unlocking efficiency: How capital market liberalization shapes firm productivity," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    10. Ying Lu & Sha Sun & Mingming Zhang & Zikun Yang, 2024. "RETRACTED ARTICLE: Moving Towards Sustainable Development: Can Supply Chain Finance Promote Corporate Green Innovation?," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(3), pages 13001-13026, September.
    11. Chen, Yulin & Han, Haozhe & Shen, Xieyang & Zeng, Jianyu, 2023. "The effect of stock market liberalization on corporate cash savings sensitivity: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 1247-1271.
    12. Pang, Lidong & Zhu, Meng Nan & Yu, Haiyan, 2022. "Is green finance really a blessing for green technology and carbon efficiency?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    13. Ning Li & Ruiling Li & Shangshang Yu, 2024. "Managerial Myopia and Enterprise Green Total Factor Productivity: Perspectives on the Supervisory Effect and Incentive Effect," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-21, August.
    14. Zelenyuk, Valentin & Zhao, Shirong, 2024. "Russell and slack-based measures of efficiency: A unifying framework," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 318(3), pages 867-876.
    15. Mengyu Li & Qian Zheng & Zicheng Zhang & Yu Zhao & Shi Chen, 2025. "Environmental justice and corporate green transition: a new perspective from environmental courts in China," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 1-36, February.
    16. Yuan, Li & Rao, Siqi & Yang, Shenggang & Dai, Pengyi, 2023. "Does equity market openness increase productivity? the dual effects of Shanghai-Hong Kong stock Connect program in China," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    17. Wang, Kai-Hua & Zhao, Yan-Xin & Jiang, Cui-Feng & Li, Zheng-Zheng, 2022. "Does green finance inspire sustainable development? Evidence from a global perspective," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 412-426.
    18. Li, Ping & Wang, Kai & Zhang, Junping, 2023. "Does the inclusion of Chinese A-shares in the MSCI EM index promote ESG performance?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PB).
    19. Peter Henry, 2007. "Capital Account Liberalization: Theory, Evidence, and Speculation," Discussion Papers 07-004, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    20. Wei Feng & Hang Yuan & Yanyi Chen, 2025. "The impact of green total factor productivity on export product quality: evidence from china," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(7), pages 15951-15975, July.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:13:p:5901-:d:1688333. 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.