IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i24p11138-d1816352.html

Can Analyst Coverage Reduce Corporate ESG Greenwashing? Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Chunying Zhang

    (School of Economics and Management, Beihua University, Jilin 132013, China)

  • Xiaohui Wu

    (School of Management, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China)

Abstract

In this study, we analyze data from Chinese-listed firms, spanning the period 2011–2021, to address the question of whether analyst coverage reduces environmental, social, and governance (ESG) greenwashing. The results indicated that analysts act as an external governance mechanism that significantly restrains corporate ESG greenwashing. This effect operates through enhanced information transparency and strengthened monitoring. Furthermore, institutional ownership and media attention serve as moderators in this relationship, revealing a substitution effect between different governance mechanisms. Moreover, further analysis into heterogeneous effects uncovers that the effects are markedly stronger in firms with higher financial constraints and that belong to polluting and highly competitive industries. Our findings underscore the unique governance role of financial analysts in mitigating ESG misconduct and advancing corporate sustainability in emerging markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Chunying Zhang & Xiaohui Wu, 2025. "Can Analyst Coverage Reduce Corporate ESG Greenwashing? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-26, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:24:p:11138-:d:1816352
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/24/11138/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/24/11138/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    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:24:p:11138-:d:1816352. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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.