IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/corsem/v30y2023i5p2234-2246.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corporate environmental responsibility in polluting firms: Does digital transformation matter?

Author

Listed:
  • Boqiang Lin
  • Qianxiang Zhang

Abstract

The motivations for firms to undertake corporate environmental responsibility (CER) have been a hot topic in academia. However, with the rise of the digital economy, it is still been determined whether digital transformation will become a driving force for firms to assume CER. Based on panel data of Chinese listed firms in polluting industries, this article empirically tests whether and how digital transformation affects CER. The results show that digital transformation significantly motivates firms to assume more CER, especially for state‐owned and large‐scale firms and those located in the western region and ordinary‐level cities. The influence mechanism behind the relationship reveals that digital transformation improves financing ability and further encourages firms to assume CER. However, the effect is only short‐term and has no significant influence on the long‐term financing ability. Further research shows that regional differences in environmental governance pressure can strengthen the effect of digital transformation on CER. Our empirical findings provide policy implications for firms' digital transformation and sustainable development.

Suggested Citation

  • Boqiang Lin & Qianxiang Zhang, 2023. "Corporate environmental responsibility in polluting firms: Does digital transformation matter?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(5), pages 2234-2246, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:30:y:2023:i:5:p:2234-2246
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.2480
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2480
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/csr.2480?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhu, Bangzhu & Xu, Chenxin & Wang, Ping & Zhang, Lin, 2022. "How does internal carbon pricing affect corporate environmental performance?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 65-77.
    2. Liu, Chih-Chen & Wang, Leonard F.S. & Lee, Sang-Ho, 2015. "Strategic environmental corporate social responsibility in a differentiated duopoly market," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 108-111.
    3. Christina W. Y. Wong & Xin Miao & Shuang Cui & Yanhong Tang, 2018. "Impact of Corporate Environmental Responsibility on Operating Income: Moderating Role of Regional Disparities in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(2), pages 363-382, May.
    4. Choi, Wonseok & Chung, Chune Young & Rabarison, Monika K. & Wang, Kainan, 2022. "Related party transactions and corporate environmental responsibility," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PA).
    5. Kohtamäki, Marko & Parida, Vinit & Patel, Pankaj C. & Gebauer, Heiko, 2020. "The relationship between digitalization and servitization: The role of servitization in capturing the financial potential of digitalization," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    6. Pengyu Chen & Yuanyuan Hao, 2022. "Digital transformation and corporate environmental performance: The moderating role of board characteristics," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1757-1767, September.
    7. Llopis-Albert, Carlos & Rubio, Francisco & Valero, Francisco, 2021. "Impact of digital transformation on the automotive industry," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    8. Bárcena-Ruiz, Juan Carlos & Sagasta, Amagoia, 2022. "International trade and environmental corporate social responsibility," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    9. Chen, Zhao & Kahn, Matthew E. & Liu, Yu & Wang, Zhi, 2018. "The consequences of spatially differentiated water pollution regulation in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 468-485.
    10. Wanyi Chen & Liguang Zhang & Pinyan Jiang & Fanli Meng & Qianyi Sun, 2022. "Can digital transformation improve the information environment of the capital market? Evidence from the analysts' prediction behaviour," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(2), pages 2543-2578, June.
    11. Yao, Shouyu & Pan, Yuying & Sensoy, Ahmet & Uddin, Gazi Salah & Cheng, Feiyang, 2021. "Green credit policy and firm performance: What we learn from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    12. 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.
    13. Nambisan, Satish & Wright, Mike & Feldman, Maryann, 2019. "The digital transformation of innovation and entrepreneurship: Progress, challenges and key themes," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(8), pages 1-1.
    14. 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).
    15. Ivo Hristov & Andrea Appolloni, 2022. "Stakeholders' engagement in the business strategy as a key driver to increase companies' performance: Evidence from managerial and stakeholders' practices," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1488-1503, May.
    16. Zhang, Huiming & Huang, Jiying & Wu, Kai & Wang, Shouyang & Nygaard, Christian & Qiu, Yueming, 2022. "Do political connections affect corporate poverty alleviation decisions? Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    17. Wu, Keping & Fu, Yumei & Kong, Dongmin, 2022. "Does the digital transformation of enterprises affect stock price crash risk?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    18. Zhou, Xiaoyong & Zhou, Dequn & Wang, Qunwei & Su, Bin, 2019. "How information and communication technology drives carbon emissions: A sector-level analysis for China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 380-392.
    19. Francisco Javier Forcadell & Elisa Aracil & Fernando Ubeda, 2020. "Using reputation for corporate sustainability to tackle banks digitalization challenges," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2181-2193, September.
    20. Zhenjie Liu & Weian Li & Chen Hao & Huan Liu, 2021. "Corporate environmental performance and financing constraints: An empirical study in the Chinese context," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 616-629, March.
    21. Hayam Wahba, 2008. "Exploring the moderating effect of financial performance on the relationship between corporate environmental responsibility and institutional investors: some Egyptian evidence," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(6), pages 361-371, November.
    22. Tang, Chang & Xu, Yuanyuan & Hao, Yu & Wu, Haitao & Xue, Yan, 2021. "What is the role of telecommunications infrastructure construction in green technology innovation? A firm-level analysis for China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    23. Yihua Wu & Muhammad Farrukh & Ali Raza & Fanchen Meng & Imtiaz Alam, 2021. "Framing the evolution of the corporate social responsibility and environmental management journal," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(4), pages 1397-1411, July.
    24. Nofsinger, John R. & Sulaeman, Johan & Varma, Abhishek, 2019. "Institutional investors and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 700-725.
    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. Xiangan Ding & Zhonglin Sheng & Andrea Appolloni & Mohsin Shahzad & Shaojie Han, 2024. "Digital transformation, ESG practice, and total factor productivity," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 4547-4561, July.
    2. Boqiang Lin & Yongjing Xie, 2024. "Impacts of digital transformation on corporate green technology innovation: Do board characteristics play a role?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(3), pages 1741-1755, May.

    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. Lei Wang & Shibo Liu & Wanfang Xiong, 2022. "The Impact of Digital Transformation on Corporate Environment Performance: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-19, October.
    2. Boubaker, Sabri & Liu, Pei-Zhi & Ren, Yi-Shuai & Ma, Chao-Qun, 2024. "Do anti-corruption campaigns affect corporate environmental responsibility? Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    3. Zhou, Zhongsheng & Li, Zhuo, 2023. "Corporate digital transformation and trade credit financing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    4. Niu, Yuhao & Wang, Sai & Wen, Wen & Li, Sifei, 2023. "Does digital transformation speed up dynamic capital structure adjustment? Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    5. Liukai Wang & Caiting Wang & Larisa Yarovaya & Heshu Huang, 2024. "Trade credit and corporate digital transformation: The role of managerial ability," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 59(3), pages 779-806, August.
    6. Boqiang Lin & Yongjing Xie, 2024. "Impacts of digital transformation on corporate green technology innovation: Do board characteristics play a role?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(3), pages 1741-1755, May.
    7. Wang, Lan, 2023. "Digital transformation and total factor productivity," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PA).
    8. Hu, Hui & Qi, Shaozhou & Chen, Yuanzhi, 2023. "Using green technology for a better tomorrow: How enterprises and government utilize the carbon trading system and incentive policies," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    9. Khalil Nimer & Muath Abdelqader & Cemil Kuzey & Ali Uyar, 2024. "Emission targeting and carbon emissions: The moderating effect of female directors," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 3480-3504, May.
    10. Hua Zhang & Qiwang Zhang, 2023. "How Does Digital Transformation Facilitate Enterprise Total Factor Productivity? The Multiple Mediators of Supplier Concentration and Customer Concentration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-18, January.
    11. Rongwu Zhang & Wenqiang Fu & Yingxu Kuang, 2022. "Can Digital Economy Promote Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction in Heavily Polluting Enterprises? Empirical Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-21, August.
    12. Huang, Hongyun & Mbanyele, William & Wang, Fengrong & Song, Malin & Wang, Yuzhang, 2022. "Climbing the quality ladder of green innovation: Does green finance matter?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    13. Lin, Boqiang & Xie, Yongjing, 2024. "How feed-in-tariff subsidies affect renewable energy investments in China? New evidence from firm-level data," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    14. Viktora-Jones, Magdalena & Parente, Ronaldo & Drori, Netanel & Zhao, Yue, 2024. "Firm performance drivers within a dynamic emerging market ecosystem," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(1).
    15. Wang, Ke-Liang & Sun, Ting-Ting & Xu, Ru-Yu & Miao, Zhuang & Cheng, Yun-He, 2022. "How does internet development promote urban green innovation efficiency? Evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    16. Zhou, Dan & Kautonen, Mika & Dai, Weiqi & Zhang, Hui, 2021. "Exploring how digitalization influences incumbents in financial services: The role of entrepreneurial orientation, firm assets, and organizational legitimacy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    17. 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).
    18. Yanhong Tang & Rui Yang & Yingwen Chen & Mengjin Du & Yichen Yang & Xin Miao, 2020. "Greenwashing of Local Government: The Human-Caused Risks in the Process of Environmental Information Disclosure in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-14, August.
    19. Murtaza Hussain & Shaohua Yang & Umer Sahil Maqsood & R. M. Ammar Zahid, 2024. "Tapping into the green potential: The power of artificial intelligence adoption in corporate green innovation drive," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 4375-4396, July.
    20. Jinkai Liang & Ke Du & Dandan Chen, 2023. "The Effect of Digitalization on Ambidextrous Innovation in Manufacturing Enterprises: A Perspective of Empowering and Enabling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-23, August.

    More about this item

    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:wly:corsem:v:30:y:2023:i:5:p:2234-2246. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1535-3966 .

    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.