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Who discloses carbon information? The joint role of ownership and factor market distortion

Yu Chen (College of Economics and Management, Zhejiang University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Hangzhou, China)
Xiaoning Zhu (School of Economics and Management, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China)
Xueli Xiong (School of Public Affairs, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China) (Institute of Intellectual Property, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China)
Cen Zhang (Energy Economics Research Centre, CNOOC Energy Economics Institute, Beijing, UK)
Jiashun Huang (School of Public Affairs, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China) (Labour and Worklife Programme, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) (Institute of Intellectual Property, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China)

Management Decision

ISSN: 0025-1747

Article publication date: 4 April 2023

Issue publication date: 24 July 2023

390

Abstract

Purpose

Corporations, as key contributors of greenhouse gas emissions, have been increasingly scrutinized by governments and stakeholders. Corporations have been asked to disclose their carbon-related information. This study investigates public corporate carbon disclosure, an imperative communication channel between firms.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses generalized estimation equation models with a longitudinal panel data of 311 listed firms in the China A-share stock index from 2010 to 2020. This study collected firm-level data from the Carbon Disclosure Project survey, the China Stock Market and Accounting Research, and the National Economic Research Institute of China. Stata was used as the primary statistic software in empirical analyses.

Findings

This study finds that compared to state-owned enterprises (SOEs), private firms are more willing to disclose carbon information under legitimate environmental pressure, and firms in highly distorted factor-markets are reluctant to disclose carbon information. This study finds that factor-distortion markets further moderate ownership and lead private firms in highly distorted factor-markets to behave like SOEs by significantly reducing their carbon disclosures.

Originality/value

This study intends to contribute to the corporate carbon disclosure literature by adding important institutional determinants to the conversation in the context of China.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the research funds from the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, the Flagship Research Project “Chinese Strategies and Global Outlook for Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality” from the Centre for International Knowledge on Development and the Institute of Carbon Neutrality of the University of Science and Technology of China. The authors thank the contribution of Ms. Wanlin Chen, who participated in the topic discussion, and she intended to participate in the revisions at the second round. However, she left our research group and decided not to be a co-author of this manuscript.

Citation

Chen, Y., Zhu, X., Xiong, X., Zhang, C. and Huang, J. (2023), "Who discloses carbon information? The joint role of ownership and factor market distortion", Management Decision, Vol. 61 No. 8, pp. 2391-2412. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-08-2021-1050

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited

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