The green governance effect of retail investor attention: Evidence from China's investor interactive platforms

IF 4.8 2区经济学 Q1 BUSINESS, FINANCE

Pacific-Basin Finance Journal Pub Date : 2025-06-15 DOI:10.1016/j.pacfin.2025.102848

Zhenyi Yang , Rijing Lu , Rui Lu , Qi Yan

{"title":"The green governance effect of retail investor attention: Evidence from China's investor interactive platforms","authors":"Zhenyi Yang , Rijing Lu , Rui Lu , Qi Yan","doi":"10.1016/j.pacfin.2025.102848","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As the climate issues intensify, corporate environmental performance has garnered greater attention globally. Beyond environmental regulations, a market-oriented approach to govern corporate environmental behavior is urgently needed. Based on account-level data from China's two investor interactive platforms, namely the “eHuDong” and “HuDongYi” of Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges, we empirically find that retail investor attention can exert a significant green governance effect by curbing corporate greenwashing behavior. This effect operates through enhancing minority shareholder activism and drawing attention of other stakeholders. Moreover, we find that the green governance effect of retail investors complements the effect of local environmental regulations but is less evident in companies under great financial pressure. Further research reveals that retail investor attention not only reduces environmental information disclosure but also increases corporate environmental investment and green patents, thereby elevating the overall ESG ratings. This paper provides both theoretical support and empirical evidence for leveraging the green governance effect of retail investors to foster sustainable development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48074,"journal":{"name":"Pacific-Basin Finance Journal","volume":"93 ","pages":"Article 102848"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Pacific-Basin Finance Journal","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927538X25001854","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BUSINESS, FINANCE","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

As the climate issues intensify, corporate environmental performance has garnered greater attention globally. Beyond environmental regulations, a market-oriented approach to govern corporate environmental behavior is urgently needed. Based on account-level data from China's two investor interactive platforms, namely the “eHuDong” and “HuDongYi” of Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges, we empirically find that retail investor attention can exert a significant green governance effect by curbing corporate greenwashing behavior. This effect operates through enhancing minority shareholder activism and drawing attention of other stakeholders. Moreover, we find that the green governance effect of retail investors complements the effect of local environmental regulations but is less evident in companies under great financial pressure. Further research reveals that retail investor attention not only reduces environmental information disclosure but also increases corporate environmental investment and green patents, thereby elevating the overall ESG ratings. This paper provides both theoretical support and empirical evidence for leveraging the green governance effect of retail investors to foster sustainable development.

查看原文本刊更多论文

散户投资者关注的绿色治理效应：来自中国投资者互动平台的证据

随着气候问题的加剧，企业的环境绩效在全球范围内受到越来越多的关注。除了环境法规之外，迫切需要以市场为导向的方法来管理企业的环境行为。基于沪深两大投资者互动平台“沪通”和“沪通一”的账户层面数据，我们实证发现，散户关注可以通过抑制企业洗绿行为发挥显著的绿色治理效应。这种效应是通过增强小股东的行动主义和吸引其他利益相关者的注意来实现的。此外，我们发现散户投资者的绿色治理效应与地方环境法规的作用相辅相成，但在资金压力较大的公司中不太明显。进一步研究发现，散户投资者的关注不仅减少了环境信息披露，而且增加了企业的环境投资和绿色专利，从而提高了整体ESG评级。本文为利用散户绿色治理效应促进可持续发展提供了理论支持和实证证据。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Pacific-Basin Finance Journal BUSINESS, FINANCE-

CiteScore

6.80

自引率

6.50%

发文量

157

期刊介绍： The Pacific-Basin Finance Journal is aimed at providing a specialized forum for the publication of academic research on capital markets of the Asia-Pacific countries. Primary emphasis will be placed on the highest quality empirical and theoretical research in the following areas: • Market Micro-structure; • Investment and Portfolio Management; • Theories of Market Equilibrium; • Valuation of Financial and Real Assets; • Behavior of Asset Prices in Financial Sectors; • Normative Theory of Financial Management; • Capital Markets of Development; • Market Mechanisms.