Does brand capital influence corporate environmental policies? Evidence from toxic release inventory data

IF 5.9 1区经济学 Q1 BUSINESS, FINANCE

Journal of Corporate Finance Pub Date : 2025-09-03 DOI:10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102885

Md Ismail Haidar , Mark Kroll , Nam H. Nguyen

{"title":"Does brand capital influence corporate environmental policies? Evidence from toxic release inventory data","authors":"Md Ismail Haidar , Mark Kroll , Nam H. Nguyen","doi":"10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102885","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We investigate the relationship between brand capital and corporate environmental policies using toxic chemical release data. Using a sample of 4752 publicly listed U.S. firm-year observations from 1991 to 2020, we find that brand capital is significantly and negatively related to firm's toxic emissions, suggesting that firms with stronger brand capital tend to exhibit more environmentally responsible behavior. Further evidence reveals that the effect of brand capital on corporate environmental policies is more pronounced for firms in communities that prefer stringent environmental regulations. Additional analysis points to increased financial stability, environmental innovations, and environmental abatement investments as the mechanisms behind the documented effect of brand capital on firms' environmental policies. The results are robust to numerous robustness tests, including the use of alternative measures of brand capital, environmental policies, and several endogeneity tests. The results support the idea that strong brand capital can promote environmental responsibility in firms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15525,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Corporate Finance","volume":"95 ","pages":"Article 102885"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Corporate Finance","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929119925001531","RegionNum":1,"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

We investigate the relationship between brand capital and corporate environmental policies using toxic chemical release data. Using a sample of 4752 publicly listed U.S. firm-year observations from 1991 to 2020, we find that brand capital is significantly and negatively related to firm's toxic emissions, suggesting that firms with stronger brand capital tend to exhibit more environmentally responsible behavior. Further evidence reveals that the effect of brand capital on corporate environmental policies is more pronounced for firms in communities that prefer stringent environmental regulations. Additional analysis points to increased financial stability, environmental innovations, and environmental abatement investments as the mechanisms behind the documented effect of brand capital on firms' environmental policies. The results are robust to numerous robustness tests, including the use of alternative measures of brand capital, environmental policies, and several endogeneity tests. The results support the idea that strong brand capital can promote environmental responsibility in firms.

查看原文本刊更多论文

品牌资本会影响企业的环境政策吗？来自有毒物质释放清单数据的证据

我们使用有毒化学物质释放数据来研究品牌资本与企业环境政策之间的关系。利用1991年至2020年4752家美国上市公司的年度观察样本，我们发现品牌资本与公司有毒气体排放呈显著负相关，这表明品牌资本越强的公司往往表现出更负责任的环境行为。进一步的证据表明，品牌资本对公司环境政策的影响对于那些更喜欢严格环境法规的社区的公司来说更为明显。其他分析指出，增加的金融稳定性、环境创新和环境减排投资是品牌资本对企业环境政策的影响背后的机制。结果是稳健的许多稳健性测试，包括使用替代措施的品牌资本，环境政策，和几个内生性测试。研究结果支持强品牌资本可以促进企业环境责任的观点。

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

Journal of Corporate Finance BUSINESS, FINANCE-

CiteScore

11.80

自引率

3.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Journal of Corporate Finance aims to publish high quality, original manuscripts that analyze issues related to corporate finance. Contributions can be of a theoretical, empirical, or clinical nature. Topical areas of interest include, but are not limited to: financial structure, payout policies, corporate restructuring, financial contracts, corporate governance arrangements, the economics of organizations, the influence of legal structures, and international financial management. Papers that apply asset pricing and microstructure analysis to corporate finance issues are also welcome.