党组织参与治理能够提升国有企业的环境绩效吗?

Can a SOE’s Environmental Performance Be Improved if Party Committee Participates in the Governance?

本文利用2004—2018年间重污染行业的国有上市公司样本,考察党组织参与治理对国有企业环境绩效的影响。基于手工收集的公司党委会成员与董事会、经理层及监事会成员之间“双向进入、交叉任职”的信息,本文发现党组织与董事会、经理层和监事会之间“双向进入”程度越高,国有企业的环境绩效越高;党委书记(副书记)担任国有企业的董事长或CEO能够显著提升企业的环境绩效。并且,党组织主要通过董事会(而非经理层或监事会)治理参与渠道影响国有企业的环境绩效。进一步研究发现,当媒体关注度较低、实际控制人金字塔层级数较多、CEO非党员(相比于CEO是党员)时,党组织参与治理对企业环境绩效的促进作用更强。本文从环境保护的新视角丰富和拓展了党组织在国有企业中的治理效应的研究,也为如何通过微观治理机制设计改善企业的环境治理提供了一定的政策参考。

This paper investigates the impact of political intervention on corporate environmental performance from the unique perspective of Party involvement in governance by using state-owned listed companies in heavy pollution industries for the period of 2004 to 2018.Based on the manually collected information on the overlaps between members of the Party committee and those of the board of directors,the top management team and the board of supervisors(the management team),we find that firms with higher level of Party involvement in corporate governance are more likely to have investment related to environment protection,and have higher level of environmental investment.Moreover,we conclude that the relationship between Party involvement and environmental performance is driven mainly by the effect of Party involvement in the board of directors.Further evidences show that the positive effect of Party involvement on environmental performance is more pronounced for firms(1)that have lower media attention;(2)that have more levels in the pyramid structure of ultimate controller;and(3)whose CEO is a member of Chinese Communist Party.Various robustness tests confirm our main conclusions.Our results provide a new micro perspective for the role of the Party involvement in state-owned enterprises,and have important policy implications for the firm-level environmental governance in China.