“绿色”具有经济价值吗?——基于中国上市公司数据的研究

Does“Green”Have Economic Value?A Study Based on the Data of Listed Companies in China

在改革发展的新时期,企业绿色责任的履行受到了越来越多的关注,然而,有关绿色责任与企业价值之间关系的研究却仍处于比较初步的阶段。本文以2010—2016年中国上市公司为样本,从社会合法性视角探讨了“绿色责任—企业价值”之间的关系,并基于资源依赖理论和企业受关注程度视角分析了企业产权性质和媒体报道对上述关系的调节作用,研究发现:第一,更多地履行绿色责任有助于企业后期价值的提升。第二,资源依赖程度的差异使得企业所有权性质在“绿色责任—企业价值”之间发挥了显著的调节作用,相对而言,民营企业更多地履行绿色责任对企业价值的提升作用更明显。第三,媒体报道使得企业的绿色责任得到更多的认可,从而强化了绿色责任与企业价值之间的正向关系;同时,媒体报道还会进一步强化企业产权性质对“绿色责任—企业价值”关系的调节作用。本文的研究在一定程度上拓展了资源依赖理论和声誉机制的应用情境,同时为鼓励企业更多地履行绿色责任提供了数据支撑。

At present,China’s economy has entered a new period of slowing-down growth,structural optimization and the pursuit of development quality.How to coordinate the relationship between economic development and eco-environmental protection has become a major challenge in the transition period.The report of the 19th CPC National Congress made it clear that the overall layout of the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the“five-in-one”,including the construction of ecological civilization.In response to the call of the government,enterprises have implanted green development strategies into their development blueprints.At present,one of the mainstream views on corporate green responsibility is“profit-driven”,but there is no consistent answer to how green responsibility affects corporate value.From the perspective of social legitimacy,this paper discusses the effect of green responsibility on corporate value,and analyzes the nature of corporate property rights and the regulatory effect of media reports on the above relationship based on the resource dependence theory and the degree of attention of enterprises.Based on the data of Chinese listed companies from 2010 to 2016,the following important findings are obtained.First,green responsibility has a significant positive effect on the promotion of corporate value.Second,corporate ownership plays a significant role in regulating“green responsibility–corporate value”.Compared with other types of enterprises,the implementation of green responsibility by private enterprises plays a more obvious role in the promotion of value in the later stage.Third,media reports play a significant positive role in regulating“green responsibility-corporate value”,that is,the more media reports,the more significant the role of green responsibility on the promotion of corporate value.Finally,media reports also play a significant secondary regulatory role in the relationship between the corporate ownership and“green responsibility–corporate value”,that is,private enterprises are more able to benefit from media reports,so as to enhance the role of green responsibility in promoting the economic value of enterprises.Our paper aims to make several contributions to the literature.First,based on the resource dependence theory,we discuss the regulatory role of the corporate ownership in the relationship between“green responsibility and corporate value”.It is helpful to further understand the important role of green responsibility in promoting the value of private enterprises from the perspective of resource dependence theory.Second,we discuss the regulatory role of media reports in the relationship between“green responsibility and corporate value”,which is helpful to understand the impact of green responsibility on corporate value from the perspective of external governance.At the same time,we further discuss the secondary regulation effect of media reports on the relationship between the nature of corporate ownership and“green responsibility–corporate value”,which complements the research content of resource dependence theory from the perspective of media participation in governance.Third,considering that there are great differences in economic system and market completeness between economies in transition such as China and developed countries,the research experience based on developed countries may not be applicable to developing countries.The research of this paper not only provides data support for supporting the economic value of corporate green responsibility,but also enriches the applicable situation of the relationship between“green responsibility and corporate value”.