国有股参股能否提升企业ESG表现?——来自民营上市公司的经验证据

Can State Ownership Participation Improve Firms'ESG Performance?Empirical Evidence from Private Listed Firms

国家大力推动经济高质量发展,企业践行ESG理念可视为积极响应高质量发展的具体表现。文章将民营企业中参股的国有股权当作一种重要的资源与治理机制,使用2017—2021年在A股上市的民营控股公司数据,研究了国有股权对企业ESG表现的影响。研究发现:国有股参股能够显著提升民营企业的ESG表现,其机制在于国有股参股增强了企业的环保投入及税收贡献,并改善了企业高管与普通员工的薪酬差距。“党建入章”与媒体关注分别作为企业内外部监督机制,均能够显著强化国有股参股对民营企业ESG表现的提升作用。进一步研究发现,相较于传统产业,国有股参股于从事新兴产业的民营企业中,更能够提升其ESG表现。此外,国有股参股于ESG表现较好的民营企业中,对其经营绩效具有更为明显的提升作用。研究为政府部门制定民营企业高质量发展政策提供了参考依据。

Environmental,social,and governance(ESG)is used to measure the sustainability of firm development.Essentially,the ESG concept requires firms to actively incorporate the interests of various stakeholders into their operating decisions,continuously improve their ESG performance,and gain widespread recognition from numerous stakeholders,thereby providing internal driving force for firms to gain more competitive advantages and achieve high-quality development.In the revised stock listing rules of Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges in2023,it is explicitly required that listed firms should actively practice the concept of sustainable development,actively assume social responsibility,safeguard public interests,and attach importance to ecological environment protection.Against the background of China's strong promotion of high-quality economic development,the ESG concept coincides with the requirements for firms'high-quality development.As an indispensable component of China's market economy system,whether private firms can effectively implement the ESG concept is related to the quality of national economic development.This paper regards state ownership participated in private firms as an important resource and governance mechanism.Using the data of private firms listed in Ashares from 2017 to 2021,it studies the impact of state ownership on corporate ESG performance.The results show that state ownership participation can significantly improve the ESG performance of private firms.In order to clarify the channels in which state ownership participation improves corporate ESG performance,the focus is on the three aspects of E(environment),S(society),and G(governance),which correspond to the public,government,and employees as stakeholders.The mechanism lies in that state ownership participation enhances firms'environmental investment and tax contribution,and narrows the salary gap between executives and ordinary employees.“CPC's Party building into Articles of Association”and media attention,as internal and external supervision mechanisms of firms,can significantly strengthen the role of state ownership participation in enhancing the ESG performance of private firms.Further analysis finds that,compared with traditional industries,state ownership participation in private firms in emerging industries can better improve their ESG performance.In addition,state ownership participation in private firms with better ESG performance has a more significant promotion effect on their operational performance.This paper provides a reference basis for government departments to formulate high-quality development policies for private firms.