环境信息呈现顺序与机构持股——来自社会责任报告的证据

Environmental information presentation order in CSR reports and institutional investors'shareholding

随着绿色环保理念的不断深化,上市公司企业社会责任(CSR)报告逐渐成为评估企业未来价值的重要指标。该研究基于心理学顺序效应理论,聚焦CSR报告环境信息披露前置现象,以2011—2021年沪深两市A股上市公司CSR报告为研究对象构建环境信息章节位置衡量变量,研究环境信息章节呈现顺序对机构投资者的影响。研究发现:①CSR报告环境信息章节前置导致机构投资者持股比例显著增加,该结果在一系列稳健性和内生性检验后依然成立。②环境信息章节前置对机构投资者的影响在上市公司环保意识和机构投资者特征角度具有异质性。具体而言,上市公司环境绩效水平、环境信息披露质量及行业环境敏感性均影响环境信息章节前置对机构投资者持股作用的发挥;相比非投资型机构投资者,投资型机构投资者更易受到环境信息章节前置的影响,其中合格境外投资者、保险资金受环境章节顺序的影响更大。③CSR报告环境信息章节前置的经济后果主要体现在对企业未来价值的提升,该结果在不同价值衡量变量中均得以检验。在低托宾Q上市公司中,环境信息章节前置对企业未来价值的增量作用更大。进一步研究表明,机构投资者能够敏锐察觉环境信息章节前置的经济后果,更青睐低托宾Q且前置环境信息章节的上市公司。该结论侧面验证了机构投资者的“聪明钱”效应。该研究剖析了环境信息章节呈现顺序对机构投资者投资决策的影响,为CSR报告环境信息章节存在顺序效应提供了实证证据,进一步拓展了心理学顺序效应在资本市场的研究,对CSR报告披露制度的完善和披露监督力度的加强以及机构投资者决策有用性的增强具有启示意义。

With the continuous deepening of China's green environmental protection concept,the corporate social responsibility(CSR)reports of listed companies have gradually become an important indicator for evaluating the future value of enterprises.Based on the order effect theory of psychology,this paper focused on the phenomenon of the forward presentation of the environmental information chapter in CSR reports,constructed the location measurement variables of the environmental information chapter with the CSR reports of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchange from 2011 to 2021,and explored the impact of the presentation order of the environmental chapter on institutional investors through empirical research.The results showed that:①The forward presentation of the environmental information chapter in CSR reports led to an increase in institutional investors'shareholding ratio,which was still valid after a series of robustness and endogeneity tests.②The heterogeneity analysis showed that the differential effect of the forward presentation of the environmental information chapter on institutional investors was mainly reflected in corporate environmental awareness,and the characteristics of institutional investors,i.e.,the environmental performance level,environmental information disclosure quality,and industry environmental sensitivity of listed companies,all affected the role of the environmental information chapter in institutional investors'shareholding ratio.Compared to non-investment-oriented institutional investors,investment-oriented institutional investors were more susceptible to the impact of the forward presentation of the environmental information chapter,of which QFII and insurance institutional investors were more affected by the order of the environmental information chapter location.③The economic consequences of the forward presentation of the environmental information chapter in CSR reports were mainly reflected in the improvement of the future value of enterprises.This result was tested on different value measurement variables.In low-Tobin's Q-listed companies,the incremental effect of the forward presentation of the environmental information chapter on the future value of the enterprise was more significant.Further research showed that institutional investors could keenly perceive the economic consequences of the forward presentation of the environmental information chapter,and this conclusion indirectly confirmed the‘smart money’effect of institutional investors by favoring listed companies with low Tobin's Q and the forward presentation of the environmental information chapter.This paper analyzes the impact of the order of the environmental information chapter on institutional investors'investment decisions,providing empirical evidence for the order effect of the environmental information chapter location in CSR reports and broadening the research field of psychological order effects in the capital market.It has significant implications for improving the disclosure system of CSR reports,strengthening the supervision of disclosure,and increasing the usefulness of institutional investors'decision-making.