School of International Business, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
Financial Department, Qingdao Haijian Investment CO., Ltd., Qingdao, Shandong, China.
PLoS One. 2024 Sep 11;19(9):e0307638. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0307638. eCollection 2024.
Environmental issues have gradually become a key concern for society. The public has been paying increasing attention to corporate environmental disclosure and performance. With the "go global" trend, more and more enterprises are looking to overseas markets for new technologies and resources. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are facing more challenges than domestic enterprises. To remain competitive and sustainable, enterprises from developing countries need to gain a foothold in developed countries. We explore how MNEs' internationalization impacts environmental disclosure, specifically focusing on the role of green investors as stakeholders. We draw evidence from Chinese-listed MNEs, with a total of 4,709 panel data observations. For the main analysis, we use a fixed effect model. The findings suggest that a higher level of internationalization can improve both the willingness and quality of environmental disclosure for MNEs, and this relationship is further strengthened by green investors. A heterogeneity analysis reveals that the positive effect of internationalization on environmental disclosure is mainly present in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and developed host countries. We find that external pressure from host countries motivates MNEs to increase environmental disclosure willingness and quality. This study provides valuable insights for MNEs from emerging economies on how to achieve legitimacy and a positive reputation in overseas markets through environmental disclosure strategies. This study proposes the importance of green investors on environmental disclosure issues from a stakeholder perspective and provides new theoretical insights for environmental policy reform in developing countries such as China.
环境问题逐渐成为社会关注的焦点。公众越来越关注企业的环境披露和绩效。随着“走出去”的趋势，越来越多的企业将目光投向海外市场，以获取新技术和资源。与国内企业相比，跨国企业（MNE）面临着更多的挑战。为了保持竞争力和可持续性，发展中国家的企业需要在发达国家立足。我们探讨了 MNE 的国际化如何影响环境披露，特别是关注绿色投资者作为利益相关者的作用。我们从中国上市公司的跨国企业中获得了证据，共有 4709 个面板数据观测值。对于主要分析，我们使用固定效应模型。研究结果表明，更高的国际化水平可以提高跨国企业的环境披露意愿和质量，而绿色投资者进一步加强了这种关系。异质性分析表明，国际化对环境披露的积极影响主要存在于国有企业（SOE）和发达的东道国。我们发现，东道国的外部压力促使跨国企业提高环境披露的意愿和质量。本研究为新兴经济体的跨国企业提供了宝贵的见解，即如何通过环境披露策略在海外市场获得合法性和良好声誉。本研究从利益相关者的角度提出了绿色投资者对环境披露问题的重要性，为中国等发展中国家的环境政策改革提供了新的理论见解。
