Liang Yaru, Gao Xiang
School of Business, Shanghai Normal University Tianhua College, Shanghai, China.
Research Center of Finance, Shanghai Business School, Shanghai, China.
Front Public Health. 2025 Mar 25;13:1565703. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1565703. eCollection 2025.
Amid China's pursuit of its "dual carbon" objectives and the escalating emphasis on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosure, corporate environmental responsibility has emerged as a critical regulatory and market concern. However, mounting institutional and stakeholder pressures have incentivized some firms to engage in greenwashing-strategically overstating or misrepresenting their environmental commitments-to sustain legitimacy and competitive positioning.
This study empirically investigates the impact of greenwashing on corporate financial performance using panel data from 157 publicly listed Chinese public health firms between 2020 and 2022. A mediation model is utilized to identify the mechanism role of organizational legitimacy in affecting the relationship between greenwashing and corporate financial performance.
The findings reveal that greenwashing significantly undermines organizational legitimacy, which, in turn, leads to negative financial repercussions. Firms that overstate their environmental commitments experience diminished stakeholder trust, regulatory scrutiny, and reputational damage, ultimately eroding their financial performance.
By analyzing the indirect pathways through which greenwashing influences firm performance, this research advances theoretical discourse on corporate environmental accountability and legitimacy-based performance dynamics. Furthermore, the study offers actionable insights for public health enterprises, emphasizing the necessity of transparent and verifiable environmental communication to mitigate reputational risks and ensure sustainable financial outcomes. Additionally, it provides empirical evidence to inform policymakers in refining regulatory frameworks that enhance transparency in environmental reporting and foster substantive sustainability practices.
在中国追求“双碳”目标以及对环境、社会和治理（ESG）披露的重视不断升级的背景下，企业环境责任已成为监管和市场关注的关键问题。然而，日益增加的制度和利益相关者压力促使一些公司进行漂绿行为——战略性地夸大或歪曲其环境承诺——以维持合法性和竞争地位。
本研究利用2020年至2022年间157家中国上市公共卫生公司的面板数据，实证研究了漂绿行为对企业财务绩效的影响。采用中介模型来确定组织合法性在影响漂绿行为与企业财务绩效之间关系中的作用机制。
研究结果表明，漂绿行为会严重损害组织合法性，进而导致负面的财务影响。夸大其环境承诺的公司会经历利益相关者信任度下降、监管审查和声誉受损，最终侵蚀其财务绩效。
通过分析漂绿行为影响企业绩效的间接途径，本研究推进了关于企业环境责任和基于合法性的绩效动态的理论探讨。此外，该研究为公共卫生企业提供了可行的见解，强调了透明且可验证的环境沟通对于减轻声誉风险和确保可持续财务成果的必要性。此外，它还提供了实证证据，为政策制定者完善监管框架提供参考，以提高环境报告的透明度并促进实质性的可持续发展实践。
