Driving factors of enterprise energy-saving and emission reduction behaviors

Based on the dual legitimacy theory, this study combined the institutional theory with the adaptive legitimacy theory to explore the external factors affecting enterprise ESER behaviors, and examined the internal factors affecting ESER behaviors of enterprises based on the strategic legitimacy theory and the upper echelons theory. The data of 5389 listed companies in China during 2008 and 2018 were used. We collected secondary data from the China Research Data Service Platform (CNRDS) and RESSET database. The logit model and ordered logit model were used to analyze the data. Results showed that different factors had different effects on an enterprise's different ESER behaviors. For example, market factors could significantly affect a variety of ESER behaviors of enterprises, while media attention could only significantly reduce the probability of pollutant emission of enterprises. Green technology reserve has a significant and positive effect on several ESER behaviors; while financial slack promotes environmentally beneficial products and green office but inhibits other ESER behaviors. At last, the proportion of females in the senior management team positively influences company's ESER behaviors. (c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study combines the institutional theory and the adaptive legitimacy theory based on the dual legitimacy theory to explore the external factors affecting enterprise ESER behaviors, and examines the internal factors affecting ESER behaviors of enterprises based on the strategic legitimacy theory and the upper echelons theory. The findings show that different factors have different effects on various ESER behaviors of enterprises. For example, market factors significantly affect a variety of ESER behaviors, while media attention only significantly reduces the probability of pollutant emission. Green technology reserve and the proportion of females in the senior management team have positive effects on ESER behaviors of companies.