Do online media and investor attention affect corporate environmental information disclosure?Evidence from Chinese listed companies

Environmental information disclosure (EID) is a reference way for enterprises to fulfill their social responsibility. It's essential to explore the factors influencing corporate EID for high-quality economic development and low carbon development. This paper empirically investigates the effect of online media attention and investor attention measured by the Baidu index on the quality of corporate EID using a sample of 309 Chinese listed firms in heavily polluting industries in 2015-2017. We find that both long-term online media attention and investor attention are negatively associated with the quality of corporate EID, and the effects of short-term media attention and investor attention on the quality of corporate EID are mixed. Moreover, we examine the moderating effect of online media attention on the relationship between investor attention and the quality of corporate EID and find that the negative effect of investor attention on the quality of corporate EID is strengthened by online media attention. The results remain robust after conducting a series of robustness tests, and implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.

Automated summary

This paper empirically investigates the effect of online media attention and investor attention on the quality of corporate environmental information disclosure (EID). The results show that long-term online media attention and investor attention are negatively associated with the quality of corporate EID, while the effects of short-term media attention and investor attention are mixed. Moreover, online media attention strengthens the negative effect of investor attention on the quality of corporate EID.