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Smog, media attention, and corporate social responsibility—empirical evidence from Chinese polluting listed companies

  • Environmental Concerns and Pollution control in the Context of Developing Countries
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Abstract

In recent years, the frequent occurrence of smog in Chinese cities has prompted great changes in the policy environment faced by enterprises. In this study, we address the question whether the decision-making behavior of enterprises will be affected by smog. This paper studied the 2010–2018 data of 218 listed Chinese polluting companies to investigate the impact of smog on corporate social responsibility (CSR). The subjects of this study were all listed on China’s A-share market on either the Shenzhen or Shanghai Stock Exchange. The empirical results indicate the following: (1) the more serious the smog, the more likely enterprises are to perform CSR; (2) smog exerts a higher impact on the social responsibility of enterprises that receive more media attention. Further research determined that media attention, whether positive, negative, or neutral, plays the same role in moderating the relationship between smog and CSR; and (3) compared to private enterprises, the function of smog in promoting the CSR fulfillment of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is more obvious. Based on the reality of Chinese polluting industries, this research combined smog and media attention in the exploration of CSR, which not only enriches CSR research but also provides positive guidance for the sustainable development of polluting enterprises.

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Acknowledgments

We thank East China University of Technology for providing a platform and support for writing the paper.

Funding

This research was financially supported by the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Project of Jiangxi Universities (Project No: JD17002, JD17004) and The Young Marxist Theoretical Research and Innovation Project Funding Project of Jiangxi Province (Project No:20QM99).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Resources and Environmental Economy, East China University of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, China

    Guobao Xiong

  2. School of Economics and Management, East China University of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, China

    Guobao Xiong & Yuanda Luo

Authors
  1. Guobao Xiong
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  2. Yuanda Luo
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Contributions

Xiong Guobao is the main designer of the article, mainly responsible for the overall arrangement of the article, and assumes the main responsibility for the article. Luo Yuanda is an important participant in the paper and participated in the writing of the article. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yuanda Luo.

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Responsible Editor: Eyup Dogan

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Xiong, G., Luo, Y. Smog, media attention, and corporate social responsibility—empirical evidence from Chinese polluting listed companies. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 46116–46129 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11978-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11978-4

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