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Talk the talk, but walk the walk: what do we know about marital demography and corporate greenwashing?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2021

Xingqiang Du Open the ORCID record for Xingqiang Du [Opens in a new window] ,
Quan Zeng Open the ORCID record for Quan Zeng [Opens in a new window]  and
Ying Zhang
Xingqiang Du*
Affiliation:
School of Management, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
Quan Zeng*
Affiliation:
School of Management, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
Ying Zhang
Affiliation:
School of Management, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
*
*Corresponding author. Email: xqdu@xmu.edu.cn (Xingqiang Du)
**Corresponding author. Email: xqduzeng@163.com (Quan Zeng)
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Abstract

Using a sample of 21,628 firm-year observations from the Chinese stock market during the period of 2008–2017, this study finds that the divorce–marriage ratio, the proxy for marital demography, is significantly positively associated with corporate greenwashing. This finding suggests that higher divorce–marriage ratio is associated with stronger individualistic social atmosphere, lower conformity to social norms, and more unfavorable attitude towards environmental conservation, abets firms to talk the talk rather than walk the walk, and foments corporate greenwashing. Moreover, China's Environmental Protection Law attenuates above positive relation. Lastly, our conclusions are robust to sensitivity tests using the divorce rate, alternative proxies for greenwashing, and individual-level divorce data, and further our findings are also valid after addressing the endogeneity issue.

Keywords

China's Environmental Protection Lawgreenwashingthe divorce–marriage ratio
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , First View , pp. 1 - 42
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2021

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