Digital Transformation and Corporate Environmental, Social and Governance Greenwashing: Promotion or Inhibition?

Chengyu Sun; Chenxi Li; Huiran Yang

doi:10.6981/FEM.202501_6(1).0025

Authors

Chengyu Sun
Chenxi Li
Huiran Yang

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6981/FEM.202501_6(1).0025

Keywords:

Digital Transformation; ESG Greenwashing; Total Factor Productivity; External Supervision; Green Innovation.

Abstract

With the accelerated advancement of digital transformation and the global popularization of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards, companies are facing challenges in environmental protection and social responsibility while pursuing economic benefits. However, the emergence of ESG greenwashing phenomena, which refers to false publicity and non-transparent disclosure in ESG performance, poses a challenge to the credibility of the ESG system. This paper aims to explore how digital transformation affects corporate ESG greenwashing behavior and analyzes its mechanism of action. By selecting listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares market from 2012 to 2022 as samples, this paper uses a multiple linear regression model to empirically test the impact of digital transformation on corporate ESG greenwashing behavior. The results show that digital transformation can significantly inhibit corporate ESG greenwashing behavior. Further analysis reveals that this inhibitory effect is mainly achieved by improving enterprise total factor productivity, strengthening external supervision pressure, and enhancing corporate green innovation capabilities. In addition, heterogeneous tests show that the inhibitory effect of digital transformation on corporate ESG greenwashing is more significant in non-state-owned property, non-high-tech, and heavily polluting enterprises. This study not only enriches the research perspective of the impact of digital transformation on corporate non-financial performance but also provides specific guidance for companies on how to balance economic benefits and social responsibility during the process of digital transformation, which is of great theoretical and practical significance for achieving high-quality sustainable development.

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