External financing demands, media attention and the impression management of carbon information disclosure

Abstract

This study examined whether firms’ external financing demands affect the impression management of carbon information disclosure; we also considered the moderating role of media attention in this relationship. The sample consisted of firms in eight energy-intensive industries included in the State Council of China’s “Notice on the Pilot Work of Carbon Emission Trading.” The findings are as follows: (1) A positive correlation existed between external financing demand and the impression management of carbon information disclosure; that is, compared to firms without external financing demand, those with external financing demand had greater impression management of carbon information disclosure. (2) Media attention partially weakened the effect of external financing demand on the impression management of carbon information disclosure. These findings are shown to be robust. Further test indicated that, compared to state-owned enterprises (SOEs), the effect of external financing demand on the impression management of carbon information disclosure was more pronounced in non-SOEs. Our findings enrich the literature on carbon information disclosure. They also provide ideas for governments to formulate carbon information disclosure standards, for investors to effectively identify firm’s impression management of carbon information disclosure, and for firms to better carry out carbon management.

Keywords

• external financing demand
• carbon information disclosure
• impression management
• media attention