‘Isomorphic’ behavior of corporate greenwashing

Abstract

In the implementation of corporate environmental responsibility,‘greenwashing’ is a pseudo-social behavior which is theopposite of ‘genuine green’ behaviors. With the improvement of the public awareness of environmental protection and the strengthening of the government environmental supervision, more and more enterprises are learning the green behavior adaptively. The frequentoccurrence of greenwashing has become a‘disharmonious’ voice in the construction of ecological civilization. Institutional theory holdsthat institutional factors make organizations become more similar in structure and performance due to institutional forces. This paper describes an exploratory research on the law of group behavior in corporate greenwashing, analyzes the isomorphic mechanism of corporate greenwashing based on the institutional theory, and carries out an empirical test by using the data of A-share listed companiesin heavily polluting industries during the period of 2010-2016. The research in this paper shows that corporate greenwashing behavioris significantly affected by neighboring enterprises in the same region, and proves the existence of the‘bandwagon’ effect. The results of analysis based on the nature of property rights show that state-owned enterprises have more significant regional isomorphic behaviors, indicating that state-owned enterprises are more inclined to claim legitimacy through the institutional isomorphism of greenwashing. Results of further analysis show that, greenwashing isomorphism does not significantly improve the operating performance of enterprises, but the similarity strengthens the ability of these enterprises to bear risks under an uncertain environment. As such, this provides empirical evidence support for the hypothesis that‘organizational isomorphism is usually for legitimacy rather than efficiency’in the institutional theory. The research in this paper reveals the land-derived characteristic of greenwashing behavior, and provides adecisive reference for policy implication. For the control of greenwashing, the central government should enforce and standardize theenterprise environmental report in terms of institutional arrangement, unify the form and content of disclosure, and improve the credibility and comparability of environmental information disclosure. The local governments need to strengthen the supervision of enterprises within their jurisdiction, as well as the coordination, cooperation and information sharing between departments, increase the punishment of violations, break the legal for enterprises to obtain socialrecognition by greenwashing. Meanwhile, it is necessary for the promotion of ‘genuine green’ large companies and state-owned enterprises as role models.

Keywords

• Greenwashing
• Isomorphic
• Behavior
• Disclosure of environmental information
• Bandwagon effect