Search Results (402)

As sustainable finance continues to advance, an important question is how scientifically designed and well-targeted policies can curb corporate ESG greenwashing and improve the quality of firms’ ESG and sustainability disclosure. From the perspective of fiscal–financial policy coordination, we exploit the green loan interest subsidy policy (GLIS) as a quasi-natural experiment and develop an analytical framework around four policy components: commercial banks’ information screening, local governments’ green screening, the subsidy instrument’s leverage and certification effects, and firms’ internal green governance. Within this framework, we examine whether the GLIS can restrain corporate ESG greenwashing. Using Chinese listed firms from 2009 to 2022 as the sample and identifying the effect through a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model, we find that the GLIS significantly curbs corporate ESG greenwashing. In exploring the underlying channels, we find that the GLIS curbs corporate ESG greenwashing by strengthening commercial banks’ information screening, enhancing local governments’ green screening, easing firms’ external financing constraints, and reinforcing firms’ internal green governance. Further analysis indicates that the inhibitory effect of the GLIS on corporate ESG greenwashing is more pronounced among non-state-owned firms, firms in the growth stage, firms in heavily polluting industries, and firms located in regions with weaker resource endowments. In addition, the stronger a firm’s digital technology R&D capability and corporate governance capability, the greater the restraining effect of the GLIS on its ESG greenwashing. By systematically evaluating the governance effect of fiscal–financial policy coordination on corporate ESG greenwashing, our study provides useful insights for governments seeking to improve green finance policies and optimize the coordination of green policy instruments. Full article

Tomato is susceptible to various fungal pathogens, including Alternaria alternata and Curvularia spicifera, which can cause extensive post-harvest losses. Chemical fungicides have limited effectiveness in controlling post-harvest fungal pathogens and pose risk to human health and the environment. Therefore, this study assessed indigenous isolates of three species of Trichoderma (Tr1: T. longibrachiatum; Tr2: T. harzianum; and Tr3: T. asperellum) as biocontrol agents against two fungal pathogens in vitro and in vivo and determined their physicochemical analysis and plant-growth-promoting traits. The three species of Trichoderma exhibited catalase production in vitro, while T. longibrachiatum and T. asperellum showed the highest potential for plant-growth promotion by producing indole-3-acetic acid and phosphate solubilization but not nitrogen-fixing capability. T. harzianum showed lower potential in these traits. Mycelial growth was found to be maximum (5.77–12.27 cm) at 30 °C and a pH of 7–9, but inhibition (2.60–5.13 cm) was recorded at the highest temperature (45 °C) and pH (11). In vivo, studies on tomato fruits indicated that T. longibrachiatum and T. asperellum significantly (p < 0.05) reduced lesion diameters of A. alternata by 53.60% and 48.71%, respectively, and C. spicifera by 55.58% and 56.19%, respectively, relative to the infected control. Besides their antifungal efficacy, the three species of Trichoderma enhanced tomato seedling growth, particularly at 1/10 filtrate dilution, and improved fruit quality parameters by increasing firmness and nitrate content, while reducing oxidative stress. Physicochemical analysis indicated that Trichoderma-treated fruits had better firmness, pH, and nitrate value coupled with a reduction in oxidative stress (reduced malondialdehyde content) compared to pathogen-infected controls. The indigenous isolates of the three species of Trichoderma provided high efficacy as biocontrol agents of the two fungal pathogens that cause post-harvest losses of tomato, suggesting that biological control can replace synthetic chemicals in preserving tomato under storage conditions and contribute to agricultural sustainability. Full article

This study examines the moderating effect of firm attributes on the value relevance of accounting information in Saudi Arabia. Using a sample of 630 firm-year observations from 126 Saudi listed firms over 2018–2022, the research evaluates whether audit quality, size, leverage, growth potential, board diversity, and profitability complement the valuation role of earnings per share (EPS) and book value per share (BVPS) and if so then which direction of the attribute gave greater value relevance. Results reveal that all the firm attributes tested have a significant moderating effect on value relevance. Lower leverage, higher growth potential, greater board diversity, and profitability all lead to higher predicted market value for given EPS and BVPS. Big 4 audit quality and larger firm size are found to moderate the value relevance of accounting information rather than to influence share price directly. Both attributes strengthen the value relevance of earnings per share (EPS)—the EPS coefficient is significantly higher for firms audited by a Big 4 firm and for larger firms—while weakening the value relevance of book value per share (BVPS), with the BVPS coefficient being significantly lower in both cases. The combined effect is that earnings carry greater pricing weight, and book values carry lesser pricing weight, when audit quality is high and when firms are larger. Results also reveal that cohorts with Big 4 auditor, larger size, lower leverage, higher growth potential, more diverse boards, and profitability all have greater value relevance (higher R²) than cohorts with the alternative for each attribute. Hence, tests provide evidence that these attributes strengthen the association between selective accounting figures (EPS and BVPS) and share prices. The findings contribute to agency, information asymmetry, and value-relevance theory by showing that firm attributes condition the EPS and BVPS pricing weights rather than affecting price directly. The results have implications for regulators and firms seeking to improve financial reporting credibility and usefulness amid concentrated ownership. This study contributes timely empirical evidence on the multifaceted drivers of value relevance in an under-researched Middle Eastern emerging market. Full article

The tension between corporate growth and sustainability is a common governance dilemma faced by transitional economies in their green development. This study incorporates corporate ESG performance and its potential influencing factors into the analysis framework and constructs a theoretical model to capture the relationship between China’s National Demonstration Base policy for Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation (MEI) and corporate ESG performance, based on the framework that integrates resource enablement, reputation accumulation and information governance. Leveraging the quasi-natural experiment provided by China’s National Demonstration Program for Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation (MEI), this study systematically evaluates the impact of China’s demonstration policy on corporate ESG performance, drawing on data from A-share listed companies spanning 2010 to 2024. The study finds that the demonstration policy significantly improves enterprise ESG performance, which remains robust after a series of robustness tests. The mechanism test reveals that the policy promotes firms’ green technology innovation by lowering innovation costs, facilitates the accumulation of social reputational capital by incentivizing charitable donations, and compels improvements in information disclosure quality by strengthening market-oriented oversight. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the policy effects are more prominent among heavy polluting industries, large-scale enterprises and firms at the mature stage. Moreover, industry competition intensity and digital transformation have a positive moderating effect on the policy effects. This paper enriches the theoretical dialogue between institutional innovation policy and enterprise sustainable development, providing empirical evidence for the development of a collaborative ESG governance mechanism characterized by an active government and an efficient market. Full article

When the Sustainable Development Plan for National Resource-Based Cities (SDPNRBC) incorporated tourism into its 2013 policy framework, cities of all sizes pursued tourism-led transitions. More than a decade on, this study asks whether these efforts have translated into genuine improvements in tourism efficiency. Using panel data from 258 Chinese prefecture-level cities spanning 2003 to 2023, we treat the SDPNRBC as a quasi-natural experiment and apply a difference-in-differences framework. Cities covered by the plan saw significant expansion in tourism scale, but tourism total factor productivity declined over the same period, indicating that growth was driven by factor accumulation rather than by genuine efficiency gains. Two channels appear to explain this divergence. The policy triggered a green paradox in which extractive firms accelerated output before tighter regulations took effect, undermining the environmental quality on which tourism depends. In parallel, policy-induced structural reallocation expanded labour-intensive service activity at a pace that outstripped complementary capital and skill formation, a pattern analogous to Baumol’s cost disease. A life-cycle heterogeneity analysis sharpens these findings: efficiency losses concentrate in Growing cities, attenuate in Mature cities, and disappear in Declining and Regenerating cities. Successor-industry policies should therefore be calibrated to where each city stands in its resource life cycle. Full article

Against the backdrop of the deep integration of the “Dual Carbon” goals and the digital economy, whether digital asset allocation can improve corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance has become an important topic of academic concern. Taking all Chinese A-share listed firms from 2013 to 2024 as the research population, this study obtains a final panel sample of 29,329 firm-year observations after excluding financial and insurance firms, ST/*ST firms, newly listed firms, and observations with missing key variables. Digital asset allocation is measured by the proportion of digital technology-related intangible assets to total intangible assets. The study employs a two-way fixed-effects panel model, firm-clustered robust standard errors, IV-2SLS estimation, robustness tests based on alternative measurements and sample restrictions, and Bootstrap sequential mediation analysis. The findings reveal that digital asset allocation significantly enhances corporate ESG performance. Mechanism tests indicate that digital asset allocation improves corporate ESG performance through internal control quality, green technological innovation, and the sequential pathway from internal control quality to green technological innovation. Further moderation analysis shows that the promotion effect is more pronounced in heavily polluting industries, while heterogeneity analysis indicates stronger effects among firms in the growth and decline stages, non-state-owned enterprises, and firms with lower financing constraints. This study provides empirical evidence and policy implications for optimizing corporate digital resource allocation, improving internal governance mechanisms, and advancing classified ESG. Full article

High-tech manufacturing is a technology- and knowledge-intensive strategic industry. Its total factor productivity (TFP) directly impacts national competitiveness and economic quality. In China, despite rapid growth, TFP performance varies across sub-sectors and firms. In this study, TFP was adopted as the central outcome variable to capture the comprehensive production and technological efficiency of high-tech manufacturing firms. The Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) framework was integrated with Dynamic Qualitative Comparative Analysis (Dynamic QCA) to examine the causal complexity, dynamic evolution, and industrial heterogeneity of TFP, using a sample of Chinese A-share-listed companies from 2015 to 2024. The results showed that high TFP depends on configurations rather than on a single factor. Three configurational paths were identified, including “technology–innovation–scale synergy,” “technology–scale dual core,” and “technology-led productivity optimization.” All paths require a strong technological foundation. Conversely, a lack of technology leads to low total factor productivity across all sectors. Moreover, the effectiveness of these pathways evolves over time. The dual-core pathway serves as a stable baseline model. The synergy pathway is reinforced in fast-iteration sectors. Due to weak innovation support, the productivity optimization pathway declined after 2019. Third, different sectors show distinct patterns. Fast-iteration sectors use synergy to handle rapid technical changes. Slow-iteration sectors use the dual-core model to share R&D risks. Productivity-optimized sectors stagnate because they focus on automation instead of innovation. This work reveals deep patterns in TFP growth and provides theoretical support and practical insight for strategic choices of firms, industry resource allocation, and industrial policy optimization. Full article

Driven by the rapid growth of the low-altitude economy, drone logistics is emerging as a critical component of modern smart logistics systems. This study aims to examine how heterogeneous logistics service providers (LSPs) select among technological innovation, inter-firm cooperation, and hybrid strategies, as well as how these strategic choices affect ESG performance. We develop a two-stage duopoly Cournot game model that accounts for asymmetric logistics capabilities and consumers’ service-quality sensitivity, and compare the three strategic arrangements against a benchmark scenario without innovation or cooperation. Results show that a capability-driven Matthew effect already exists in the benchmark market. Technological innovation may further widen the performance gap between firms, yet it generates the highest social welfare by improving service quality and preserving market competition. Pure cooperation enhances coordination efficiency and environmental performance, but may reduce consumer surplus by weakening competition. The hybrid strategy generally delivers the highest system profit and robust environmental performance, while its advantages depend on market parameters and require sound benefit-sharing governance mechanisms. This study contributes to sustainable drone logistics research by integrating strategic interaction, firm heterogeneity and ESG outcomes into a unified framework, and provides targeted managerial and policy implications for innovation support, alliance governance and competition regulation. Full article

Plums are primarily sold fresh, but post-harvest softening and rotting can cause significant economic losses. Understanding quality changes across different maturity stages is crucial for meeting consumer demand for high-quality fruit. This study systematically analyzed the dynamic changes in the physicochemical properties, phenolic content, and cellular structure of ‘French’ plums during six growth and development stages (D1–D6), and comprehensively evaluated fruit quality using correlation analysis and principal component analysis (PCA). The results showed that firmness declined considerably with maturity, whereas the soluble solids content (SSC) increased and titratable acidity (TA) decreased. The peel color progressed from green to a purplish-red. The levels of sugars, such as glucose and fructose, increased, whereas those of major organic acids decreased. Phenolic content varied with developmental stage, with catechin and epicatechin peaking at the D3 stage (pre-color green stage), demonstrating exceptional antioxidant potential. At the D5 stage (purple stage), the fruit exhibits an ideal balance of sweetness, acidity and moderate firmness. Although at the D6 stage (full purple ripe stage), SSC reached its highest levels, fruit cell walls were compromised, vesicles ruptured, and firmness significantly decreased. At this stage, phenolic content declined, indicating that the fruit had attained full maturity. At this maturity level, the fruit should be promptly consumed or processed. Full article

Previous research has highlighted several firm-specific determinants of ESG disclosure; however, the link with R&D activities remains largely underexplored, despite the distinctive characteristics of such investments. We argue that R&D is characterized by asset specificity, uncertainty, and growth prospects, which generate informational frictions and shape firms’ disclosure incentives. This study is motivated by the need to understand how innovation-related opacity influences ESG reporting in the context of increasing demand for non-financial disclosure by capital market participants. Based on 12,025 European firm-year observations over the period 2014–2024 and fixed-effects estimations, we find that R&D intensity is positively associated with ESG disclosure, and this relationship is strengthened by board independence. Robustness tests using GMM estimations and disaggregated ESG components confirm the results. The study is relevant because R&D-related opacity can affect how investors and stakeholders assess firms’ long-term value creation and sustainability orientation. Theoretically, the study extends ESG disclosure literature by highlighting innovation-related informational frictions as a key determinant of sustainability reporting. Practically, the findings suggest that investors and regulators should consider firms’ R&D intensity and governance structures when evaluating ESG transparency and disclosure quality. Full article

Enterprise green transformation is a strategic response to emerging development concepts and high-quality growth, as well as a key approach to achieving symbiotic integration between firms and their social environment. Using a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2008 to 2023, this paper examines the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure and green transformation. It further explores the underlying mechanisms, focusing on the role of patient capital as an external governance mechanism within the green governance environment. Empirical results show that CSR disclosure significantly promotes corporate green transformation. Mechanism tests reveal that this effect operates through two channels: alleviating agency costs and easing financing constraints, with patient capital playing a positive moderating role. Additional analyses indicate that the promoting effect of CSR disclosure on green transformation is particularly pronounced in competitive and polluting industries. Full article

In product manufacturing and operations, firms increasingly treat Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) ratings as strategically important. This differs from earlier views that framed ESG mainly as a burden, whereas recent studies suggest that ESG can enhance firm value. Using panel data on Chinese A-share listed firms over 2009–2022, this study examines whether ESG ratings affect product-market performance. A two-way fixed-effects model shows that better ESG ratings significantly increase market share, mainly by signaling stronger product quality and service capability. While findings from this emerging market context may have limited generalizability, results consistently show that ESG performance bolsters competitiveness, particularly in high-tech and consumer-facing sectors. Moreover, improvements in ESG ratings are positively associated with net market-share growth. The benefits extend beyond the focal firm and generate positive spillovers for downstream customers. The three ESG dimensions do not contribute equally: the Environmental (E) and Governance (G) dimensions exert stronger effects on product-market performance than the Social (S) dimension. This study provides a new perspective on understanding the value creation mechanism of ESG investment. Full article

The use of nanotechnology-based delivery systems along with growth regulators of plants is a promising approach to increase the quality of fruits postharvest. This experiment was aimed at determining the impact of sonicated nanoemulsions containing methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) on the quality of postharvest Tango mandarin. The findings showed the samples treated improved fruit weight, diameter, firmness and juice percentage significantly compared to the control sample. TMJ4 (10.0 µM L⁻¹) was the most effective treatment at preserving the fruit firmness, whereas TMJ3 (7.5 µM L⁻¹) was the best treatment at improving the internal quality characteristics, such as total soluble solids, sugar–acid ratio, phenolics, flavonoids, flavonols, and antioxidant activity. Reduction in titratable acidity and a subsequent increase in sugar-to-acid ratio indicated a better maturation behavior and flavor profile of the fruit. The augmented retention of bioactive compounds implies the stimulation of secondary metabolite pathways and stress tolerance. The results suggest that nanoemulsion delivery of methyl jasmonate and NAA by sonication is an efficient method of enhancing the quality of the postharvest and prolonging the shelf life of Tango mandarin. Full article

In recent years, China’s digital economy has become a key engine for high-quality development. Assessing the operational efficiency of leading digital enterprises is crucial for optimizing resource allocation and promoting sectoral growth. However, existing research largely remains at regional or industry levels and typically reports efficiency scores without diagnosing the root sources of inefficiency. To fill this gap, this study measures the operational efficiency of 99 firms selected from China’s Top 100 Digital Economy list (2017–2022) using the BCC-DEA model, and analyzes their dynamic evolution via kernel density estimation. The findings reveal a fluctuating upward trend in overall efficiency, and that the gap in overall technical efficiency primarily originates from scale efficiency rather than pure technical efficiency. The kernel density peak exhibits a “rise–decline–rise” pattern, indicating existing but narrowing efficiency differences among firms. By decomposing efficiency, this study further classifies firms into four types, revealing that inefficiency is heterogeneous. This paper makes three main contributions. First, it identifies scale efficiency as the main source of efficiency gaps. Second, it classifies firms into four types, revealing that inefficiency is heterogeneous. Third, it uses kernel density estimation to track the dynamic evolution of efficiency, showing a narrowing efficiency gap but a persistent superstar effect. Two policy implications follow: firms with low pure technical efficiency should focus on management training and technology adoption, while firms with low scale efficiency should pursue scale expansion through mergers or partnerships. Full article

Against the background of climate uncertainty, market volatility, and evolving regulatory environments, firms embedded in agricultural value chains face increasing pressure to maintain sustainable growth. This study examines China’s A-share-listed Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) firms to explore how internal organizational factors and external institutional conditions jointly shape firm-level sustainable growth capability. This setting is characterized by strong ecological dependence, strict quality regulation, deep policy embeddedness, and supply-chain sensitivity. Drawing on the resource-based view, dynamic capability theory, contingency theory, and the institutional environment perspective, this study applies fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to 2023 cross-sectional data from 59 A-share-listed TCM firms. The results show that no single condition constitutes a necessary condition for high sustainable growth capability. Instead, high sustainable growth capability is mainly achieved through three configurational pathways: innovation-driven growth, policy-supported development, and market-responsive strategy. Low sustainable growth capability follows asymmetric pathways, mainly reflected in the mismatch between innovation capability and the institutional environment, and the coexistence of high financing constraints and low agility response. The findings indicate that sustainable growth capability is not the result of isolated factors, but a context-specific configurational outcome shaped by innovation, agility response, internationalization, equity governance, ESG performance, government support, marketization level, and financing conditions. This study provides a configurational explanation for growth research on agriculture-related firms and offers differentiated pathway implications for managers and policymakers. Full article