Substantive transformation or strategic response? The impact of a negative social responsibility performance gap on green merger and acquisition of heavily polluting firms

How to promote heavily polluting firms to achieve substantive green transformation is an important issue. Using the data from Chinese samples, this paper investigates the influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance feedback on the decision and performance of green merger and acquisition (GMA). We find that a negative CSR performance gap is positively related to the likelihood of GMA. From the perspective of market pressure, the mediating roles of negative investor sentiment and media coverage are revealed. Furthermore, the above promotion effect is only reflected in firms with high financial slack, with high public environmental attention, or in the growth stage. Regarding GMA performance, we find that GMA driven by a CSR performance gap merely promotes strategic green innovation, but it promotes substantive green innovation when firms are under high-intensity government environmental regulation. This study provides new insights on how to promote firms to engage in GMA and improve GMA performance.</p

Chain intermediary test of financing structure and market power with forward integration.

Chain intermediary test of financing structure and market power with forward integration.</p

Robustness test.

Robustness test.</p

Each enterprise’s average ICSR of the Chinese coal industry, 2008-2017.

Each enterprise’s average ICSR of the Chinese coal industry, 2008-2017.</p

Intermediary test of market power.

Intermediary test of market power.</p

Vertical integration of coal enterprises along the industry chain.

Vertical integration of coal enterprises along the industry chain.</p

Vertical integration and ICSR regression results.

Vertical integration and ICSR regression results.</p

Conceptual model.

Conceptual model.</p

Intermediary test of financing structure.

Intermediary test of financing structure.</p

Total coal consumption and its proportion in total energy consumption in China, 2008-2017.

Total coal consumption and its proportion in total energy consumption in China, 2008-2017.</p