Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Corporate Environmental Responsibility in Polluting Industries: Does Religion Matter?

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Using a sample of Chinese listed firms in polluting industries for the period of 2008–2010, we empirically investigate whether and how Buddhism, China’s most influential religion, affects corporate environmental responsibility (CER). In this study, we measure Buddhist variables as the number of Buddhist monasteries within a certain radius around Chinese listed firms’ registered addresses. In addition, we hand-collect corporate environmental disclosure scores based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability reporting guidelines. Using hand-collected Buddhism data and corporate environmental disclosure scores, we provide strong and robust evidence that Buddhism is significantly positively associated with CER. This finding is consistent with the following view: Buddhism can serve as social norms to evoke the consciousness of social responsibility, and thereof strengthen CER. Our findings also reveal that the positive association between Buddhism and CER is attenuated for firms with higher law enforcement index. The results are robust to various measures of Buddhism and a variety of sensitivity tests.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. We acknowledge our great thanks to one referee for his/her valuable suggestion on this expression of “diffusion of Buddhism”. According to this suggestion, we use the expression of “diffusion of Buddhism” as the substitution for the phrase of “Buddhism intensity” in our original version.

  2. Take energy use for example, it came close to its energy intensity target, reducing energy intensity over the 5-year period by 19.1 %, and increasing non-fossil fuel use by 3.1 % per year. As a result, non-fossil energy now comprises 8.3 % of China’s total energy use (Seligsohn 2011).

  3. (1) Notice of Supervising the Listed Firms in Shanghai Stock Exchange to Disclose the Annual Report of Year 2008 (SHSE 2008a); (2) Notice of Supervising the Listed Firms in Shenzhen Stock Exchange to Disclose the Annual Report of Year 2008 (SZSE 2008); and (3) Guide to Environmental Information Disclosure for Listed Firms in Shanghai Stock Exchange (SHSE 2008b).

  4. We thank a referee for the incisive comments on whether investors penalize companies because of their environmental awareness and/or economic considerations. We find that firms that disobeyed China’s related environmental laws escaped significant economic sanctions. Therefore, we believe that angry investors punished firms by selling their stocks.

  5. Unreported results, available from the author on request (similarly hereafter), suggest that Taoism does not impact environmental protection.

  6. It is difficult to obtain the exact number of Buddhists because thousands of Buddhists practice Buddhism at home. Buddhists are very conservative, discreet, and take part in rituals humbly and privately with others. Moreover, because of persecution in the Cultural Revolution, many prefer to keep their religious beliefs private.

  7. Please refer to the following website: http://www.arcworld.org/.

  8. See news at the following website: http://www.dadunet.com/html/2009/12/94-102-126085742812949.html.

  9. We thank one referee for his/her constructive comment and insightful suggestion that we should discuss whether the influence of Buddhism and law on corporate environmental responsibility reciprocally reinforces or substitutes.

  10. The results are not qualitatively changed by deleting the top and the bottom 1% of the sample, by no deletion, or by no winsorization.

  11. Following some U.S. studies using firm headquarters as firm locations (Hilary and Hui 2009), we use firm’s registered place instead. A firm’s registered place is usually the initial place where the business started and it is firm’s headquarters in most cases.

  12. See “The report on nation-widely famous Buddhist monasteries and Taoist temples in Han area.”

  13. We conduct three tests to examine whether the corporate environmental disclosure score in our sample has standard normal distribution, respectively. Our results show that the null hypothesis that “corporate environmental disclosure score obeys the standard normal distribution” is rejected at the 1 % level regardless of used test approaches (z = 19.38, z = 2.76, and χ2 = 5317.66 for Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, Cramer-von Mises test, and Anderson–Darling test, respectively).

  14. We conduct multi-collinearity diagnostic tests for all the variables in the models and find that variance inflation factor (VIF) is less than 2 for all the variables, suggesting that multi-collinearity is not a serious concern in the estimation of our models.

  15. We thank a referee for the suggestion that we consider alternative explanations for empirical results. First, we find that our measure of Buddhism is not the proxy for urbanization or corporate governance. We also examine whether population density and urban/rural development simultaneously affect the religiosity level and firms’ environmental attitudes. The untabulated results show that population density and regional development have no significant influence on the religiosity level. Moreover, when we include population density and regional development, results in Table 5 still hold. The non-tabulated robustness checks are available from the author upon request.

  16. We thank one referee for his/her suggestion that we should discuss the potential influence of difference in firm size (e.g., larger firms V.S. smaller firms) on corporate environmental protection. The unreported tests show that the influence on corporate decisions holds for both smaller and larger firms.

  17. Du (2012) and El Ghoul et al. (2012b) argue that panel data regression can alleviate the potential endogeneity between religion and corporate behavior.

References

  • Allen, F., Qian, J., & Qian, M. (2005). Law, finance, and economic growth in China. Journal of Financial Economics, 77(1), 57–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Al-Tuwaijri, S. A., Christensen, T. E., & Hughes, K. E. (2004). The relations among environmental disclosure, environmental performance, and economic performance: A simultaneous equations approach. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 29(5–6), 447–471.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Angelidis, J., & Ibrahim, N. (2004). An exploratory study of the impact of degree of religiousness upon an individual’s corporate social responsiveness orientation. Journal of Business Ethics, 51(2), 119–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ashiwa, Y., & Wank, D. L. (2006). The politics of a reviving Buddhist temple: State, association, and religion in southeast China. The Journal of Asian Studies, 65(2), 337–359.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beal, S. (1884). Buddhism in China. Great Britain: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bear, S., Rahman, N., & Post, C. (2010). The impact of board diversity and gender composition on corporate social responsibility and firm reputation. Journal of Business Ethics, 97(2), 207–221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brammer, S., & Pavelin, S. (2008). Factors influencing the quality of corporate environmental disclosure. Business Strategy and the Environment, 17(2), 120–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brammer, S., Williams, G., & Zinkin, J. (2007). Religion and attitudes to corporate social responsibility in a large cross-country sample. Journal of Business Ethics, 71(3), 229–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carroll, A. (1979). A three-dimensional conceptual model of corporate performance. Academy of Management Review, 4, 497–505.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carroll, A. (1991). The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders. Business Horizons, 34(4), 39–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carroll, A. (1999). Corporate social responsibility. Business and Society, 38(3), 268–295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, H. (2003). Brief overview of law and religion in the People’s Republic of China, A. Brigham Young University Law Review, 465–474.

  • Chen, G., Firth, M., Gao, N., & Rui, O. (2006). Ownership structure, corporate governance, and fraud: Evidence from China. Journal of Corporate Finance, 12(3), 424–448.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Claessens, S., Djankov, S., Fan, J. P. H., & Lang, L. H. P. (2002). Disentangling the incentive and entrenchment effects of large shareholdings. Journal of Finance, 57(6), 2741–2771.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarkson, P. M., Li, Y., Richardson, G. D., & Vasvari, F. P. (2008). Revisiting the relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: An empirical analysis. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 33(4), 303–327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cochran, P. L., & Wood, R. A. (1984). Corporate social responsibility and financial performance. Academy of Management Journal, 27(1), 42–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conroy, S. J., & Emerson, T. L. N. (2004). Business ethics and religion: Religiosity as a predictor of ethical awareness among students. Journal of Business Ethics, 50(4), 383–396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cormier, D., & Magnan, M. (1999). Corporate environmental disclosure strategies: Determinants, costs and benefits. Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance, 14(3), 429–451.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daniels, P. (2008). Buddhism and sustainable consumption in the book edited by Zsolnai Laszlo, Sustainability and sufficiency: Economic development in a Buddhist perspective (pp. 35–60). Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest: Society and Economy.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deegan, C., & Gordon, B. (1996). A study of the environmental disclosure practices of Australian corporations. Accounting and Business Research, 26(3), 187–199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Du, X. (2012). Does religion matter to owner-manager agency costs? Evidence from China. Journal of Business Ethics. doi:10.1007/s10551-012-1569-y.

  • Du, X., Jian W., Du, Y., Feng, W., & Zeng, Q. (2013). Religion, the nature of ultimate owner, and corporate philanthropic giving: Evidence from China. Journal of Business Ethics. doi:10.1007/s10551-013-1804-1.

  • Dyreng, S. D., Mayew, W. J., & Williams, C. D. (2012). Religious social norms and corporate financial reporting. Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, 39(7–8), 845–875.

    Google Scholar 

  • El Ghoul, S., Guedhami, O., Ni, Y., Pittman, J. A., & Saadi, S. (2012a). Does information asymmetry matter to equity pricing? Evidence from firm’s geographic location. Contemporary Accounting Research, Forthcoming, available at: SSRN. http://ssrn.com/abstract=1676023.

  • El Ghoul, S., Guedhami, O., Ni, Y., Pittman, J. A., & Saadi, S. (2012b). Does religion matter to equity pricing? Journal of Business Ethics, 111(4), 491–518.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fan, G., Wang. X. L., & Zhu, H. P. (2011). NERI index of Marketilization of China’s provinces 2011 report. Economics Science Press (in Chinese).

  • Garriga, E., & Melé, D. (2004). Corporate social responsibility theories: mapping the territory. Journal of Business Ethics, 53(1), 51–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Georges, E. (1997). In search of a common ethical ground: Corporate environmental responsibility from the perspective of Christian environmental stewardship. Journal of Business Ethics, 16(2), 173–181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghorbani, M., Liao, Y., Cayköylü, S. & Chand, M. (2012). Guilt, shame, and reparative behavior: The effect of psychological proximity. Journal of Business Ethics. doi:10.1007/s10551-012-1350-2.

  • Gould, S. J. (1995). The Buddhist perspective on business ethics: Experiential exercises for exploration and practice. Journal of Business Ethics, 14(1), 63–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gray, R., Kouhy, R., & Lavers, S. (1995). Corporate social and environmental reporting: A review of the literature and a longitudinal study of UK disclosure. Accounting Auditing and Accountability Journal, 8(2), 47–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grullon, G., Kanatas, G., & Weston, J. P. (2010). Religion and corporate (mis) behavior. Rice University, Working paper.

  • Guthrie, J., & Parker, L. (1989). Corporate social reporting: A rebuttal of legitimacy theory. Accounting and Business Research, 19(76), 343–352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hilary, G., & Hui, K. W. (2009). Does religion matter in corporate decision making in America? Journal of Financial Economics, 93(3), 455–473.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hossain, M., Tan, L. M., & Adams, M. B. (1994). Voluntary disclosure in an emerging capital market: Some empirical evidence from companies listed on the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange. The International Journal of Accounting, 29(4), 334–351.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang, C.-L., & Kung, F.-H. (2010). Drivers of environmental disclosure and stakeholder expectation: Evidence from Taiwan. Journal of Business Ethics, 96(3), 435–451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ilinitch, A. Y., Soderstrom, N. S., & Thomas, T. E. (1998). Measuring corporate environmental performance. Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, 17(4–5), 383–408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ingram, R., & Frazier, K. B. (1980). Environmental performance and corporate disclosure. Journal of Accounting Research, 18, 612–622.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jian, M., & Wong, T. J. (2010). Propping through related party transactions. Review of Accounting Studies, 15(1), 70–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jin, Z., & Qiu, Y. (2011). Annual report on religions in China. Social Sciences Academic Press (in Chinese).

  • Jo, H., & Harjoto, M. A. (2012). The causal effect of corporate governance on corporate social responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, 106(1), 53–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • John, K., Knyazeva, A., & Knyazeva, D. (2011). Does geography matter? Firm location and corporate payout policy. Journal of Financial Economics, 101(3), 533–551.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, E. J., & Lawton, L. (1998). Religiousness and business ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 17(2), 163–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kong, D., Liu, S. & Dai, Y. (2012). Environmental policy, company environment protection, and stock market performance: Evidence from China. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management. doi:10.1002/csr.1306.

  • Kuo, L., Yeh, C. C. & Yu, H. C. (2012). Disclosure of corporate social responsibility and environmental management: Evidence from China. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management. doi:10.1002/csr.1276.

  • Lim, L. (2010). Chinese run to religion to fill a spiritual vacuum. Retrieved 05 January 2013 from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128544048.

  • Ling, H. (2004). Buddhism in China. Beijing: Chinese Intercontinental Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu, X., & Anbumozhi, V. (2009). Determinant factors of corporate environmental information disclosure: An empirical study of Chinese listed companies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 17(6), 593–600.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Longenecker, J. G., McKinney, J. A., & Moore, C. W. (2004). Religious intensity, evangelical Christianity, and business ethics: An empirical study. Journal of Business Ethics, 55(4), 373–386.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • longquanzs.org. (2013). Environmental protection needs both macro institutional system and micro culture work, Retrieved 26 May 2013 from http://www.longquanzs.org/b/54600.html.

  • Loughran, T. (2007). Geographic dissemination of information. Journal of Corporate Finance, 13(5), 675–694.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loughran, T., & Schultz, P. (2005). Liquidity: Urban versus rural firms. Journal of Financial Economics, 78(2), 341–374.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magnuson, J. C. (2008). Pathways to a mindful economy in the book edited by Zsolnai Laszlo, Sustainability and sufficiency: Economic development in a Buddhist perspective (pp. 79–107). Budapest: Society and Economy, Akadémiai Kiadó.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marques, J. (2012). Consciousness at work: A review of some important values, discussed from a Buddhist perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 105(1), 27–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGuire, S. T., Omer, T. C., & Sharp, N. Y. (2012). The impact of religion on financial reporting irregularities. The Accounting Review, 87(2), 645–673.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meng, X. H., Zeng, S. X., Tam, C. M., & Xu, X. D. (2012). Whether top executives’ turnover influences environmental responsibility: From the perspective of environmental information disclosure. Journal of Business Ethics. doi:10.1007/s10551-012-1351-1.

  • NYTIMES. (2007). China overtakes U.S. in greenhouse gas emissions. Retrieved 20 May 2013 from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/20/business/worldbusiness/20iht-emit.1.6227564.html.

  • Overmyer, D. L. (2003). Religion in China today: Introduction. The China Quarterly, 174(2), 307–316.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pace, S. (2012). Does religion affect the materialism of consumers? An empirical investigation of buddhist ethics and the resistance of the self. Journal of Business Ethics. doi:10.1007/s10551-012-1228-3.

  • Pacey, S. (2005). A Buddhism for the human world: Interpretations of renjian fojiao in contemporary Taiwan. Asian Studies Review, 29(1), 61–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patten, D. M. (1992). Intra-industry environmental disclosures in response to the Alaskan oil spill. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 17(5), 471–475.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfeffer, J. (1972). Size and composition of corporate boards of directors: The organization and its environment. Administrative Science Quarterly, 218–228.

  • Pistor, K., & Xu, C. (2005). Governing stock markets in transition economics: Lessons from China. American Law and Economics Review, 7(1), 184–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Porter, M. E., & Kramer, M. R. (2006). The link between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility. Harvard business review, 84(12), 78–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pujari, D., Peattie, K., & Wright, G. (2004). Organizational antecedents of environmental responsiveness in industrial new product development. Industrial Marketing Management, 33(5), 381–391.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quiles, Z. N., & Bybee, J. (1997). Chronic and predispositional guilt: Relations to mental health, prosocial behavior, and religiosity. Journal of Personality Assessment, 69(1), 104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rahman, N., & Post, C. (2012). Measurement issues in environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR): Toward a transparent, reliable, and construct valid instrument. Journal of Business Ethics, 105(3), 307–319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rice, G. (2006). Pro-environmental behavior in Egypt: Is there a role for Islamic environmental ethics? Journal of Business Ethics, 65(4), 373–390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rising, B. (2000). SPHDIST: Stata module to compute spherical distances. Statistical Software Components S372502. Boston College Department of Economics. http://ideas.repec.org/c/boc/bocode/s372502.html#refs.

  • Roberts, R. W. (1992). Determinants of corporate social responsibility disclosure: An application of stakeholder theory. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 17(6), 595–612.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seligsohn, D. (2011) The transformation of China’s energy system: Challenges and opportunities. World Resources Institute 2011. Retrieved 05 January 2013 from http://www.wri.org.cn/files/wri/documents/seligsohn_testimony_energy_and_commerce_2011-04-04.pdf.

  • Sharma, S. (2000). Managerial interpretations and organizational context as predictors of corporate choice of environmental strategy. Academy of Management Journal, 43(3), 681–697.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • SHSE. (2008a). Notice of supervising the listed firms in Shanghai stock exchange to disclose the annual report of year 2008. http://www.sse.com.cn/aboutus/hotandd/ssenews/c/c_20121024_51173.shtml.

  • SHSE. (2008b). Guide to environmental information disclosure for listed firms in Shanghai stock exchange. http://www.sse.com.cn/lawandrules/sserules/listing/stock/c/c_20120918_49642.shtml.

  • Shum, P. K., & Yam, S. L. (2011). Ethics and law: Guiding the invisible hand to correct corporate social responsibility externalities. Journal of Business Ethics, 98(4), 549–571.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sobhani, F. A., Zainuddin, Y., & Amran, A. (2011). Religion as an emerging institutional factor behind sustainability disclosure practices in Bangladesh: The case of an Islamic bank. World Journal of Social Sciences, 1(1), 69–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • SZSE. (2008). Notice of supervising the listed firms in Shenzhen stock exchange to disclose the annual report of year 2008. http://www.szse.cn/main/disclosure/bsgg/2008123139739051.shtml.

  • Tateisi, N. (2004). Corporate social responsibility leads to sustainable economic growth in China-observations from the leader of the CBCC dialogue mission on CSR in the People’s Republic of China. Retrieved 05 January 2013 from http://www.keidanren.or.jp/CBBCC/english/report/2004.

  • Van Rooij, B., & LO, C. W. H. (2010). Fragile convergence: Understanding variation in the enforcement of China’s industrial pollution law. Law & Policy, 32(1), 14–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verma, N. (2008). Religion: A savior for environment with particular emphasis on Hinduism. Working paper, Retrieved 05 January 2013 from: http://www.iitk.ac.in/infocell/announce/convention/papers/Context%20and%20Human%20Resource-04-Nandita%20Verma.pdf.

  • Wang, A. (2006). Role of law in environmental protection in China: Recent developments. The Vermont Journal of Environmental Law, 8, 195–216.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, L., & Juslin, H. (2009). The impact of Chinese culture on corporate social responsibility: The harmony approach. Journal of Business Ethics, 88, 433–451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Q., Wong, T. J., & Xia, L. (2008). State ownership, the institutional environment, and auditor choice: Evidence from China. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 46(1), 112–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wei, D. R. (2010). Buddhism in China and Modern Society: An introduction centering around the teachings of Taixu and Yinshun. The Journal of Oriental Studies, 20, 171–182.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wines, W. A., & Napier, N. K. (1992). Toward an understanding of cross-cultural ethics: A tentative model. Journal of Business Ethics, 11(11), 831–841.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiseman, J. (1982). An evaluation of environmental disclosures made in corporate annual reports. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 7(1), 53–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, F. (2009). Religion in China under communism: A shortage economy explanation. Journal of Church and State, 52(1), 3–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ye, K., & Zhang, R. (2011). Do lenders value corporate social responsibility? Evidence from China. Journal of Business Ethics, 104(2), 197–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yin, J., & Zhang, Y. (2012). Institutional dynamics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in an emerging country context: Evidence from China. Journal of Business Ethics, 111(2), 301–316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeghal, D., & Ahmed, S. (1990). Comparison of social responsibility information disclosure media by Canadian firms. Accounting, Auditing, and Accountability Journal, 3(1), 38–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeng, S. X., Liu, H. C., Tam, C. M., & Shao, Y. K. (2008). Cluster analysis for studying industrial sustainability: An empirical study in Shanghai. Journal of Cleaner Production, 16(10), 1090–1097.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeng, S. X., Xu, X. D., Yin, H. T., & Tam, C. M. (2012). Factors that drive Chinese listed companies in voluntary disclosure of environmental Information. Journal of Business Ethics, 109(3), 309–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, J. Q., Zhu, H. & Ding, H.-B.. (2012). Board Composition and Corporate Social Responsibility: An Empirical Investigation in the Post Sarbanes-Oxley Era. Journal of Business Ethics. doi:10.1007/s10551-012-1352-0:1-12.

  • Zsolnai, L. (2008). Sustainability and sufficiency: Economic development in a Buddhist perspective. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest: Society and Economy.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We are especially grateful to the editor (Prof. Domènec Melé) and two anonymous reviewers for their many constructive comments and valuable suggestions. We appreciate constructive comments from Feng Liu, Guohua Jiang, Donghua Chen, Jinhui Luo, Wentao Feng, Hongmei Pei, Shaojuan Lai, Yingying Chang, and participants of seminars in Xiamen University, Anhui University, Ocean University of China, and Shanghai University. Professor Xingqiang Du acknowledges the National Natural Science Foundation of China (approval number: 71072053), the Key Project of Key Research Institute of Humanities and Social Science in Ministry of Education (approval number: 13JJD790027), and the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (approval number: 20120121110007) for financial support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Accounting Department, School of Management, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, Fujian, China

    Xingqiang Du

  2. Xiamen National Accounting Institute, Island-Coast Express, Xiamen, 361005, Fujian, China

    Wei Jian

  3. School of Management, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, Fujian, China

    Quan Zeng

  4. Accounting Department, School of Management, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China

    Yingjie Du

Authors
  1. Xingqiang Du
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Wei Jian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Quan Zeng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yingjie Du
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wei Jian.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 9.

Table 9 Variable definitions
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Du, X., Jian, W., Zeng, Q. et al. Corporate Environmental Responsibility in Polluting Industries: Does Religion Matter?. J Bus Ethics 124, 485–507 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1888-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1888-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation