Corporate strategic positioning and environmental information disclosure under circular economy: evidence from China
ISSN: 0025-1747
Article publication date: 27 July 2023
Issue publication date: 5 September 2024
Abstract
Purpose
The authors intend to investigate the relations between corporate strategic positioning and environmental information disclosure (EID) behaviors in the context of the circular economy. The authors argue that the development of the circular economy is crucial to address environmental issues and achieve sustainable development, and companies play a vital role in this process as micro-entities. By examining corporate EID behaviors, the authors could understand their adoption of circular practices to a certain extent.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conduct a content analysis of companies' annual fiscal reports, social responsibility reports and environmental reports and develop text-based proxies for both strategic positioning and EID quality to explore the relationship between them.
Findings
The authors find that corporate strategic positioning does affect corporate EID behaviors. Specifically, firms that implement a prospector strategy are more likely to engage in high-quality EID. Furthermore, the results suggest that green innovation is one of the mediators through which strategic positioning affects EID. Compared with defenders, prospectors are more likely to engage in green innovation, which, in turn, leads to higher-quality EID and demonstrates a more active approach to the circular economy.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature on strategic positioning and corporate EID by providing empirical evidence on the impact of corporate strategic positioning on EID behaviors. Moreover, the study employs a textual analysis approach to measure corporate strategy and EID, which is a relatively new research method in this field.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Funding: This work was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China under grant [20BGL092].
Expression of concern: The publisher of Management Decision is issuing an Expression of Concern for the following article Gu, Y., Wu, P. and Du, R. (2023), “Corporate strategic positioning and environmental information disclosure under circular economy: evidence from China”, Management Decision, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-02-2023-0301, which was submitted to the guest-edited special issue ‘Navigating the role of circular economy in entrepreneurship: Opportunities and challenges’. An investigation by the publisher found a number of articles with multiple concerns, including but not limited to compromised editorial handling and reviewing, undisclosed conflicts of interest, and lack of suitability for the scope of the journal. As a result of these concerns and as trust in the content is central to the integrity of the publication process, the Editor-in-Chief and publisher have taken the decision to publish an Expression of Concern for all articles within this special issue. The journal has not been able to confirm whether the authors were aware of these concerns. The authors of this article would like to note that they do not agree with the content of this notice. An investigation is ongoing and is currently unresolved. Further information will be provided by Management Decision as it becomes available.
Citation
Gu, Y., Wu, P. and Du, R. (2024), "Corporate strategic positioning and environmental information disclosure under circular economy: evidence from China", Management Decision, Vol. 62 No. 9, pp. 2791-2813. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-02-2023-0301
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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