The Impact of Governmental Digital Tax Regulation on Corporate ESG Greenwashing: Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment of China's Golden Tax Project Phase III

Amid the global wave of sustainable development, ESG greenwashing has emerged as a typical manifestation of distortion in corporate non-financial information disclosure. Using data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2023 as the sample, this paper conducts an in-depth exploration of the impact and internal mechanism of the Golden Tax Project Phase III on corporate ESG greenwashing. The findings show that the implementation of the Golden Tax Project Phase III significantly inhibits corporate ESG greenwashing behaviors, and this conclusion has passed a series of robustness tests, including the parallel trend test, placebo test, and replacement of core explanatory variables. In terms of the impact mechanism, the Golden Tax Project Phase III acts on corporate ESG greenwashing mainly through three paths: improving the level of corporate information disclosure, reducing corporate agency costs, and alleviating corporate financing constraints. The heterogeneity analysis shows that the inhibitory effect of the Golden Tax Project Phase III on corporate ESG greenwashing is particularly significant among state-owned enterprises, enterprises in the western region, and non-high-tech enterprises, which reveals the differences in the governance of corporate ESG information disclosure distortion by the Golden Tax Project Phase III under different contexts. This study enriches the interdisciplinary research on the economic consequences of digital regulation and the governance of corporate ESG information disclosure, and also provides empirical references and practical implications for optimizing the ESG greenwashing regulatory mechanism via technological empowerment and promoting the sustainable development of the capital market.