Greenwash vs. Brownwash: Exaggeration and Undue Modesty in Corporate Sustainability Disclosure

References

• Aggarwal RK, Samwick AA (1999) The other side of the trade-off: The impact of risk on executive compensation. J. Political Econom. 107(1):65–105.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Albuquerque A (2009) Peer firms in relative performance evaluation. J. Accounting Econom. 48(1):69–89.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Aldy JE, Stavins R (2011) The promise and problems of pricing carbon. NBER Working paper, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Astley WG, Fombrun CJ (1983) Collective strategy: Social ecology of organizational environments. Acad. Management Rev. 8(4):576–587.Google Scholar
• Averch H, Johnson LL (1962) Behavior of the firm under regulatory constraint. Amer. Econom. Rev. 52(5):1052–1069.Google Scholar
• Bansal P, Clelland I (2004) Talking trash: Legitimacy, impression management, and unsystematic risk in the context of the natural environment. Acad. Management J. 47(1):93–103.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Bansal P, Roth K (2000) Why companies go green: A model of ecological responsiveness. Acad. Management J. 43(4):717–736.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Bizjak JM, Lemmon ML, Naveen L (2008) Does the use of peer groups contribute to higher pay and less efficient compensation? J. Financial Econom. 90(2):152–168.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Bonini S, Oppenheim J (2008) Cultivating the green consumer. Stanford Soc. Innovation Rev. (Fall) http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/cultivating_the_green_consumer.Google Scholar
• Bowen F (2014) After Greenwashing: Symbolic Corporate Environmentalism and Society (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK).Crossref, Google Scholar
• Broder JM (2011) Emissions fell in 2009, showing impact of recession. New York Times (February 16) http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/science/earth/17emit.html?_r=0.Google Scholar
• Bromley P, Powell WW (2012) From smoke and mirrors to walking the talk: Decoupling in the contemporary world. Acad. Management Ann. 6(1):483–530.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Broulhle K, Griffiths C, Wolverton A (2009) Evaluating the role of EPA policy levers. J. Environment. Econom. Management 57(2):166–181.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Chen P-L, Williams C, Agarwal R (2012) Growing pains: Pre-entry experience and the challenge of transition to incumbency. Strategic Management J. 33(3):252–276.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Decker CS (2003) Corporate environmentalism and environmental statutory permitting. J. Law Econom. 46(1):103–129.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Delmas MA, Burbano VC (2011) The drivers of greenwashing. Calif. Management Rev. 54(1):64–87.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Delmas M, Montes-Sancho M (2010) Voluntary agreements to improve environmental quality: Symbolic and substantive cooperation. Strategic Management J. 31(6):575–601.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Delmas M, Russo MV, Montes-Sancho MJ (2007) Deregulation and environmental differentiation in the electric utility industry. Strategic Management J. 28(2):189–209.Crossref, Google Scholar
• DiMaggio P, Powell W (1983) The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. Amer. Sociol. Rev. 48(2):147–160.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Doshi AR, Dowell GWS, Toffel MW (2013) How firms respond to mandatory information disclosure. Strategic Management J. 34(10):1209–1231.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Dowell G, Swaminathan A (2006) Entry timing, exploration, and firm survival in the early U.S. bicycle industry. Strategic Management J. 27(12):1159–1182.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Driscoll JC, Kraay AC (1998) Consistent covariance matrix estimation with spatially dependent data. Rev. Econom. Statist. 80(4):549–560.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Eichholtz P, Kok N, Quigley JM (2010) Doing well by doing good? Green office buildings. Amer. Econom. Rev. 100(5):2492–2509.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Environmental Law Institute (2007) Environmental Law Deskbook (Environmental Law Institute, Washington, DC).Google Scholar
• Epstein-Reeves J (2012) The “pain” of sustainability. Forbes (January 18) http://www.forbes.com/sites/csr/2012/01/18/the-pain-of-sustainability/.Google Scholar
• Fabrizio KR, Rose NL, Wolfram CD (2007) Do markets reduce costs? Assessing the impact of regulatory restructuring on US electric generating efficiency. Amer. Econom. Rev. 97(4):1250–1277.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Fisher-Vanden K, Thorburn K (2011) Voluntary corporate environmental initiatives and shareholder wealth. J. Environment. Econom. Management 62(3):430–445.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Fiss PC, Zajac EJ (2006) The symbolic management of strategic change: Sensegiving via framing and decoupling. Acad. Management J. 49(6):1173–1193.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Fowlie M (2010) Emissions trading, electricity restructuring, and investment in pollution abatement. Amer. Econom. Rev. 100(3):837–869.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Friedman M (1970) The social responsibility of business is to increase profits. New York Times Magazine (September 13).Google Scholar
• Gollop FM, Roberts MJ (1983) Environmental regulations and productivity growth: The case of fossil-fueled electric power. J. Political Econom. 91(4):654–674.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Gray W, Shimshack J (2011) The effectiveness of environmental monitoring and enforcement: A review of the empirical evidence. Rev. Environment. Econom. Policy 5(1):3–24.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Hallett T (2010) The myth incarnate: Recoupling processes, turmoil, and inhabited institutions in an urban elementary school. Amer. Sociol. Rev. 75(1):52–74.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Harrison A, Scorse J (2010) Multinationals and anti-sweatshop activism. Amer. Econom. Rev. 100(1):247–273.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Hart SL, Ahuja G (1996) Does it pay to be green? An empirical examination of the relationship between emission reduction and firm performance. Bus. Strategy Environment 5(1):30–37.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Henisz WJ, Dorobantu S, Nartey LJ (2014) Spinning gold: The financial returns to stakeholder engagement. Strategic Management J. 35(12):1729–1748.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Hoechle D (2007) Robust standard errors for panel regressions with cross-sectional dependence. Stata J. 7(3):281–312.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Hsu T (2011) Skepticism grows over products touted as eco-friendly. Los Angeles Times (May 21) http://articles.latimes.com/print/2011/may/21/business/la-fi-greenwash-20110521.Google Scholar
• Ingram P, Yue LQ, Rao H (2010) Trouble in store: Probes, protests, and store openings by Wal-Mart, 1998–2007. Amer. J. Sociol. 116(1):53–92.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Innes R, Sam AG (2008) Voluntary pollution reductions and the enforcement of environmental law: An empirical study of the 33/50 program. J. Law Econom. 51(2):271–296.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Jacobs BW, Singhal VR, Subramanian R (2010) An empirical investigation of environmental performance and the market value of the firm. J. Oper. Management 28(5):430–441.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Kassinis G, Vafeas N (2006) Stakeholder pressures and environmental performance. Acad. Management J. 49(1):145–159.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Khanna M, Damon L (1999) EPA’s voluntary 33/50 program: Impact on toxic releases and economic performance of firms. J. Environment. Econom. Management 37(1):1–25.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Kim E-H (2013) Deregulation and differentiation: Incumbent investment in green technologies. Strategic Management J. 34(10):1162–1185.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Kim E-H, Lyon TP (2011) Strategic environmental disclosure: Evidence from the DOE’s voluntary greenhouse gas registry. J. Environment. Econom. Management 61(3):311–326.Crossref, Google Scholar
• King BG (2008) A political mediation model of corporate response to social movement activism. Admin. Sci. Quart. 53(3):395–421.Crossref, Google Scholar
• King A, Lenox M (2000) Industry self-regulation without sanctions: The chemical industry’s responsible care program. Acad. Management J. 43(4):698–716.Crossref, Google Scholar
• King A, Lenox M (2001) Does it really pay to be green? An empirical study of firm environmental and financial performance. J. Indust. Ecol. 5(1):105–116.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Kraatz MS, Block ES (2008) Organizational implications of institutional pluralism. Greenwood R, Oliver C, Sahlin-Andersson K, Suddaby R, eds. The Sage Handbook of Organizational Institutionalism (Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA), 243–275.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Lacker JM, Weinberg JA (1989) Optimal contracts under costly state falsification. J. Political Econom. 97(6):1345–1363.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Loureiro M, Lotade J (2005) Do fair trade and eco-labels in coffee wake up the consumer confidence? Ecological Econom. 53(1):129–138.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Lyon TP, Maxwell JW (2011) Greenwash: Corporate environmental disclosure under threat of audit. J. Econom. Management Strategy 20(1):3–41.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Lyon TP, Montgomery AW (2013) Tweetjacked: The impact of social media on corporate greenwash. J. Bus. Ethics 118(4):747–757.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Lyon TP, Lu Y, Shi X, Yin Q (2013) How do shareholders respond to Green Company Awards in China? Ecological Econom. 94:1–8.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Mahon JF, Murray EA Jr (1980) Deregulation and strategic transformation. J. Contemporary Bus. 9(2):123–138.Google Scholar
• Mahon JF, Murray EA Jr (1981) Strategic planning for regulated companies. Strategic Management J. 2(3):251–262.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Marquis C, Lounsbury M (2007) Vive la résistance: Competing logics and the consolidation of U.S. community banking. Acad. Management J. 50(4):799–820.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Marquis C, Qian C (2014) Corporate social responsibility reporting in China: Symbol or substance? Organ. Sci. 25(1):127–148.Link, Google Scholar
• Marquis C, Toffel MW (2013) Scrutiny, norms, and selective disclosure: A global study of greenwashing. Harvard Business School Working Paper 11-115, Harvard Business School, Boston.Google Scholar
• Maxwell JW, Lyon TP, Hackett SC (2000) Self-regulation and social welfare: The political economy of corporate environmentalism. J. Law Econom. 43(2):583–617.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Meyer J, Rowan B (1977) Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony. Amer. J. Sociol. 83(2):340–363.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Meznar MB, Nigh D (1995) Buffer or bridge? Environmental and organizational determinants of public affairs activities in American firms. Acad. Management J. 38(4):975–996.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Milgrom PR (1981) Good news and bad news: Representation theorems and applications. Bell J. Econom. 12(2):380–391.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Mishina Y, Pollock TG, Porac JF (2004) Are more resources always better for growth? Resource stickiness in market and product expansion. Strategic Management J. 25(12):1179–1197.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Mitchell RK, Agle BR, Wood DJ (1997) Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: Defining the principle of who and what really counts. Acad. Management Rev. 22(4):853–886.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Morrow JL Jr, Sirmon DG, Hitt MA, Holcomb TR (2007) Creating value in the face of declining performance. Strategic Management J. 28(3):271–283.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Neff J (2012) As more marketers go green, fewer consumers willing to pay for it: Being eco-friendly is a $40B business, but shoppers are growing resistant to premium pricing. Advertising Age (September 23) http://adage.com/print/237377.Google Scholar
• Nordhaus WD (2007) A review of the “Stern review on the economics of climate change”. J. Econom. Literature 45(3):686–702.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Oliver C (1991) Strategic responses to institutional processes. Acad. Management Rev. 16(1):145–179.Crossref, Google Scholar
• O’Sullivan T (1997) Why charity schemes need a delicate touch. Marketing Week (November 20) 22–24.Google Scholar
• Pache A, Santos F (2010) When worlds collide: The internal dynamics of organizational responses to conflicting institutional demands. Acad. Management Rev. 35(3):455–476.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Palmer K, Oates WE, Portney PR (1995) Tightening environmental standards: The benefit-cost or the no-cost paradigm? J. Econom. Perspect. 9(4):119–132.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Patten DM (2002) The relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: A research note. Accounting, Organ. Soc. 27(8):763–773.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Penrose E (1959) The Theory of the Growth of the Firm (Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK).Google Scholar
• Pfeffer J (1981) Management as symbolic action: The creation and maintenance of organizational paradigms. Cummings LL, Shaw BM, eds. Research in Organizational Behavior, Vol. 3 (JAI Press, Greenwich, CT), 1–52.Google Scholar
• Porter ME, van der Linde C (1995) Towards a new conception of the environment-competitiveness relationship. J. Econom. Perspect. 9(4):97–118.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Purdy J, Gray B (2009) Conflicting logics, mechanisms of diffusion, and multilevel dynamics in emerging institutional fields. Acad. Management J. 52(2):355–380.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Ramus CA, Montiel I (2005) When are corporate environmental policies a form of greenwashing? Bus. Soc. 44(4):377–414.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Roe B, Teisl MF, Levy A, Russell M (2001) US consumers’ willingness to pay for green electricity. Energy Policy 29(11):917–925.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Russo MV, Fouts PA (1997) A resource-based perspective on corporate environmental performance and profitability. Acad. Management J. 40(3):534–559.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Sandholtz KW (2012) Making standards stick: A theory of coupled vs. decoupled compliance. Organ. Stud. 33(5–6):655–679.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Seo M, Creed WED (2002) Institutional contradictions, praxis, and institutional change. Acad. Management Rev. 27(2):222–247.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Shear MD (2013) Administration presses ahead with limits on emissions from power plants. New York Times (September 19) http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/us/politics/obama-administration-announces-limits-on-emissions-from-power-plants.html.Google Scholar
• Shin HS (2003) Disclosures and asset returns. Econometrica 71(1):105–133.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Sine W, Lee B (2009) Tilting at windmills? The environmental movement and the emergence of the U.S. wind energy sector. Admin. Sci. Quart. 54(1):123–155.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Smith W, Lewis M (2011) Toward a theory of paradox: A dynamic equilibrium model of organizing. Acad. Management Rev. 36(2):381–403.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Snellman KE (2012) Window-dressers and closet conformists: Organizational decoupling revisited. Acad. Management Proc. January(Meeting abstract supplement):1.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Spence AM (1973) Job market signaling. Quart. J. Econom. 87(3):355–374.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Stern N (2007) The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK).Crossref, Google Scholar
• Terrachoice (2010) The sins of greenwashing: Home and family edition 2010. Report, Terrachoice/UL, Ottawa, ON, Canada. http://sinsofgreenwashing.org/index35c6.pdf.Google Scholar
• Tilcsik A (2010) From ritual to reality: Demography, ideology, and decoupling in a post-Communist government agency. Acad. Management J. 53(6):1474–1498.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Trexler MC, McFall KS (1993) Building a CO2 mitigation portfolio: The future is now for carbon sinks. Electricity J. 6(8):60–69.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Tushman ML, Anderson P (1986) Technological discontinuities and organizational environments. Admin. Sci. Quart. 31(3):439–465.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Ullmann AA (1985) Data in search of a theory: A critical examination of the relationships among social performance, social disclosure, and economic performance of U.S. firms. Acad. Management Rev. 10(3):540–557.Google Scholar
• U.S. Energy Information Administration (2004) Emissions of greenhouse gases in the United States. Report DOE/EIA-0573, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
• U.S. Energy Information Administration (2005) Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases 2003. Report DOE/EIA-0608, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
• U.S. SIF Foundation (2013) The impact of sustainable and responsible investment. Report, U.S. SIF Foundation, Washington, DC. http://www.ussif.org/files/publications/ussif_impactofsri_aug2013_final.pdf.Google Scholar
• Verrecchia RE (1983) Discretionary disclosure. J. Accounting Econom. 5:179–194.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Voss ZG, Cable DM, Voss GB (2006) Organizational identity and firm performance: What happens when leaders disagree about “who we are?” Organ. Sci. 17(6):741–755.Link, Google Scholar
• Westphal J, Zajac E (1998) The symbolic management of stockholders: Corporate governance reforms and shareholder reactions. Admin. Sci. Quart. 43(1):127–153.Crossref, Google Scholar
• Westphal J, Zajac E (2013) A behavioral theory of corporate governance: Explicating the mechanisms of socially situated and socially constituted agency. Acad. Management Ann. 7(1):607–661.Crossref, Google Scholar