← Search

Journal of Accounting and Economics Vol. 61 No. 1 2016

Managers’ green investment disclosures and investors’ reaction

Patrick R. Martin1; Donald V. Moser2

1 Indiana University Bloomington · 2 University of Pittsburgh

Abstract

Although managers’ green investments have no impact on future cash flows in our experimental markets, investors respond favorably when managers make and disclose an investment and highlight the societal benefits rather than the cost to the company. Managers anticipate investors’ reaction and therefore often disclose their investment and the associated societal benefits. Managers and other shareholders benefit from investors’ reaction, but the investment cost always exceeds this benefit, demonstrating that managers make green investments because they value the societal benefits. Collectively, our findings show that both investors and managers tradeoff wealth for societal benefits and help explain managers’ corporate social responsibilty disclosures.

DOI
10.1016/j.jacceco.2015.08.004
Volume
61
Issue
1
Pages
239-254
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

Cite