The Impact of Institutional Ownership on Corporates' Environmental Responsibility: Empirical Evidence from Coastal Public Companies in China

The environmental problems in coastal areas of China are attracting more and more attention, and how to control and guide coastal enterprises to fulfill environmental responsibilities have become an urgent issue to be solved. Institutional ownership, as an external supervisory force, can play a restrictive role in the production of enterprises. Therefore, this paper includes the data of China's coastal public companies from 2010 to 2016 to study the relationship between institutional ownership and corporate environmental responsibility (CER). The results show that institutional ownership, as an external restraint force, can promote enterprises to actively fulfill CER, which is more significant in state-owned enterprises. Further research also finds that different types of institutional ownership have heterogeneous roles in restraining enterprises from fulfilling environmental responsibilities. The conclusions of this study can provide theoretical support for enterprises to adjust equity structure and enhance the performance of environmental responsibility by introducing external ownership. Based on these findings, government may also formulate corresponding policies and promote the implementation of environmental responsibility.