Can semi-mandatory non-financial disclosure requirements drive firms to improve ESG performance - evidence from Chinese listed companies

This study aims to reveal the impact of semi-mandatory non-financial disclosure requirements on corporate ESG performance and its mechanism. Utilizing the “comply or explain” semi-mandatory ESG disclosure requirement implemented by the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) of China in 2016 as a quasi-experiment, and adopting the difference-in-differences identification strategy, this paper finds that semi-mandatory non-financial disclosure requirements can significantly enhance corporate ESG performance. Through mechanism analysis, it is found that semi-mandatory non-financial disclosure requirement promotes firms' ESG performance by suppressing the myopic behavior of corporate management and improving the quality of corporate internal control. Through heterogeneity analysis, it is found that semi-mandatory non-financial disclosure requirements have a greater effect on the ESG performance of firms with high institutional investor attention and non-polluting firms, and a smaller effect on firms with executives with overseas experience.