The DOI matches its Crossref record; 18 of the 19 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Greenwash: Corporate Environmental Disclosure under Threat of Audit
Abstract
We develop an economic model of “greenwash,” in which a firm strategically discloses environmental information and an activist may audit and penalize the firm for disclosing positive but not negative aspects of its environmental profile. We fully characterize the model's equilibria, and derive a variety of predictions about disclosure behavior. We rationalize conflicting results in the empirical literature, finding a nonmonotonic relationship between a firm's expected environmental performance and its environmental disclosures. Greater activist pressure deters greenwash, but induces some firms to disclose less about their environmental performance. Environmental management systems discourage firms with poor expected environmental performance from greenwashing, which may justify public policies encouraging firms to adopt them.
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Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“activists react more negatively to organizations that lay claim to being virtuous than to organizations that never make such claims”
From Strategic Silence: Withholding Certification Status as a Hypocrisy Avoidance Tactic (2018) · cites this paper as Lyon and Maxwell, 2011
In the citing paper
“The media and environmental activists have also increased their efforts to hold corporations accountable to their claims and have thus become vigilant observers, watching for evidence of environmental hypocrisy, often labeled as ''greenwashing''”
From Strategic Silence: Withholding Certification Status as a Hypocrisy Avoidance Tactic (2018) · cites this paper as Lyon and Maxwell, 2011
In the citing paper
“From the consumers' perspective, it is worrisome that various environmental aspects of products, namely, sustainability, are not verifiable even when consuming products that falsely claim it [8,9].”
From Are You Environmentally Conscious Enough to Differentiate between Greenwashed and Sustainable Items? A Global Consumers Perspective (2020) · cites this paper as [9]
In the citing paper
“Some companies mask negative information about their impact or only partially disclose this information (Lyon & Maxwell, 2011;Marquis et al., 2016), while others intentionally mislead using false advertisements claiming that they are environmentally responsible when, in fact, they are not (Martínez et al., 2020;Szabo & Webster, 2021).”
From Sustainable clothing: Why conspicuous consumption and greenwashing matter (2023) · cites this paper as Lyon & Maxwell, 2011
Citations
Cites
Clarkson, P. M., Li, Y., Richardson, G. D., & Vasvari, F. P. (2008) · Accounting, Organizations and Society · doi:10.1016/j.aos.2007.05.003 · Cited by 3,570
Verrecchia, R. E. (1983) · Journal of Accounting and Economics · doi:10.1016/0165-4101(83)90011-3 · Cited by 3,481
The role of environmental disclosures as tools of legitimacy: A research note
Cho, C. H., & Patten, D. M. (2007) · Accounting, Organizations and Society · doi:10.1016/j.aos.2006.09.009 · Cited by 2,069
Patten, D. M. (1992) · Accounting, Organizations and Society · doi:10.1016/0361-3682(92)90042-q · Cited by 1,493
The relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: a research note
Patten, D. M. (2002) · Accounting Organizations and Society · doi:10.1016/s0361-3682(02)00028-4 · Cited by 1,492
Social Accountability and Corporate Greenwashing
Laufer, W. S. (2003) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1023/a:1022962719299 · Cited by 1,297
Do Australian companies report environmental news objectively?
Deegan, C. M., & Rankin, M. (1996) · Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal · doi:10.1108/09513579610116358 · Cited by 1,175
Relying on the Information of Interested Parties
Milgrom, P., & Roberts, J. H. (1986) · The RAND Journal of Economics · doi:10.2307/2555625 · Cited by 1,130
Responding to public and private politics: corporate disclosure of climate change strategies
Reid, E. M., & Toffel, M. W. (2009) · Strategic Management Journal · doi:10.1002/smj.796 · Cited by 1,093
Firms' Disclosure Reactions to Major Social Incidents: Australian Evidence
Deegan, C. M., Rankin, M., & Voght, P. (2000) · Accounting Forum · doi:10.1111/1467-6303.00031 · Cited by 645
When Are Corporate Environmental Policies a Form of Greenwashing?
Ramus, C. A., & Montiel, I. (2005) · Business & Society · doi:10.1177/0007650305278120 · Cited by 621
Strategic Activism and Nonmarket Strategy
Baron, D. P., & Diermeier, D. A. (2007) · Journal of Economics & Management Strategy · doi:10.1111/j.1530-9134.2007.00152.x · Cited by 463
Corporate Environmentalism and Public Policy
Lyon, T. P., & Maxwell, J. W. (2004) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511607080 · Cited by 291
Self-citationShin, H. S. (2003) · Econometrica · doi:10.1111/1468-0262.00391 · Cited by 205
Baron, D. P. (2003) · Journal of Economics & Management Strategy · doi:10.1162/105864003321220724 · Cited by 186
Astroturf: Interest Group Lobbying and Corporate Strategy
Lyon, T. P., & Maxwell, J. W. (2004) · Journal of Economics & Management Strategy · doi:10.1111/j.1430-9134.2004.00023.x · Cited by 151
Self-citationA Theory of Consumer Boycotts Under Symmetric Information and Imperfect Competition
Innes, R. D. (2006) · The Economic Journal · doi:10.1111/j.1468-0297.2006.01084.x · Cited by 122
A theory of environmental risk disclosure
Sinclair‐Désgagné, B., & Gozlan, E. (2003) · Journal of Environmental Economics and Management · doi:10.1016/s0095-0696(02)00056-6 · Cited by 118
Research works printed but not linked: 7
- Coglianese, 2001, Regulating from the Inside: Can Environmental Management Systems Achieve Policy Goals
- Delmas, 2000, Barriers and Incentives to the Adoption of ISO 14001 by Firms in the United States, Duke Environmental Law and Policy Forum, 11, 1
- Greer, 1996, Greenwash: The Reality Behind Corporate Environmentalism
- Grossman, 2001, Special Interest Politics
- Johnson, 2003, Don't Be Fooled: The Ten Worst Greenwashers of 2003
- Kim , E.H. T.P. Lyon Strategic Environmental Disclosure: Evidence from the DOE's Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Registry,” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management (forthcoming).
- Milgrom, 1992, Economics, Organization and Management
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Institutional Complexity and Organizational Responses
Greenwood, R., Raynard, M., Kodeih, F., Micelotta, E. R., & Lounsbury, M. (2011) · Academy of Management Annals · doi:10.5465/19416520.2011.590299 · Cited by 3,519
Flammer, C. (2018) · Journal of Financial Economics · doi:10.1016/j.jfineco.2021.01.010 · Cited by 2,907
Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting in China: Symbol or Substance?
Marquis, C., & Qian, C. (2014) · Organization Science · doi:10.1287/orsc.2013.0837 · Cited by 1,793
From smoke and mirrors to walking the talk: Decoupling in the contemporary world
Bromley, P., & Powell, W. W. (2012) · Academy of Management Annals · doi:10.5465/19416520.2012.684462 · Cited by 1,656
ESG performance and firm value: The moderating role of disclosure
Fatemi, A., Glaum, M., & Kaiser, S. (2018) · Global Finance Journal · doi:10.1016/j.gfj.2017.03.001 · Cited by 1,611
Metadata
- Authors
- Lyon, T. P., & Maxwell, J. W.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- Indiana University Bloomington (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Economics & Management Strategy
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2011-02-24
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 3-41
- ISSN
- 1058-6407 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3125595071
- Cited by
- 1,569
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 280 · 2025: 224 · 2024: 189 · 2023: 168 · 2022: 104 · 2021: 102 · 2020: 106 · 2019: 63 · 2018: 63 · 2017: 58 · 2016: 34 · 2015: 44 · 2014: 42 · 2013: 28 · 2012: 41
- FWCI
- 125.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Economics & Management Strategy (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Deep Blue (University of Michigan) (submittedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Environmental Sustainability in Business
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Accounting › Auditing, Earnings Management, Governance
- Keywords
- greenwashing, corporate environmental disclosure, activist investors, corporate auditing, disclosure incentives, environmental performance, environmental management systems, strategic disclosure
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