Research On The Impact Of Overseas Background Executives On The Level Of Carbon Information Disclosure

The climate disaster caused by greenhouse gas emissions is seriously affecting the survival and development of human beings.Carbon emission reduction governance has gradually become a key concern for domestic and foreign parties.Corporate carbon information disclosure is the basic work of carbon emission reduction governance.The developed countries have implemented carbon governance before the developing countries and formed a more mature carbon information disclosure system.China has not yet formed a unified carbon disclosure standard,the disclosure content is mainly voluntary,and the disclosure level is low.How to improve the level of corporate carbon disclosure in China is an urgent issue in the current process of implementing carbon emission reduction actions in China.As the main decision makers,executives’ personal experiences will shape their values and low-carbon cognition,which in turn will influence their carbon disclosure decisions.With the implementation of the national policy of introducing high-level talents,more and more high-level talents with overseas backgrounds choose to return to their home countries to work and apply their overseas experiences to corporate management decisions.Existing studies affirm the positive effects of overseas background executives on corporate performance and technological innovation,among others.In the context of carbon emission reduction governance in China,it is worth exploring whether executives with overseas backgrounds can take advantage of their overseas experience to help enterprises improve carbon information disclosure.This study explores the influence of overseas background executives on the level of corporate carbon information disclosure in a sample of 315 listed companies in eight key carbon emission industries in China from 2011 to 2020,and examines the moderating effects of external governance pressures,such as government and media,and corporate internal controls on the relationship between overseas background executives and the level of carbon information disclosure.The results show that overseas background executives are positively related to the level of corporate carbon information disclosure.External governance pressures weaken the role of overseas executives and negatively moderate the relationship between overseas executives and carbon information disclosure level.In contrast,effective implementation of internal control is conducive to urging executives to pay attention to corporate environmental performance,which positively moderates the relationship between executives with overseas background and the level of carbon disclosure.In further research,this study finds that external governance pressure has a significant inhibitory effect in more market-oriented regions,but not in less market-oriented regions.Internal control has a significant positive moderating effect in less market-oriented regions,but not in more market-oriented regions.In view of the problems of carbon information disclosure of Chinese enterprises,this study proposes countermeasures based on the findings,which provide references for the government and other regulatory departments to formulate carbon governance policies,and provide suggestions for listed companies in key carbon emission industries to improve carbon information disclosure,which is helpful to help improve the level of carbon information disclosure of Chinese enterprises and further improve the carbon information disclosure mechanism in China.