Firm Visibility and Voluntary Environmental Behavior: Evidence from Hydraulic Fracturing

Zhongmin Wang

Land Economics, 2017, vol. 93, issue 4, 654-666

Abstract: Larger firms are often found to be more likely to participate in voluntary environmental programs, but few studies have investigated the mechanism through which firm size matters. This paper studies oil and gas firms’ likelihood of voluntarily disclosing information on hydraulic fracturing, an industrial process that involves the use of toxic chemicals. I find evidence that firm visibility is an important mechanism through which firm size affects the voluntary disclosure rate. My findings suggest that voluntary approaches to environmental protection are unlikely to be effective if many targeted firms are small and not visible to the public.

JEL-codes: D21 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
Note: DOI: 10.3368/le.93.4.654
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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