Can Effective Internal Control Inhibit Greenwashing Behaviors? - Based on the Moderating Effect of Military Experience of Senior Executives and CSR Report Assurance

This study provides empirical evidence on the association between internal control and corporate greenwashing behaviors. Using various measures and a series of robust regression analysis over the period from 2013 to 2021, the results suggest that internal control can inhibit the greenwashing behaviors of the company. Meanwhile, we find that military experience of senior executives plays a significant moderate role between internal control and greenwashing level of company, which means military experience of senior executives can enhance the inhibitory influence of the internal control on the greenwashing level of the certain company. Furthermore, we also find that if the CSR report of the company has been audited by the third party, the inhibitory effect of internal control can also be improved. Our results are also robust after adjusting for endogenous problems using two-stage squares (2SLS) regression.