Analyst coverage and manufacturing enterprise green transition: An empirical study based on Chinese enterprises

Abstract

This study used the entropy weight method to develop an index of green transition and empirically examined the influence of analyst coverage on green transitions by manufacturing enterprises in China. We examined A-share listed manufacturing firms from 2010–2020, using patent data, media reports from Chinese Research Data Services, and other data from the Cathay Capital Database. After excluding cases with missing data, our final sample comprised 16,576 observations. The following conclusions were drawn. First, analyst coverage significantly contributed to green transition. Second, the analysis of the impact mechanism showed that improving information transparency, weakening principal-agent conflict, and increasing environmental legitimacy pressure are the paths through which analyst coverage affects manufacturing’s corporate green transition. Third, the effect of analyst coverage was stronger for large-scale and state-owned manufacturing companies.