Can China's Capital Markets Eliminate the "Functional Lock-in" Effect of Corporate Environmental Information Disclosure?

In this paper, the relationship between the level of environmental information disclosure and corporate value is empirically analyzed by taking A-share listed companies with heavy pollution in China from 2011-2019. It further divides environmental information disclosure into qualitative disclosure and quantitative disclosure to explore the impact of information disclosure on corporate value. The study shows that environmental information disclosure is beneficial to enhance enterprise value; further study finds that quantitative disclosure of environmental management inputs is negatively related to enterprise value, quantitative disclosure of environmental management inputs may have a "functional lock-in" effect, and quantitative disclosure of environmental economic benefits can alleviate the "functional lock-in" effect of quantitative disclosure of environmental management inputs to a certain extent. Quantitative disclosure of environmental economic benefits can, to a certain extent, alleviate the "functional lock-in" problem of quantitative disclosure of environmental management inputs. This has theoretical and practical implications for promoting the green development of enterprises.