臺灣企業漂綠行為與權益資金成本及機構投資人持股分析

Abstract

本文以2020年至2022年TESG臺灣永續發展指標中受評之臺灣上市企業為研究樣本，總計共2745個觀察值，探討臺灣上市企業漂綠程度與權益資金成本、機構投資人持股之關聯。首先，研究發現，臺灣上市企業漂綠程度與權益資金成本不具有顯著關係，主要原因為投資大眾在無法辨別企業漂綠行為之下，亦難以整合多方來源、多元內容的ESG資訊，且臺灣上市企業ESG揭露分數差異甚小，因此難以差異化反映於權益資金成本中。而研究更進一步揭示，企業是否為臺灣永續指數成分股對於企業漂綠程度與權益資金成本具有顯著正向調節效果，即表示當企業為成分股時，投資大眾可聚焦並辨識出企業漂綠行為，而進一步將其中之風險反映於投資報酬率中。再者，研究結果顯示臺灣企業漂綠程度與機構投資人持股比例呈現顯著正相關，而研究亦推論無論機構投資人是否能察覺企業正在漂綠，機構投資人皆有誘因對漂綠程度高的公司增加持股。

This study examines the association between the degree of greenwashing, cost of equity, and institutional ownership using a sample of listed companies in Taiwan that were assessed for their ESG performance from 2020 to 2022. The sample consists of 2,745 observations. The findings suggest that there is no significant relationship between the degree of greenwashing and the cost of equity for listed companies in Taiwan. This is mainly attributed to the difficulty for investors to distinguish greenwashing behavior and integrate ESG information from multiple sources and diverse content. Furthermore, the study reveals that being included in the Taiwan Sustainable Index has a significant positive moderating effect on the relationship between greenwashing degree and cost of equity. When companies are included in the index, investors can focus on and identify greenwashing behavior, thereby reflecting the associated risks in investment returns. Additionally, the results show a significant positive correlation between the degree of greenwashing and institutional ownership proportion in Taiwan companies. This implies that institutional investors have an incentive to increase their holdings in companies with a higher degree of greenwashing, regardless of their ability to detect the greenwashing behavior.