DATAAN

Executives play a pivotal role in shaping a firm's environmental performance. Yet a<br>clear disconnect persists between merely holding green credentials and actually<br>directing green attention, along with strategic-manipulation risks entailed by executive<br>green attention, these issues remain and merit attention. This paper builds a unified,<br>multi-theoretical framework that fuses Upper-Echelons Theory with the Attention-Based<br>View, uses strategic-signaling theory to explain mechanisms, and invokes informal<br>institution theory to model boundary conditions. Drawing on a sample of Chinese A<br>share listed firms from 2016 to 2023, this paper applies machine-learning and textual<br>analysis techniques to construct a corporate environmental news sentiment indicator<br>and examines how executive green attention influences it. The results show that<br>executive green attention significantly inflates corporate environmental news sentiment<br>value. Mechanism tests reveal that this effect operates through managerial<br>manipulation of the corporate green image, specifically through expanding the green<br>patent bubble and increasing symbolic green innovation. Moderation analyses further<br>indicate that Confucian culture and long-term philanthropic giving, two informal<br>institutions, not only weaken the inflationary impact of executive green attention on<br>news sentiment but also attenuate the above strategic manipulation channels.<br>Additional analyses reveal that when Confucian culture and long-term philanthropic<br>giving are strong, executive green attention significantly lifts total-factor productivity<br>(TFP) and lowers financial risk (Z-score). This paper underscoring the pivotal role of ethics in shifting green practices from symbolism to substance.<br>

高管在塑造企业环境绩效方面发挥着至关重要的作用。然而，仅拥有绿色资质与真正落实绿色关注之间仍存在明显脱节；此外，高管绿色关注还伴随战略操纵风险，这些问题依然存在，亟待关注。
本文构建了融合上层梯队理论（Upper-Echelons Theory）与基于关注的视角（Attention-Based View）的统一多理论框架，借助战略信号理论阐释作用机制，并引入非正式制度理论对边界条件进行建模。本文以2016—2023年中国A股上市公司为研究样本，采用机器学习与文本分析技术构建企业环境新闻情感指标，考察高管绿色关注对该指标的影响。
研究结果表明，高管绿色关注会显著推高企业环境新闻情感分值。机制检验显示，该效应通过管理层操纵企业绿色形象实现，具体表现为扩大绿色专利泡沫与提升象征性绿色创新水平。调节效应分析进一步显示，作为两种非正式制度的儒家文化与长期慈善捐赠，不仅能够削弱高管绿色关注对新闻情感的推高作用，还会抑制上述战略操纵路径。
补充分析表明，当儒家文化与长期慈善捐赠水平较高时，高管绿色关注会显著提升全要素生产率（TFP）并降低财务风险（Z-score）。本文强调了伦理在推动绿色实践从符号化转向实质化进程中的关键作用。