Over the past decades, China's rapid economic growth has mainly come at the expense of excessive energy consumption, resulting in significant carbon dioxide emissions and other environmental challenges. China has pledged to peak its carbon emissions by 2030 to address the rising emissions, aiming for near-zero carbon neutrality by 2060. In this context, the legitimacy of institutions is essential, as it sheds light on the various effects of institutional pressures on organizational strategies and behaviors. Companies are increasingly improving their voluntary disclosure of environmental information to maintain legitimacy. However, many companies still need to determine whether the public and stakeholders value their environmental and social performance. Managers often believe that the costs of voluntary disclosure outweigh the benefits. This study analyzes how institutional pressures—coercive, normative, and mimetic pressure—affect voluntary environmental information disclosure in China. We gathered survey responses from managers at 93 listed manufacturing companies based in China. A cross-sectional quantitative approach was utilized, with data collection occurring between March and May 2024. We employed Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to investigate the impact of institutional pressures on the voluntary disclosure of environmental information. The findings suggest that coercive and normative pressures significantly enhance voluntary environmental information disclosure, whereas mimetic pressure shows no significant effect. These findings indicate that voluntary environmental information disclosure in China remains underdeveloped and lacks a clear industry framework. As a result, companies are increasingly prioritizing compliance with regulatory standards and actively engaging with stakeholders rather than simply imitating the behaviors of their peers. JEL Classification Codes: L1, L2, L6.

In the context of the GCC, the adoption of integrated reporting (IR) remains limited, due in part to weak regulatory enforcement, a lack of awareness of the strategic benefits of IR, and a strong focus on short-term financial results. This limited reporting context presents a significant challenge for firms to credibly demonstrate their value to the market and attract potential investors, thus communicating long-term value. Given these limitations, this study considers how IR contributes to firm value, but also examines the mediating role that firm image (FI) plays in this relationship as a reputational construct representing stakeholder perspectives of a firm’s transparency and accountability. The research employs a quantitative methodology, analysing secondary data from corporate governance and integrated reports spanning 2017–2018 to 2022–2023. Findings indicate a positive and robust relationship between integrated reporting and the firm’s value, which was assessed using Tobin’s Q. The findings highlight the significant mediating role of firm image, illustrating how IR practices, via increased transparency, accountability, and sustainability, enhance firm value. This study provides significant insights for researchers, policymakers, and corporate managers, highlighting the strategic relevance of IR in the GCC region. The findings demonstrate that integrated reporting improves transparency, accountability, and sustainability, thereby assisting corporate managers in utilising IR to enhance firm image and facilitate value creation. Policymakers can utilise these insights to develop regulatory frameworks that promote integrated reporting practices, thereby enhancing transparency and sustainable growth within the corporate sector.

In recent years, environmental pollution has emerged as a critical global challenge, prompting increasing attention toward the Green Credit Policy as a tool for environmental regulation. These policies aim to align financial systems with sustainability objectives, yet their impact on corporate development remains controversial. This study adopts the Propensity Score Matching-Difference-in-Differences (PSM-DID) method to analyze the effects of the Green Credit Policy on the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of Chinese listed companies over the period 2007–2022. The results reveal that while the Green Credit Policy is designed to enhance environmental performance, they have exacerbated financing constraints for enterprises, leading to a significant decline in GTFP. This negative impact is particularly pronounced in large enterprises and firms in eastern China, regions often subject to stricter environmental regulations. In contrast, the ownership type - whether state-owned or non-state-owned - does not significantly influence the outcomes, suggesting the pervasiveness of financing constraints across firms. The findings underscore the critical need for policymakers to design targeted green credit strategies that account for regional and enterprise-specific characteristics. For example, tailoring green finance mechanisms to address the challenges larger enterprises or firms face in economically developed regions could mitigate unintended consequences. Moreover, the study highlights the importance of integrating financial support mechanisms, such as tax incentives, subsidies, or green innovation funds, into the future Green Credit Policy. Such measures can promote investment in green technologies by alleviating financial pressures and fostering environmental and economic goals. Ultimately, this study advocates for a balanced, context-sensitive approach to green finance, ensuring sustainable development without compromising firms' productivity.

This systematic review paper aims to provide an overview of the content literature review of integrated reporting in the following categories: (1) the methodology approach used; (2) the mediating-mediator factors of integrated reporting. Using a systematic literature review design based on PRISMA guidelines, the data were collected from selected databases (google scholar). The study reviewed 52 papers. The timeframe of the study was from 2017 until 2023 (May). The findings of the reviewed articles showed that the majority of the papers were published in Emerald publisher journals (25). The highest number of articles were published in 2022 (25 articles). Most of the papers employed a quantitative research design and selected secondary data that was followed by a mixed-method research design. The moderator and mediating factors found in the reviewed articles were needs for external financing, corporate Social responsibility, earnings per share (EPS), firm complexity, financial leverage (low but significant), environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance reporting, board gender diversity and family firms, CEO integrity, and CEO power, while only two mediating factors were found: Integrated reporting, and firms’ reputation. Based on the findings, the study suggests several implications and suggestions for delivering better knowledge of integrated reporting.

Supply-side reform of the agricultural economy is an important measure to realize Chinese agriculture improvement. “The Belt and Road Initiative"(Referred to as the “B&R”) strategic brings opportunities to China's agricultural economy. This paper attempts to analyze the influencing factors of the “B&R” and the supply-side structural reform of agricultural economy from the aspects of the interaction and cooperation between them, and probes the problems to be solved in the reform of agricultural supply side. Through the correlation factors analysis between them, this paper puts forward these measures which are adjusting agricultural structure by combining development concept, promoting circular development by combining ecological idea, enriching industrial structure by integrating innovation mechanism, and promoting overseas agricultural economic cooperation by integrating market demand. The suggestions have certain reference value for promoting the “B&R” and deepening China's rural economy supply side structural reform, and agricultural economy sustainable development.