Are more green conceptual claims better? The impact of the degree of enterprise inconsistency on carbon performance: from the perspective of communication volume and social trust

Abstract As global attention to climate change and environmental protection grows, green development has become a core element of sustainable enterprise growth. In China, although a significant number of enterprises are actively embracing the call for green development, engaging in environmental protection activities, and making public green commitments a portion of them still exhibit a disparity between their proclaimed green initiatives and actual practices. This phenomenon not only undermines fairness of the market competition environment but also poses a substantial obstacle to the overall green development process of society. Against this backdrop, this study undertakes an in depth exploration of the impact of the discrepancy degree between enterprises’ green conceptual claims and their actual environmental behaviors on carbon performance. It specifically focuses on uncovering the mediating role of communication volume and the moderating role of social trust. By leveraging a comprehensive dataset of Chinese listed enterprises from 2019 to 2023, this study arrives at several crucial findings: First, the relationship between the claims-action inconsistency and carbon performance is inverted ‘U’ shape. Second, communication volume can be categorized into the communication scope and the communication emotions, which has a mediating effect on the inconsistency and carbon performance. Finally, social trust strengthens the inverted ‘U’ shaped relationship between inconsistency and carbon performance. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of enterprises’ inconsistent words and deeds on their actual green transformation and the important role played by informal institutions, providing theoretical and practical bases for enterprises’ green development and policy making.