Can Digital Transformation Curb Corporate Greenwashing? Empirical Evidence from the Perspectives of Financing Constraints and Media Supervision

As China advances its dual-carbon goals and refines environmental disclosure requirements, corporate greenwashing increasingly distorts capital allocation and impedes green transformation. Using panel data on A-share listed firms from 2014 to 2023, this paper examines how digital transformation affects corporate greenwashing. Empirical results indicate that digital transformation significantly reduces instances of greenwashing, with stronger effects observed in non-state-owned firms and firms outside heavily polluting industries. Additional analyses show that high financing constraints attenuate the mitigating influence of digital transformation, whereas more intensive media scrutiny amplifies it. By illuminating the environmental governance role of digitalization and the moderating effects of financing pressure and media oversight, the study offers policy implications: governments and regulators should bolster digital adoption among small and medium enterprises, develop robust digital platforms for environmental information disclosure, and incentivize media oversight to strengthen corporate environmental accountability and support sustainable development.