Road to Sustainable Development: How Can Green Institutional Investors Improve Corporate <scp>ESG</scp> Performance in China?

ABSTRACT This study mainly explores how green institutional investors affect corporate ESG performance and conducts empirical analysis using Chinese A‐share listed companies from 2014 to 2021 as research samples. The research results show that green institutional investors can promote corporate ESG performance by alleviating financing constraints, enhancing green management capabilities, and improving corporate governance levels. This promoting effect is more pronounced in non‐state‐owned enterprises, high‐tech enterprises, and enterprises with high analyst attention. Further research has found that green institutional investors have a more prominent promoting effect on the performance of S and G dimensions, while the promoting effect on the performance of E dimension is relatively small. Meanwhile, insufficient market competition and environmental uncertainty will weaken the promoting effect of green institutional investors on corporate ESG performance. The research conclusion clearly presents the intrinsic relationship between green institutional investors and corporate ESG performance, providing new theoretical insights for promoting sustainable development of enterprises.