Strategic Green Behavior: Conceptual Foundations and Index Development

ABSTRACT Amid intensifying pressures for green transition and ESG governance, firms' environmental responses are becoming increasingly strategic. Existing research has mainly examined greenwashing, symbolic compliance, and decoupling, but pays less attention to how firms allocate real green effort under formal compliance. This paper develops the concept of strategic green behavior (SGB), defined as an allocation pattern in which firms place greater emphasis on recognizable green actions than on deep transformation‐oriented actions. Using panel data on Chinese listed firms from 2013 to 2023, we construct an action‐based SGB index from observable corporate green action choices. The results show that SGB has increased over time and exhibits clear regional disparities, with higher levels concentrated in eastern coastal and capital‐market‐active regions. Further analysis shows that SGB is not clearly reflected in firms' external financing and information environment, but is associated with greater financial vulnerability and lower market valuation. We also find significant peer diffusion within industries, mainly through recognizable green actions. This study shifts attention from whether firms are green to how they structure their green effort, and provides evidence for improving environmental disclosure, ESG evaluation, and green governance policies.