The impact of IT change on corporate environmental violations: Toward information asymmetry and stakeholder theory

As an essential market player, corporations play a crucial role in achieving green and sustainable economic development, while information technology is vital in influencing corporate environmental decision-making. Therefore, using a sample of A-share listed companies in China from 2009 to 2021, we developed a measurement for IT change through computer-aided text analysis to investigate the impacts of IT change on corporate environmental violations. The key findings are as follows: (1) a 1% increase in external or internal IT change can reduce corporate environmental violations by approximately 0.139 and 0.204. (2) IT change influences corporate environmental violations through monitoring and knowledge acquisition mechanisms. (3) IT change significantly affects environmental violations in firms that are large in size, lack government supervision, and adopt cost leadership strategies. (4) IT change complements green credit policies and positively affects firms in non-green credit-restricted industries. To sum up, this paper contributes to understanding the factors that influence corporate environmental decisions and offers insights into promoting the construction of IT change.