Does Litigation Risk Shape Environmental Disclosure Decisions? Evidence from Peers' Environmental Disclosure Lawsuits

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Robinson, Scott A.; Skinner, A. Nicole; Wang, Jasmine
• 署名单位: University of Oregon; University of Colorado System; University of Colorado Boulder; University of Virginia
• 刊物名称: ACCOUNTING REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-4826
• DOI: 10.2308/TAR-2023-0352
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: 445-475
• 关键词: shareholder litigation; voluntary disclosure; oil-spill; corporate; INFORMATION; analysts; IMPACT

摘要

We examine how managers' incentives to minimize litigation risk interact with the unique features of environmental information to shape disclosure decisions. We rely on peer firms' lawsuits to generate variation in environmental disclosure litigation risk, consistent with prior research and anecdotal evidence suggesting that firms perceive an increase in environmental disclosure litigation risk after a peer firm is sued for related disclosures. Although we provide mixed evidence around changes in total environmental disclosure in response to peer lawsuits, we offer robust evidence that firms provide more forward-looking (and less historical) environmental disclosures in their conference calls in response to peers' environmental disclosure lawsuits. Our evidence is consistent with firms providing less verifiable disclosures to minimize the risk of being sued for misrepresenting their environmental information.