企业信息披露中的模仿行为研究——基于制度理论的分析

本文在制度理论的分析框架下,研究合法性压力和不确定性条件下企业信息披露中的模仿行为及由此导致的制度同形现象.本文以2006-2010年我国重污染行业上市公司年报中的环境信息披露为研究对象,发现企业环境信息披露存在同形性和模仿行为,且属于模仿其它企业平均水平的频率模仿,而不是模仿领先者.本文将已有的信息披露研究从经济学分析的视角向经济社会学进行拓展,丰富了对信息披露过程中决策者认知过程和制度化过程的认识,同时也透过信息披露中的模仿行为从更加微观的层面为制度化过程中的趋同现象提供了新的证据.

A Study on the Imitation in Corporate Information Disclosure: Base on Institutional Theory

Information disclosure is a significant issue in account-ing research.Existing researches on information disclosure follow the analytical framework of information asymmetry and agency theory,while institutional theory provides a supplementary perspective on behavioral analysis for the decision-makers of information disclosure.Under the framework of institutional theory,this paper studies the imitation in corporate information disclosure under le-gitimate pressure and uncertainty,and the institutional isomorphism it results in.This paper analyzes the environmental disclosure in the annual reports of listed companies from high-polluting industries from 2006 to 2010,and finds that the isomorphism and imitation exist in environment disclosure.The paper shows a right-side fattail phenomenon of environmental information disclosure,together with a normal distribution of disclosure level in annual reports,and thus evidences that environmental information disclosure is significantly deviated from normal distribution,resulting in an iso-morphism.The paper records that firms imitate the average environmental disclosure level of others in the whole market,rather than that of leading firms.The paper further provides robust analyses by(1) substituting the absolute level of firm’s environmental disclosure with the relative level as the dependent variable,(2) substituting the average disclosure level of all other firms with that of firms of same nature as an explanatory variable,and(3) substituting the disclosure level with the standardized data and percentile data as the depen-dent variable,and still concludes that firms imitate the average environmental disclosure level of others,either in the whole market or of same nature,rather than that of leading firms.This study extends the existing research on information disclosure from the perspective of economics to social economics,and enriches the understandings of the cognitive process of decision-maker and institutionalization process in information disclosure.Meanwhile,the paper provides a new evidence for the convergence in the institutional process from a more microcosmic level by the imitation in information disclosure.