ESG 보고서의 가독성이 그린워싱 위험에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구

• 영문명: The Impact of ESG Report Readability on the Risk of Greenwashing
• 발행기관: 한국국제상학회
• 저자명: 유징줘(Jingzhuo Yu) 황용식(Yong-Sik Hwang)
• 간행물 정보: 『국제상학』第40卷 第3號, 165~189쪽, 전체 25쪽
• 주제분류: 경제경영 > 무역학
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2025.09.30

국문 초록

본 연구는 기존 연구가 주로 ESG 공시의 내용에 집중해 온 것과 달리, 텍스트 복잡성이 그린워싱을 조장할 수 있는 가능성에 주목한다. 정당성 이론과 정보 비대칭 이론을 토대로, 기업이 전략적으로 ESG 보고서의 가독성을 낮추어 그린워싱을 은폐하는지 여부를 실증적으로 분석하였다. 이를 위해 2009년부터 2023년까지 중국 A주 상장 제조업체 652개사의 8,742개 기업-연도 자료를 활용하였으며, 가독성은 대규모 언어모델(DeepSeek R1)을 통해 측정하였다. 분석 결과, ESG 보고서의 가독성과 그린워싱 간에는 통계적으로 유의한 음(-)의 관계가 나타났으며, 가독성이 1단위 증가할 때 그린워싱 지표는 0.331 단위 감소하였다. 이러한 결과는 대체 모형(ChatGPT-4o, QwQ-32B, DeepSeek v3, fog_index)을 적용한 추가 분석과 다양한 내생성 검증에서도 일관되게 확인되었다. 본 연구는 첫째, 텍스트 복잡성을 전략적 그린워싱 수단으로 규명하였으며, 둘째, 인공지능 기반 가독성 측정 방법의 우수성을 제시하였다. 마지막으로, 가독성 기준을 그린워싱 억제를 위한 효과적인 규제수단으로 제안함으로써 학문적·정책적 기여를 제공한다.

영문 초록

Purpose: While prior research has focused on ESG disclosure content, little attention was paid to how textual complexity may facilitate deceptive practices. Using legitimacy and information asymmetry theories, this study investigates whether firms strategically reduce ESG report readability to mask greenwashing. Research design, data, and methodology: Analyzing 8,742 firm-year observations from 652 Chinese manufacturing companies with Class A shares listed from 2009 to 2023, readability was measured via an innovative large language model (DeepSeek R1). Results: A significant negative relationship was indicated between readability and greenwashing. For every one-unit increase in readability, the greenwashing indicator decreased by 0.331 units. Findings are robust across alternative models (ChatGPT-4o, QwQ32B, DeepSeek v3, fog_index) and under multiple endogeneity checks. Conclusions: This research contributes to the literature by empirically demonstrating textual complexity as a strategic greenwashing tool, introducing a superior AI-based readability measure, and providing practical policy implications, highlighting readability standards as an effective regulatory measure against greenwashing.

목차

Ⅰ. Introduction

Ⅱ. Literature Review and Hypothesis Development

Ⅲ. Methodology

Ⅵ. Empirical Results

Ⅴ. Conclusion

References

키워드

ESG 공시 가독성 그린워싱 기업지배구조 대규모 언어모델 Corporate Governance ESG Disclosure Greenwashing Readability Large Language Models

참고문헌

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