PBESProceedings of Business and Economic Studies2209-26412209-265XBio-Byword Scientific Publishing Pty. Ltd.10.26689/PBES.v9i9.15658ArticleA Green Label, Uneven Change: Disclosure and Penalty-Based Compliance after National Green Factory Recognitionhttps://artdesignp.com/journal/PBES/9/9/10.26689/PBES.v9i9.15658TianShuo,ZouLiangjie,XueKunyang2026992026-09-30China’s National Green Factory program recognizes specific production facilities, but listed companies may use this green identity in group-level environmental communication. We examine whether recognition increases listed firms’ green disclosure and whether this change is matched by group-level penalty-based environmental compliance. Using panel data on 3,665 Chinese listed manufacturers from 2012 to 2023 and actual Ministry of Industry and Information Technology list publication dates, we estimate staggered-adoption effects. Recognition is followed by significantly higher green disclosure and a wider disclosure–compliance gap. The widening is concentrated among the early recognition cohorts. These results do not imply deliberate greenwashing or a deterioration in overall environmental performance. Instead, they show that a facility-level environmental credential can be followed by uneven changes in group-level communication and compliance. The study extends organizational decoupling research by linking facility recognition to listed-group outcomes. The governance of environmental recognition should therefore align the credential’s coverage with the scope of subsequent corporate environmental claims.National Green Factory, Green disclosure, Penalty-based environmental compliance, Organizational decoupling, Corporate environmental responsibility, Cross-level accountability, Disclosure–compliance gap

[1] Potoski M, Prakash A, 2005, Green Clubs and Voluntary Governance: ISO 14001 and Firms’ Regulatory Compliance. American Journal of Political Science, 49: 235–248. [2] Ma J, Hu X, 2025, Green Factory Certification and Corporate Green Investment Strategy Choices in China. Discover Sustainability, 6: 1009. [3] Chen F, Qiu B, 2026, Green Factory Evaluation and ESG Performance of Manufacturing Firms. Economic and Management Review, 42(2): 96–109. [4] Wang M, Ye T, Kong D, 2024, Green Manufacturing and Corporate Environmental Information Disclosure: A Policy Experiment Based on China’s Green Factory Creation. Economic Research Journal, 59(2): 116–134. [5] Guo N, Liu Y, Liu J, 2026, Market Perception of “Credible Green”: Can Green Factory Recognition Improve Corporate Capital-Market Performance? Southern Finance, (1): 17–34. [6] Wang Z, 2026, Escape from the Competition: How Fair Competition Policy Influences Corporate ESG Behavior. Business Ethics, the Environment Responsibility, 1–25. [7] Hawn O, Ioannou I, 2016, Mind the Gap: The Interplay Between External and Internal Actions in the Case of Corporate Social Responsibility. Strategic Management Journal, 37: 2569–2588. [8] Kim EH, Lyon TP, 2015, Greenwash vs. Brownwash: Exaggeration and Undue Modesty in Corporate Sustainability Disclosure. Organization Science, 26: 705–723. [9] Doan MH, Sassen R, 2020, The Relationship Between Environmental Performance and Environmental Disclosure: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 24: 1140–1157. [10] Aravind D, Christmann P, 2011, Decoupling of Standard Implementation from Certification: Does Quality of ISO 14001 Implementation Affect Facilities’ Environmental Performance? Business Ethics Quarterly, 21: 73–102. [11] Dong X, Du Y, Xiao X, 2025, How Does China’s Green Factory Policy Affect Substantive Green Innovation? PLOS ONE, 20: e0325438. [12] Boiral O, 2007, Corporate Greening Through ISO 14001: A Rational Myth? Organization Science, 18: 127–146. [13] Bothello J, Ioannou I, Porumb VA, et al., 2023, CSR Decoupling Within Business Groups and the Risk of Perceived Greenwashing. Strategic Management Journal, 44: 3217–3251. [14] Cheng Z, Yan X, 2025, Environmental Management System Certification and Corporate ESG Greenwashing. Energy Economics, 149: 108800. [15] Delmas MA, Burbano VC, 2011, The Drivers of Greenwashing. California Management Review, 54(1): 64–87. [16] Jiang H, Ning Z, Lin Z, 2025, Does Local Government Environmental Target Affect Firms’ Greenwashing? Evidence from Listed Firms in China. Journal of Asian Economics, 100: 102023.