Does the Green Attention of Retail Investors Enhance Corporate Environmental Investment?

Online communities provide a unique opportunity to directly examine retail investors’ attention to green information on a large scale and in great detail. We investigate whether retail investors’ green attention is associated with corporate environmental investment, where the former is measured using text analysis and the dictionary method through question-and-answer information on the “Hudongyi” social media platform. The results indicate that retail investors’ green attention is positively associated with environmental information (EI), with the effect being stronger for firms with low EI disclosure and after the emergence of the new environmental protection law (NEPL). We also demonstrate that information and risk taking are two essential mechanisms for retail investors’ impact on EI. This study contributes new insights into the explanation of EI and provides practical evidence to raise awareness of the green preferences of retail investors