Individual Investors’ Green Attention and Corporate Green Governance Performance: Evidence from China’s Investor Interaction Platform

Through investor interaction platforms, individual investors exert supervisory and reputational pressure on corporations. Investigating whether these actions enhance corporate green governance performance (CGGP) is essential. Using a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2022, this study constructs an indicator for individual investors’ green attention derived from inquiry data collected through the investor interaction platforms to examine its impact on CGGP. The findings demonstrate that individual investors’ green attention significantly improves CGGP. This effect is realized through raising managers’ environmental awareness, stimulating corporate environmental investments, and fostering corporate green innovation. Moreover, it serves as a substitute mechanism for both internal supervision and external regulation of enterprises. Its effect is particularly significant in firms with lower levels of internal corporate governance and weaker internal control quality, as well as in non-heavily polluting industries, firms without environmental subsidies, and non-state-owned enterprises. Extension analysis indicates that stronger interaction between firms and investors on these platforms enables more precise capture of investor demands, thereby optimizing green governance. This study provides a theoretical foundation for the collaborative participation of multiple stakeholders in environmental governance.