Selecting data from A-share listed companies from 2018 to 2022, the impact of companies’ degree of “greenwashing” on stock price collapse risk was empirically analyzed. The research findings indicate a significant positive correlation between the degree of “greenwashing” and stock price collapse risk, meaning that the higher a company’s “greenwashing” score, the higher the risk of stock price collapse. Additionally, the proportion of institutional investors and analyst coverage plays a moderating role in this relationship, as the proportion of holdings and level of analyst coverage increase, they mitigate the collapse risk brought about by “greenwashing”. Furthermore, through heterogeneity tests, it is observed that the positive correlation between “greenwashing” scores and stock price collapse risk is more pronounced in private enterprises and non-manufacturing companies.

“greenwashing”  /  stock price collapse risk  /  proportion of institutional investors holdings  /  analyst coverage