Greenwashing or brownwashing? The impact of fintech on corporate strategic ESG behaviour – evidence from listed companies in China

Purpose – This study aims to explore how fintech influences corporate strategic environmental, social and governance (ESG) behaviour (CSB), which refers to strategic inconsistencies between ESG disclosure and actual practices, including greenwashing and brownwashing. Design/methodology/approach – Using panel data from Chinese A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2023, this study constructs a CSB index and applies fixed effects, mediation and threshold models to examine the impact of fintech on CSB and the impact mechanisms. Findings – Fintech significantly suppresses CSB. While its inhibitory effect on greenwashing is particularly pronounced, its impact on brownwashing remains empirically tentative. Mechanism analyses reveal that this effect operates through both funding and governance channels. Fintech also helps correct the structural mismatches inherent in traditional finance and serves a gap-filling function in regions with underdeveloped financial infrastructure. Furthermore, the impact of fintech on CSB is non-linear, with the strongest effect under moderate regulation and low competition. Practical implications – The results indicate that fintech serves as a critical governance tool for increasing the credibility of ESG disclosure and decreasing strategic misreporting. Firms should leverage fintech to enhance disclosure authenticity and ESG risk management. Financial institutions and regulatory bodies can use digital technologies to enable more accurate green credit allocation and dynamic regulatory oversight. Social implications – By enhancing transparency and traceability, fintech promotes ESG information fairness and environmental governance justice, improves the efficiency of capital allocation and contributes to the restoration of social trust and sustainable development foundations. Originality/value – This study integrates greenwashing and brownwashing within a unified CSB framework, revealing institutional arbitrage risks in ESG disclosure. By introducing the lens of “fintech empowerment”, this study advances the understanding of the role of fintech in curbing sustainability manipulation, and it contributes to the broader literature on digital governance and sustainable finance.