Abstract This paper fills the gap in the study of the impact of Chinese companies' environmental performance (EP) on greenwashing based on the listed companies in China from 2010 to 2018. The relationship between EP and greenwashing is analyzed based on legitimacy theory and signal theory. From the empirical analysis, it is found that there exists a negative correlation between EP and greenwashing which supports the signal theory. Based on resource-based theory analysis, the impacts of environmental subsidies and political connections on the relationship between environmental performance and greenwashing are also analyzed. EP of enterprises receiving environmental protection subsidy has a greater inhibition effect on greenwashing. The negative effect of EP on greenwashing of state-owned enterprises is bigger than that of non-state-owned enterprises. This study can provide reference for government departments in deepening the reform of government environmental subsidies and environmental governance of state-owned enterprises.
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