IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i19p12180-d925594.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environmental Regulation and Green Technology Innovation: Evidence from China’s Heavily Polluting Companies

Author

Listed:
  • Zhouzhou Lin

    (Department of Management Science, School of Politics and Public Administration, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China)

  • Dezhi Liang

    (Department of Business Administration, School of Economics and Management, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, China)

  • Shengnan Li

    (Department of Accounting and Financial Management, School of Economics and Management, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China)

Abstract

The green transformation of heavily polluting companies is essential for sustainable development. This study investigated the direct effects of environmental regulation on two types of green technology innovations at the microlevel and explored the moderating effects of three levels of firm supervision—government, public, and internal. Analyzing a panel of China’s heavily polluting companies during 2011–2020, we find that environmental regulation inhibits both types of green technology innovation. However, the degree of such inhibition varies with different moderators. Specifically, lower environmental pressure and better internal corporate controls can weaken or even reverse the inhibition of green invention innovation, while higher media attention can weaken the inhibition of green utility-model innovation. Our findings thus extend the literature on the scenarios of environmental regulation by revealing the heterogeneous moderating effects of government-, public-, and firm-level factors on two types of green innovation. Moreover, our findings have practical implications for promoting the green transformation of heavily polluting companies.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhouzhou Lin & Dezhi Liang & Shengnan Li, 2022. "Environmental Regulation and Green Technology Innovation: Evidence from China’s Heavily Polluting Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-18, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:19:p:12180-:d:925594
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/12180/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/12180/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Karen Palmer & Wallace E. Oates & Paul R. Portney & Karen Palmer & Wallace E. Oates & Paul R. Portney, 2004. "Tightening Environmental Standards: The Benefit-Cost or the No-Cost Paradigm?," Chapters, in: Environmental Policy and Fiscal Federalism, chapter 3, pages 53-66, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Liu, Jingjing & Zhao, Min & Wang, Yanbo, 2020. "Impacts of government subsidies and environmental regulations on green process innovation: A nonlinear approach," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    3. Tan, Zhidong & Yan, Lina, 2021. "Does air pollution impede corporate innovation?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 937-951.
    4. Zhang, Qi & Yu, Zhi & Kong, Dongmin, 2019. "The real effect of legal institutions: Environmental courts and firm environmental protection expenditure," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    5. Li, Yunhe & Liu, Yu & Xie, Feixue, 2019. "Technology directors and firm innovation," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 76-88.
    6. Adam B. Jaffe & Karen Palmer, 1997. "Environmental Regulation And Innovation: A Panel Data Study," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 79(4), pages 610-619, November.
    7. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, April.
    8. Muhammad Abdul Kamal & Syed Hasanat Shah & Wang Jing & Hafsa Hasnat, 2020. "Does the Quality of Institutions in Host Countries Affect the Location Choice of Chinese OFDI: Evidence from Asia and Africa," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(1), pages 208-227, January.
    9. Kam C. Chan & Yining Chen & Baohua Liu, 2021. "The Linear and Non-Linear Effects of Internal Control and Its Five Components on Corporate Innovation: Evidence from Chinese Firms Using the COSO Framework," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(4), pages 733-765, August.
    10. Ouyang, Xiaoling & Li, Qiong & Du, Kerui, 2020. "How does environmental regulation promote technological innovations in the industrial sector? Evidence from Chinese provincial panel data," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    11. Wang, Changfeng & Hu, Qiying, 2020. "Knowledge sharing in supply chain networks: Effects of collaborative innovation activities and capability on innovation performance," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 94.
    12. Roper, Stephen & Hewitt-Dundas, Nola, 2015. "Knowledge stocks, knowledge flows and innovation: Evidence from matched patents and innovation panel data," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(7), pages 1327-1340.
    13. Luo, Yue & Chen, Yangyang & Lin, Ji-Chai, 2022. "Does air quality affect inventor productivity? Evidence from the NOx budget program," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    14. Zhu, Xuehong & Zuo, Xuguang & Li, Hailing, 2021. "The dual effects of heterogeneous environmental regulation on the technological innovation of Chinese steel enterprises—Based on a high-dimensional fixed effects model," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    15. Zhongju Liao & Chen Weng & Chen Shen, 2020. "Can public surveillance promote corporate environmental innovation? The mediating role of environmental law enforcement," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(6), pages 1519-1527, November.
    16. Wang, Fangjun & Xu, Luying & Zhang, Junrui & Shu, Wei, 2018. "Political connections, internal control and firm value: Evidence from China's anti-corruption campaign," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 53-67.
    17. Assad Ullah & Xinshun Zhao & Muhammad Abdul Kamal & Jiajia Zheng, 2022. "Environmental regulations and inward FDI in China: Fresh evidence from the asymmetric autoregressive distributed lag approach," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 1340-1356, January.
    18. Yang, Jingyi & Shi, Daqian & Yang, Wenbo, 2022. "Stringent environmental regulation and capital structure: The effect of NEPL on deleveraging the high polluting firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 643-656.
    19. Yue Zhu & Ziyuan Sun & Shiyu Zhang & Xiaolin Wang, 2021. "Economic Policy Uncertainty, Environmental Regulation, and Green Innovation—An Empirical Study Based on Chinese High-Tech Enterprises," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-19, September.
    20. He, Yiqing & Ding, Xin & Yang, Chuchu, 2021. "Do environmental regulations and financial constraints stimulate corporate technological innovation? Evidence from China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    21. Tang, Chang & Xu, Yuanyuan & Hao, Yu & Wu, Haitao & Xue, Yan, 2021. "What is the role of telecommunications infrastructure construction in green technology innovation? A firm-level analysis for China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    22. Shuai Shao & Zhigao Hu & Jianhua Cao & Lili Yang & Dabo Guan, 2020. "Environmental Regulation and Enterprise Innovation: A Review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1465-1478, March.
    23. Jeroen C. J. M. van den Bergh, 2017. "A third option for climate policy within potential limits to growth," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 7(2), pages 107-112, February.
    24. Yingyuan Guo & Xingneng Xia & Sheng Zhang & Danping Zhang, 2018. "Environmental Regulation, Government R&D Funding and Green Technology Innovation: Evidence from China Provincial Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-21, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ying Zhao & Yongchun Huang & Shiliang Hu & Jun Sun, 2023. "How Tripartite Stakeholders Promote Green Technology Innovation of China’s Heavily Polluting Enterprises?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-19, June.
    2. Huacheng Rao & Dongxu Chen & Feichao Shen & Yangyang Shen, 2022. "Can Green Bonds Stimulate Green Innovation in Enterprises? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-19, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xu, Le & Yang, Lili & Li, Ding & Shao, Shuai, 2023. "Asymmetric effects of heterogeneous environmental standards on green technology innovation: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    2. Fubiao Zhu & Delin Zhuang & Shengwu Jin & Lingling Gao & Rui Chen, 2022. "Effects of air pollution on regional innovation and the mediator role of health: Evidence from China," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 628-650, June.
    3. Cai, Hechang & Wang, Zilong & Zhang, Zhiwen & Xu, Liuyang, 2023. "Does environmental regulation promote technology transfer? Evidence from a partially linear functional-coefficient panel model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    4. Xihui Chen & Juan Ou & Xuemei Tang & Qinghe Yang, 2023. "The Impact of Officials’ Off-Office Accountability Audit of Natural Resource Assets on Firms’ Green Innovation Strategies: A Quasi-Natural Experiment in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-36, February.
    5. Wanli Zhang & Bin Zhu & Yongling Li & Dan Yan, 2024. "Revisiting the Porter hypothesis: a multi-country meta-analysis of the relationship between environmental regulation and green innovation," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, December.
    6. Zhice Cheng & Xinyuan Chen & Huwei Wen, 2022. "How Does Environmental Protection Tax Affect Corporate Environmental Investment? Evidence from Chinese Listed Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-22, March.
    7. Qi, Xiulin & Wu, Zhifang & Xu, Jinqing & Shan, Biaoan, 2023. "Environmental justice and green innovation: A quasi-natural experiment based on the establishment of environmental courts in China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    8. Muyao Li & Jinsong Zhang & Ramakrishnan Ramanathan & Ruiqian Li, 2020. "Opening the Black Box: The Impacts of Environmental Regulations on Technological Innovation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-18, June.
    9. Zhao, Ziyi & Zhao, Yuhuan & Lv, Xin & Li, Xiaoping & Zheng, Lu & Fan, Shunan & Zuo, Sumin, 2024. "Environmental regulation and green innovation: Does state ownership matter?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    10. Assad Ullah & Xinshun Zhao & Unbreen Qayyum & Muhammad Abdul Kamal & Aamir Aijaz Sayed, 2024. "Modeling the Relationship Between Environmental Regulations and Stock Market Growth in China: Evidence Beyond Symmetry," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 2460-2481, March.
    11. Zhang, Wenyue & Ke, Jinjun & Sun, Chuanwang, 2024. "Green innovation of heavily polluting enterprises under environmental liability insurance: Evidence from Chinese listed companies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    12. Chen, Xinmin & Huang, Yuhong & Gao, Yajia, 2024. "Can urban low-carbon transitions promote enterprise digital transformation?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    13. Yao, Peng & Wang, Yutong & Liu, Jianxu, 2023. "Can water pollution control influence employment adjustment in enterprises?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 384-397.
    14. Cui, Di & Ding, Mingfa & Han, Yikai & Suardi, Sandy, 2023. "Regulation-induced financial constraints, carbon emission and corporate innovation: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PB).
    15. Zihao Wu & Ye Wang, 2023. "Does Heterogeneous Environmental Regulation Induce Regional Green Economic Growth? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-14, June.
    16. Zhou, Kuo & Luo, Haotian & Qu, Zhi, 2023. "What can the environmental rule of law do for environmental innovation? Evidence from environmental tribunals in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    17. Bai, Dongbei & Du, Lizhao & Xu, Yang & Abbas, Shujaat, 2023. "Climate policy uncertainty and corporate green innovation: Evidence from Chinese A-share listed industrial corporations," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PB).
    18. Zibiao Li & Siwei Wang & Keyuan Sun & Han Li & Xue Lu, 2022. "Energy Conservation or Emission Reduction? The Effects of Different Types of Environmental Regulations on Enterprises’ Green Innovation Preference," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, June.
    19. Lei, Pengfei & Cai, Qihai & Jiang, Fangxin, 2024. "Assessing the impact of environmental regulation on enterprise high-quality development in China: A two-tier stochastic frontier model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    20. Xinyu Wang & Yuanze Chai & Wensen Wu & Adnan Khurshid, 2023. "The Empirical Analysis of Environmental Regulation’s Spatial Spillover Effects on Green Technology Innovation in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-14, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:19:p:12180-:d:925594. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.