IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i2p576-d1566058.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Navigating Urban Transformation: The Impact of Green Innovation on Sustainable Development Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Zihao Zhen

    (School of Business, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China)

  • Jiabei Chen

    (School of Accounting, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430200, China)

  • Ya Zhang

    (Joint Research Institute, Nanjing Audit University, Nanjing 211815, China)

  • Jie Qin

    (School of Economics, Nanjing Audit University, Nanjing 211815, China)

Abstract

This paper examines the influence of green innovation on the sustainable development performance of Chinese companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares market between 2010 and 2021. Utilizing manually collected green innovation patent data from the National Intellectual Property Administration, this paper finds that green innovation can enhance corporate sustainable development performance by improving the corporation’s reputation and increasing resource utilization efficiency within metropolitan areas. Heterogeneity analyses show that the impact of green innovation on sustainable development performance is more pronounced when the urban commercial credit environment is better, following the enactment of the new Environmental Protection Law, and during the implementation of digital transformation processes in cities. This paper enriches the research related to the economic consequences of green innovation and the influencing factors of sustainable development performance, offering theoretical support for policy refinement by regulatory authorities and the optimization of investment decisions by investors.

Suggested Citation

  • Zihao Zhen & Jiabei Chen & Ya Zhang & Jie Qin, 2025. "Navigating Urban Transformation: The Impact of Green Innovation on Sustainable Development Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-21, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:2:p:576-:d:1566058
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/2/576/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/2/576/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yu, Chin-Hsien & Wu, Xiuqin & Zhang, Dayong & Chen, Shi & Zhao, Jinsong, 2021. "Demand for green finance: Resolving financing constraints on green innovation in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    2. Chen, Yenming J. & Sheu, Jiuh-Biing, 2009. "Environmental-regulation pricing strategies for green supply chain management," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(5), pages 667-677, September.
    3. Mingfeng Tang & Grace Walsh & Daniel Lerner & Markus A. Fitza & Qiaohua Li, 2018. "Green Innovation, Managerial Concern and Firm Performance: An Empirical Study," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 39-51, January.
    4. Jing-Wen Huang & Yong-Hui Li, 2017. "Green Innovation and Performance: The View of Organizational Capability and Social Reciprocity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(2), pages 309-324, October.
    5. Zelong Wei & Hao Shen & Kevin Zheng Zhou & Julie Juan Li, 2017. "How Does Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility Matter in a Dysfunctional Institutional Environment? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 140(2), pages 209-223, January.
    6. Rizwan Ali & Muhammad Safdar Sial & Talles Vianna Brugni & Jinsoo Hwang & Nguyen Vinh Khuong & Thai Hong Thuy Khanh, 2019. "Does CSR Moderate the Relationship between Corporate Governance and Chinese Firm’s Financial Performance? Evidence from the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, December.
    7. Li, Guangpei & Wang, Xiaoyu & Su, Shibin & Su, Yuan, 2019. "How green technological innovation ability influences enterprise competitiveness," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    8. Abagail McWilliams & Donald Siegel, 2000. "Corporate social responsibility and financial performance: correlation or misspecification?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(5), pages 603-609, May.
    9. Baskentli, Sara & Sen, Sankar & Du, Shuili & Bhattacharya, C.B., 2019. "Consumer reactions to corporate social responsibility: The role of CSR domains," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 502-513.
    10. Douglas A. Adu & Basil Al‐Najjar & Thitima Sitthipongpanich, 2022. "Executive compensation, environmental performance, and sustainable banking: The moderating effect of governance mechanisms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1439-1463, May.
    11. Subhabrata Bobby Banerjee, 2001. "Managerial perceptions of corporate environmentalism: interpretations from industry and strategic implications for organizations," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 489-513, June.
    12. Yingjie Hao & Congcong Fan & Yunguang Long & Jieyi Pan, 2019. "The role of returnee executives in improving green innovation performance of Chinese manufacturing enterprises: Implications for sustainable development strategy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 804-818, July.
    13. Ying Wu & Haiyan Li & Qinglong Gou & Jibao Gu, 2017. "Supply chain models with corporate social responsibility," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(22), pages 6732-6759, November.
    14. Wang, Quan-Jing & Tang, Kai & Hu, Hai-Qing, 2022. "The impact of digital finance on green innovation: Evidence from provinces in China," Innovation and Green Development, Elsevier, vol. 1(1).
    15. Vanessa Oltra & Maïder Saint Jean, 2009. "Sectoral systems of environmental innovation: an application to the French automotive industry," Post-Print hal-00274413, HAL.
    16. Jia, Junsheng & He, Xiaoyu & Zhu, Taiyu & Zhang, Eryu, 2023. "Does green finance reform promote corporate green innovation? Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    17. Kong, Gaowen & Wang, Shuai & Wang, Yanan, 2022. "Fostering firm productivity through green finance: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Yu Wang & Yetaotao Qiu & Yi Luo, 2022. "CEO foreign experience and corporate sustainable development: Evidence from China," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 2036-2051, July.
    2. Li, Guo & Xue, Jing & Li, Na & Qi, Qingwu, 2024. "Does digital finance favor firms in supply chains? Roles of green innovation and bargaining power," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    3. Qiao, Penghua & Liu, Siting & Fung, Hung-Gay & Wang, Chen, 2024. "Corporate green innovation in a digital economy," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 870-883.
    4. Eduardo Duque‐Grisales & Javier Aguilera‐Caracuel & Jaime Guerrero‐Villegas & Encarnación García‐Sánchez, 2020. "Does green innovation affect the financial performance of Multilatinas? The moderating role of ISO 14001 and R&D investment," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3286-3302, December.
    5. Lu Zheng & Konstantinos Iatridis, 2022. "Friends or foes? A systematic literature review and meta‐analysis of the relationship between eco‐innovation and firm performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1838-1855, May.
    6. Achi, Awele & Adeola, Ogechi & Achi, Francis Chukwuedo, 2022. "CSR and green process innovation as antecedents of micro, small, and medium enterprise performance: Moderating role of perceived environmental volatility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 771-781.
    7. Chen, Yufeng & Ma, Yanbai, 2021. "Does green investment improve energy firm performance?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    8. Chotia, Varun & Cheng, Yue & Agarwal, Reeti & Vishnoi, Sushant Kumar, 2024. "AI-enabled Green Business Strategy: Path to carbon neutrality via environmental performance and green process innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    9. Burcu Özgül & Cemal Zehir, 2023. "How Managers’ Green Transformational Leadership Affects a Firm’s Environmental Strategy, Green Innovation, and Performance: The Moderating Impact of Differentiation Strategy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-20, February.
    10. Wu, Jiamei & Chen, Zhibin & Guo, Chong, 2022. "How does anti-corruption affect green innovation? Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 405-424.
    11. Lin, Woon Leong & Ho, Jo Ann & Sambasivan, Murali & Yip, Nick & Mohamed, Azali Bin, 2021. "Influence of green innovation strategy on brand value: The role of marketing capability and R&D intensity," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    12. Jing Li & Da Yan, 2021. "Exploration on the Mechanism of the Impact of Green Supply Chain Management on Enterprise Sustainable Development Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-18, September.
    13. Ma, Lina & Iqbal, Najaf & Bouri, Elie & Zhang, Yang, 2023. "How good is green finance for green innovation? Evidence from the Chinese high-carbon sector," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).
    14. Qadri, Hussain Mohi ud Din & Ali, Hassnian & Abideen, Zain ul & Jafar, Ahmad, 2024. "Mapping the Evolution of Green Finance Research and Development in Emerging Green Economies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    15. Jianzhuang Zheng & Muhammad Usman Khurram & Lifeng Chen, 2022. "Can Green Innovation Affect ESG Ratings and Financial Performance? Evidence from Chinese GEM Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-32, July.
    16. Jinqiu He & Huiwen Su, 2022. "Digital Transformation and Green Innovation of Chinese Firms: The Moderating Role of Regulatory Pressure and International Opportunities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-21, October.
    17. Maria V. Sigova & Igor K. Klyuchnikov & Oleg I. Klyuchnikov, 2024. "Sustainability and Security of Green Finance from the Multi-agent Games Perspective," Finansovyj žhurnal — Financial Journal, Financial Research Institute, Moscow 125375, Russia, issue 1, pages 78-95, February.
    18. Jia, Junsheng & He, Xiaoyu & Zhu, Taiyu & Zhang, Eryu, 2023. "Does green finance reform promote corporate green innovation? Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    19. Wunhong Su & Chun Guo & Xiaobao Song, 2022. "Media coverage, Environment Protection Law and environmental research and development: evidence from the Chinese-listed firms," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(5), pages 6953-6983, May.
    20. Dan Huang & Jie Cheng & Xiaofeng Quan & Yanling Wu, 2024. "Managerial attention to environmental protection and corporate green innovation," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 63(3), pages 1047-1081, October.

    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:17:y:2025:i:2:p:576-:d:1566058. 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.