IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/teinso/v65y2021ics0160791x21000506.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How environmental regulations affect corporate innovation? The coupling mechanism of mandatory rules and voluntary management

Author

Listed:
  • Jiang, Zhenyu
  • Wang, Zongjun
  • Lan, Xiao

Abstract

Although the influencing mechanism of environmental regulation on technological innovation has been widely discussed in academia, few studies analysed the collaborative effect of mandatory and non-mandatory environmental regulations. Based on the panel data of 419 Chinese emerging firms from 2010 to 2015, this article discussed the coupling mechanism of mandatory regulations and voluntary certifications in the process of corporate technological innovation. The results showed that: First, regional environmental regulation has a positive effect on environmental management system certification, while industry environmental regulation has no significant effect on environmental management system certification. Second, industry environmental regulation negatively affects corporate innovation performance, while regional environmental regulation positively affects corporate innovation performance. Third, environmental management system certification positively moderates the relationship between mandatory environmental regulation (i.e., industry regulation and regional regulation) and corporate innovation performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiang, Zhenyu & Wang, Zongjun & Lan, Xiao, 2021. "How environmental regulations affect corporate innovation? The coupling mechanism of mandatory rules and voluntary management," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:65:y:2021:i:c:s0160791x21000506
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101575
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160791X21000506
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101575?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stefan Ambec & Mark A. Cohen & Stewart Elgie & Paul Lanoie, 2013. "The Porter Hypothesis at 20: Can Environmental Regulation Enhance Innovation and Competitiveness?," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 7(1), pages 2-22, January.
    2. Das, Gouranga G. & Alavalapati, Janaki R. R. & Carter, Douglas R. & Tsigas, Marinos E., 2005. "Regional impacts of environmental regulations and technical change in the US forestry sector: a multiregional CGE analysis," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 25-38, January.
    3. Henri, Jean-François & Journeault, Marc, 2010. "Eco-control: The influence of management control systems on environmental and economic performance," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 63-80, January.
    4. Wagner, Marcus, 2007. "On the relationship between environmental management, environmental innovation and patenting: Evidence from German manufacturing firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 1587-1602, December.
    5. Zhenyu Jiang & Zongjun Wang & Yanqi Zeng, 2020. "Can voluntary environmental regulation promote corporate technological innovation?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 390-406, February.
    6. Jaana Rahko, 2016. "Internationalization of corporate R&D activities and innovation performance," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 25(6), pages 1019-1038.
    7. Ying Hao & Jing Lu, 2018. "The Impact of Government Intervention on Corporate Investment Allocations and Efficiency: Evidence from China," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 47(2), pages 383-419, June.
    8. Linares, Ian Marques Porto & De Paulo, Alex Fabianne & Porto, Geciane Silveira, 2019. "Patent-based network analysis to understand technological innovation pathways and trends," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    9. Jiao, Jian-ling & Zhang, Xiao-lan & Tang, Yun-shu, 2020. "What factors determine the survival of green innovative enterprises in China? -- A method based on fsQCA," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    10. Blackman, Allen & Lahiri, Bidisha & Pizer, William & Rivera Planter, Marisol & Muñoz Piña, Carlos, 2010. "Voluntary environmental regulation in developing countries: Mexico's Clean Industry Program," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 182-192, November.
    11. Prashant Kale & Harbir Singh, 2007. "Building firm capabilities through learning: the role of the alliance learning process in alliance capability and firm‐level alliance success," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(10), pages 981-1000, October.
    12. Hye-Young Joo & Yong-Won Seo & Hokey Min, 2018. "Examining the effects of government intervention on the firm’s environmental and technological innovation capabilities and export performance," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(18), pages 6090-6111, September.
    13. S. Zeng & X. Xu & H. Yin & C. Tam, 2012. "Factors that Drive Chinese Listed Companies in Voluntary Disclosure of Environmental Information," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(3), pages 309-321, September.
    14. 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).
    15. Seong‐gin Moon & Suho Bae & Moon‐Gi Jeong, 2014. "Corporate Sustainability and Economic Performance: an Empirical Analysis of a Voluntary Environmental Program in the USA," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(8), pages 534-546, December.
    16. Kumar, Surender & Shetty, Shivananda, 2018. "Corporate Participation in Voluntary Environmental Programs in India: Determinants and Deterrence," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 1-10.
    17. Lyon, Thomas P. & Maxwell, John W., 2003. "Self-regulation, taxation and public voluntary environmental agreements," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(7-8), pages 1453-1486, August.
    18. Bruno Cassiman & Reinhilde Veugelers, 2006. "In Search of Complementarity in Innovation Strategy: Internal R& D and External Knowledge Acquisition," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(1), pages 68-82, January.
    19. Bu, Maoliang & Qiao, Zhenzi & Liu, Beibei, 2020. "Voluntary environmental regulation and firm innovation in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 10-18.
    20. Heras-Saizarbitoria, Iñaki & Boiral, Olivier, 2019. "Faking ISO 9001 in China: An exploratory study," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 55-64.
    21. Anni Tuppura & Anne Toppinen & Kaisu Puumalainen, 2016. "Forest Certification and ISO 14001: Current State and Motivation in Forest Companies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(5), pages 355-368, July.
    22. Chege, Samwel Macharia & Wang, Daoping, 2020. "The influence of technology innovation on SME performance through environmental sustainability practices in Kenya," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    23. Chaminda Wijethilake & Rahat Munir & Ranjith Appuhami, 2018. "Environmental Innovation Strategy and Organizational Performance: Enabling and Controlling Uses of Management Control Systems," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(4), pages 1139-1160, September.
    24. Seong Mi Bae & Md. Abdul Kaium Masud & Jong Dae Kim, 2018. "A Cross-Country Investigation of Corporate Governance and Corporate Sustainability Disclosure: A Signaling Theory Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-16, July.
    25. 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).
    26. Tarui, Nori & Polasky, Stephen, 2005. "Environmental regulation with technology adoption, learning and strategic behavior," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 447-467, November.
    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. Qi‐an Chen & Shuxiang Tang & Yuan Xu, 2022. "Do government subsidies and financing constraints play a dominant role in the effect of state ownership on corporate innovation? Evidence from China," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(8), pages 3698-3714, December.
    2. Xiuping Li & Ye Yang, 2022. "Does Green Finance Contribute to Corporate Technological Innovation? The Moderating Role of Corporate Social Responsibility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-17, May.
    3. Yunfei Qi & Chengzhi Niu & Hong He, 2023. "Political Connection and Environmental Protection Investment: A Study Based on Ownership Difference," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-25, November.
    4. Yuanyang Wang & Yanlin Yang & Chenyu Fu & Zengzeng Fan & Xiaoping Zhou, 2021. "Environmental regulation, environmental responsibility, and green technology innovation: Empirical research from China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(9), pages 1-21, September.
    5. Tianshun Ruan & Ying Gu & Xinhao Li & Rong Qu, 2022. "Research on the Practical Path of Resource-Based Enterprises to Improve Environmental Efficiency in Digital Transformation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-17, October.
    6. Xingwei Li & Jiachi Dai & Xiaowen Zhu & Jinrong He & Jingru Li & Xiang Liu & Yicheng Huang & Qiong Shen, 2022. "What Is the Mechanism of Government Green Development Behavior Considering Multi-Agent Interaction? A Meta-Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-16, July.
    7. Yingzheng Yan & Qiuwang Cheng & Menglan Huang & Qiaohua Lin & Wenhe Lin, 2022. "Government Environmental Regulation and Corporate ESG Performance: Evidence from Natural Resource Accountability Audits in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-16, December.
    8. Chengqing Liu & Dan Yang & Jun Sun & Yu Cheng, 2023. "The Impact of Environmental Regulations on Pollution and Carbon Reduction in the Yellow River Basin, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-21, January.
    9. Fengyan Wang & Ziyuan Sun, 2022. "Does the Environmental Regulation Intensity and ESG Performance Have a Substitution Effect on the Impact of Enterprise Green Innovation: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-24, July.
    10. Yaoxiaoxue Hong & Xianling Jiang & Beibei Shi & Chang Yu, 2022. "Do Fiscal Environmental Protection Expenditures Crowd Out Corporate Environmental Protection Investments?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-23, October.
    11. Zhao, Shuliang & Teng, Linjiao & Arkorful, Vincent Ekow & Hu, Hui, 2023. "Impacts of digital government on regional eco-innovation: Moderating role of dual environmental regulations," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    12. 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).
    13. Liu, Ziyu & Du, Yushen, 2022. "Open knowledge disclosure and technical standard competition in transition economies: A legitimacy perspective," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    14. Wang, Zongrun & Fu, Haiqin & Ren, Xiaohang, 2023. "Political connections and corporate carbon emission: New evidence from Chinese industrial firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    15. Jinyong Chen & Weijia Shu & Xiaochi Wang & Muhammad Safdar Sial & Mariana Sehleanu & Daniel Badulescu, 2021. "The Impact of Environmental Uncertainty on Corporate Innovation: Empirical Evidence from an Emerging Economy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-22, December.
    16. Wu, AiHua, 2022. "Specific investments and supplier sustainable innovation contribution: A moderated nonlinear link," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    17. Liang Chen & Huan Huang & Dong Yao & Haonan Yang & Shuangshuang Xu & Shiyu Liu, 2023. "Construction of Urban Environmental Performance Evaluation System Based on Multivariate System Theory and Comparative Analysis: A Case Study of Chengdu-Chongqing Twin Cities, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-19, March.
    18. Che, Shuai & Wang, Jun & Chen, Honghang, 2023. "Can China's decentralized energy governance reduce carbon emissions? Evidence from new energy demonstration cities," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).

    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. Zhenyu Jiang & Zongjun Wang & Yanqi Zeng, 2020. "Can voluntary environmental regulation promote corporate technological innovation?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 390-406, February.
    2. Ren, Shenggang & He, Duojun & Yan, Ji & Zeng, Huixiang & Tan, Justin, 2022. "Environmental labeling certification and corporate environmental innovation: The moderating role of corporate ownership and local government intervention," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 556-571.
    3. 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.
    4. He, Wenjian & Cheng, Yu & Lin, Ying & Zhang, Hongxiao, 2022. "Microeconomic effects of designating National Forest Cities: Evidence from China's publicly traded manufacturing companies," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    5. 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).
    6. Yuanhong Hu & Sheng Sun & Yixin Dai, 2021. "Environmental regulation, green innovation, and international competitiveness of manufacturing enterprises in China: From the perspective of heterogeneous regulatory tools," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(3), pages 1-28, March.
    7. 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).
    8. Ghisetti, Claudia & Marzucchi, Alberto & Montresor, Sandro, 2015. "The open eco-innovation mode. An empirical investigation of eleven European countries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(5), pages 1080-1093.
    9. De Xia & Wenhua Chen & Qinglu Gao & Rui Zhang & Yundong Zhang, 2021. "Research on Enterprises’ Intention to Adopt Green Technology Imposed by Environmental Regulations with Perspective of State Ownership," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-19, January.
    10. Fengyan Wang & Ziyuan Sun, 2022. "Does the Environmental Regulation Intensity and ESG Performance Have a Substitution Effect on the Impact of Enterprise Green Innovation: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-24, July.
    11. Liu, Guixian & Sun, Wei & Kong, Zhaoyang & Dong, Xiucheng & Jiang, Qingzhe, 2023. "Did the pollution charge system promote or inhibit innovation? Evidence from Chinese micro-enterprises," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    12. Wu, Bao & Fang, Hanqing & Jacoby, Gady & Li, Geling & Wu, Zhenyu, 2022. "Environmental regulations and innovation for sustainability? Moderating effect of political connections," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    13. Liu, Duan & Yu, Nizhou & Wan, Hong, 2022. "Does water rights trading affect corporate investment? The role of resource allocation and risk mitigation channels," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    14. Ren, Shenggang & Hu, Yucai & Zheng, Jingjing & Wang, Yangjie, 2020. "Emissions trading and firm innovation: Evidence from a natural experiment in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    15. Giovanni Marin & Francesca Lotti, 2017. "Productivity effects of eco-innovations using data on eco-patents," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 26(1), pages 125-148.
    16. Giulio Cainelli & Massimiliano Mazzanti & Sandro Montresor, 2012. "Environmental Innovations, Local Networks and Internationalization," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(8), pages 697-734, November.
    17. 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).
    18. Viju Raghupathi & Jie Ren & Wullianallur Raghupathi, 2020. "Identifying Corporate Sustainability Issues by Analyzing Shareholder Resolutions: A Machine-Learning Text Analytics Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-24, June.
    19. Justin Doran & Geraldine Ryan, 2016. "The Importance of the Diverse Drivers and Types of Environmental Innovation for Firm Performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 102-119, February.
    20. James H. Love & Stephen Roper & Priit Vahter, 2014. "Learning from openness: The dynamics of breadth in external innovation linkages," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(11), pages 1703-1716, November.

    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:eee:teinso:v:65:y:2021:i:c:s0160791x21000506. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/technology-in-society .

    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.