IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/riibaf/v83y2026ics0275531926000322.html

ESG and firms’ exploitative versus exploratory innovation: Evidence from a large language model approach

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Yeshen
  • Song, Kaixi
  • Xu, Longhui
  • Song, Zhe

Abstract

Grounded in expectancy violations theory (EVT), this study examines the impact of corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) ratings on exploitative and exploratory innovation using a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2021. The findings indicate that ESG ratings promote firms’ exploitative innovation while constraining exploratory innovation. Furthermore, we construct a proxy for managerial ESG risks attention using a large language model (LLM) approach, providing empirical support for the theoretical mechanism of EVT. External stakeholder attention amplifies the positive effect of ESG ratings on exploitative innovation and the negative effect on exploratory innovation. Compared to Governance (G), the effects of Environmental (E) and Social (S) are more pronounced in promoting (suppressing) firms’ exploitative (exploratory) innovation. The heterogeneity analysis reveals that firms will place greater emphasis on balancing exploitative and exploratory innovation under conditions of resource abundance (e.g., high organizational slack, low financing constraints, state ownership, limited market competition, and high corporate reputation) and limited technological accumulation. Further analysis demonstrates that firms with higher ESG ratings benefit from exploitative innovation, which drives short- and medium-term performance growth. Overall, our research deepens the understanding of the complex relationship between ESG and corporate innovation.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Yeshen & Song, Kaixi & Xu, Longhui & Song, Zhe, 2026. "ESG and firms’ exploitative versus exploratory innovation: Evidence from a large language model approach," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:riibaf:v:83:y:2026:i:c:s0275531926000322
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ribaf.2026.103305
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0275531926000322
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ribaf.2026.103305?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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rodolphe Durand & Jean-Philippe Vergne, 2015. "Asset divestment as a response to media attacks in stigmatized industries," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(8), pages 1205-1223, August.
    2. Zhou, Kevin Zheng & Wang, Kui & Xu, Dean & Xie, En, 2022. "Drinking poison to quench thirst: Does bribery foster firm performance in China?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 505-517.
    3. Broadstock, David C. & Matousek, Roman & Meyer, Martin & Tzeremes, Nickolaos G., 2020. "Does corporate social responsibility impact firms' innovation capacity? The indirect link between environmental & social governance implementation and innovation performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 99-110.
    4. James G. March, 1991. "Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 71-87, February.
    5. Eduardo Duque-Grisales & Javier Aguilera-Caracuel, 2021. "Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Scores and Financial Performance of Multilatinas: Moderating Effects of Geographic International Diversification and Financial Slack," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(2), pages 315-334, January.
    6. Guanhao Feng & Stefano Giglio & Dacheng Xiu, 2020. "Taming the Factor Zoo: A Test of New Factors," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(3), pages 1327-1370, June.
    7. Milan Miric & Nan Jia & Kenneth G. Huang, 2023. "Using supervised machine learning for large‐scale classification in management research: The case for identifying artificial intelligence patents," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 491-519, February.
    8. Rodolphe Durand & Robert M. Grant & Tammy L. Madsen & Gino Cattani & Joseph F. Porac & Howard Thomas, 2017. "Categories and competition," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 64-92, January.
    9. Xiao, Zhongyi & Shum, Wai Yan & Lai, Fujun & Xiang, Cheng, 2025. "How do firms respond to divergent ESG ratings? The perspective of green innovation," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    10. Liu, Yeshen & Wang, Beibei & Song, Zhe, 2025. "Promoting or inhibiting: The impact of artificial intelligence application on corporate environmental performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    11. Cen April Yue & Baobao Song & Weiting Tao & Minjeong Kang, 2024. "Irresponsible to others but responsible to me: Testing employees' responses to external corporate social irresponsibility and internal corporate social responsibility," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(6), pages 5427-5445, November.
    12. Zi-Lin He & Poh-Kam Wong, 2004. "Exploration vs. Exploitation: An Empirical Test of the Ambidexterity Hypothesis," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(4), pages 481-494, August.
    13. Zeng, Ming & Zhang, Weike, 2024. "Green finance: The catalyst for artificial intelligence and energy efficiency in Chinese urban sustainable development," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    14. Jonah Berger & Alan T. Sorensen & Scott J. Rasmussen, 2010. "Positive Effects of Negative Publicity: When Negative Reviews Increase Sales," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(5), pages 815-827, 09-10.
    15. Cláudia Custódio & Miguel A. Ferreira & Pedro Matos, 2019. "Do General Managerial Skills Spur Innovation?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(2), pages 459-476, February.
    16. Nick Lin-Hi & Igor Blumberg, 2018. "The Link Between (Not) Practicing CSR and Corporate Reputation: Psychological Foundations and Managerial Implications," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 185-198, June.
    17. Wang, Juxian & Ma, Mengdi & Dong, Tianyi & Zhang, Zheyuan, 2023. "Do ESG ratings promote corporate green innovation? A quasi-natural experiment based on SynTao Green Finance's ESG ratings," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    18. Mariana Mazzucato, 2016. "From market fixing to market-creating: a new framework for innovation policy," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 140-156, February.
    19. Li, Chao & Ba, Shusong & Ma, Kejia & Xu, Yueling & Huang, Wenli & Huang, Niyuan, 2023. "ESG Rating Events, Financial Investment Behavior and Corporate Innovation," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 372-387.
    20. Yuming Zhai & Zhenghuan Cai & Han Lin & Ming Yuan & Ye Mao & Mingchuan Yu, 2022. "Does better environmental, social, and governance induce better corporate green innovation: The mediating role of financing constraints," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(5), pages 1513-1526, September.
    21. Charles J. Hadlock & Joshua R. Pierce, 2010. "New Evidence on Measuring Financial Constraints: Moving Beyond the KZ Index," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(5), pages 1909-1940.
    22. Tsang, Albert & Wang, Kun Tracy & Liu, Simeng & Yu, Li, 2021. "Integrating corporate social responsibility criteria into executive compensation and firm innovation: International evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    23. S. Trevis Certo & John R. Busenbark & Hyun‐soo Woo & Matthew Semadeni, 2016. "Sample selection bias and Heckman models in strategic management research," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(13), pages 2639-2657, December.
    24. William Ocasio, 1997. "Towards An Attention‐Based View Of The Firm," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(S1), pages 187-206, July.
    25. Li, Yanqiong & Li, Sihao, 2024. "ESG performance and innovation quality," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 1361-1373.
    26. Qiang Li & Minglai Li & Lin Zhang, 2024. "Revisiting the relationship between ESG, institutional ownership, and corporate innovation: An efficiency perspective," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(6), pages 6504-6525, November.
    27. Hanqing Zhao & Heng Liu & Man Yang & Huiyang Li, 2025. "The impact of tones of executive communication on firm risk-taking: Evidence from performance volatility and acquisition spending," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 1565-1608, September.
    28. Richard J Gentry & Wei Shen, 2013. "The impacts of performance relative to analyst forecasts and analyst coverage on firm R&D intensity," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 121-130, January.
    29. Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra & Saptarshi Purkayastha & Kannan Ramaswamy, 2023. "Variations in the Corporate Social Responsibility-Performance Relationship in Emerging Market Firms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(4), pages 1626-1650, July.
    30. Constantine Andriopoulos & Marianne W. Lewis, 2009. "Exploitation-Exploration Tensions and Organizational Ambidexterity: Managing Paradoxes of Innovation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(4), pages 696-717, August.
    31. Wei Zhu & Wei‐jian Li & Lei Wang, 2024. "The impact of environmental, social, and governance ratings on corporate innovation: From the perspective of informal institutions," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 45(4), pages 2000-2022, June.
    32. Zhang, Weike & Zeng, Ming, 2024. "Is artificial intelligence a curse or a blessing for enterprise energy intensity? Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    33. Seong K. Byun & Jong-Min & Han Xia, 2021. "Incremental vs. Breakthrough Innovation: The Role of Technology Spillovers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(3), pages 1779-1802, March.
    34. Wagner, Marcus, 2011. "To explore or to exploit? An empirical investigation of acquisitions by large incumbents," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(9), pages 1217-1225.
    35. Victor Chernozhukov & Denis Chetverikov & Mert Demirer & Esther Duflo & Christian Hansen & Whitney Newey & James Robins, 2018. "Double/debiased machine learning for treatment and structural parameters," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 21(1), pages 1-68, February.
    36. Conor Callahan & Ruixiang Song & Wei Shi & Kevin J. Veenstra & Gerry McNamara, 2025. "A Contingency View of Impression Management: Heterogeneous Investor Responses to CEO Positive Portrayal of Mergers and Acquisitions," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(2), pages 812-849, March.
    37. Christophe, Stephen E. & Hsieh, Jim & Lee, Hun, 2024. "Reputation and recency: How do aggressive short sellers assess ESG-Related Information?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    38. Yeshen Liu & Zhengtang Zhang & Zhe Song, 2024. "Does Executives’ Compensation Stickiness Encourage Environmental Investments? An Environmental Attention-Based Perspective," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(11), pages 2477-2496, September.
    39. Joseph S. Harrison & Steven Boivie & Ithai Stern & Joseph Porac, 2024. "Inventor CEO involvement and firm exploitative and exploratory innovation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(11), pages 2227-2256, November.
    40. Marina Candi & Monia Melia & Maria Colurcio, 2019. "Two Birds with One Stone: The Quest for Addressing Both Business Goals and Social Needs with Innovation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(4), pages 1019-1033, December.
    41. 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.
    42. Lily Fang & Joel Peress, 2009. "Media Coverage and the Cross‐section of Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(5), pages 2023-2052, October.
    43. Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim, 2015. "The impact of corporate social responsibility on investment recommendations: Analysts' perceptions and shifting institutional logics," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(7), pages 1053-1081, July.
    44. Yu, Fang (Frank), 2008. "Analyst coverage and earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 245-271, May.
    45. Kedong Chen & Xiaojin (Jim) Liu & Yuhong Li & Kevin Linderman, 2023. "Government support and cross‐border innovation: The effect of China's innovative city policy on Chinese firms' patenting in the United States," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 32(6), pages 1793-1811, June.
    46. Athey, Susan & Imbens, Guido W. & Metzger, Jonas & Munro, Evan, 2024. "Using Wasserstein Generative Adversarial Networks for the design of Monte Carlo simulations," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 240(2).
    47. Kawai, Norifumi & Strange, Roger & Zucchella, Antonella, 2018. "Stakeholder pressures, EMS implementation, and green innovation in MNC overseas subsidiaries," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 933-946.
    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. Ni, Mingjie, 2025. "ESG disclosure and corporate human capital upgrading in China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 49-64.
    2. Wei, Rongrong & Yu, Zhaopeng & Zhen, Deyun, 2025. "The differentiated effect of China's new environmental protection law on corporate ESG performance," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 2126-2141.
    3. Changjun Zheng & Md. Abdul Mannan Khan & Mohammad Morshedur Rahman & Syed Moudud-Ul-Huq & Md. Shahinur Rahman, 2025. "ESG Performance and Financial Stability: A Bibliometric and Meta-Analysis," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(4), pages 21582440251, October.
    4. Xi, Dingli & Zhang, Minhao & Veronesi, Gianluca, 2026. "The digital-environmental tension: Managerial attention to digital transformation and energy consumption in healthcare organizations," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    5. Sun, Xian & Xiong, Xiaoyan, 2025. "ESG performance and corporate innovation," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    6. Xudong Zhuang & Xi Lin, 2023. "Invisible governance: Cognitive ability and corporate social responsibility," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(8), pages 4466-4481, December.
    7. Ye Jin Lee & Kwangsoo Shin & Eungdo Kim, 2019. "The Influence of a Firm’s Capability and Dyadic Relationship of the Knowledge Base on Ambidextrous Innovation in Biopharmaceutical M&As," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-17, September.
    8. Chen, Che & Chen, Song & Wu, Dingwen, 2025. "The impact of ESG performance on R&D investment stability: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    9. Bob Walrave & A Georges L Romme & Kim E van Oorschot & Fred Langerak, 2017. "Managerial attention to exploitation versus exploration: toward a dynamic perspective on ambidexterity," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 26(6), pages 1145-1160.
    10. Minchao Liao & Zeng'an Gao & Jingsong Zhou & Dehui Li, 2025. "Business model innovation driven by corporate social responsibility in a digital innovation ecosystem: Evidence from Chinese manufacturers," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(4), pages 2103-2119, June.
    11. Yang, Bai & Huang, Jingfeng & Chen, Yinzhong, 2025. "The relationship between ESG ratings and digital technological innovation in manufacturing: Insights via dual machine learning models," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    12. Bijuan Zhong & Mona V. Makhija & Shad Morris, 2022. "Abstract Versus Concrete: How Managers’ Construal Influences Organizational Control Systems and Problem Solving," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(6), pages 2322-2345, November.
    13. Zhang, Hua & Lai, Jie, 2024. "Greening through ESG: Do ESG ratings improve corporate environmental performance in China?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 96(PC).
    14. Mammassis, Constantinos S. & Kostopoulos, Konstantinos C., 2019. "CEO goal orientations, environmental dynamism and organizational ambidexterity: An investigation in SMEs," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 577-588.
    15. Hu, Jing & Wang, Yilin & Liu, Shengnan & Song, Mingshun, 2023. "Mechanism of latecomer enterprises’ technological catch-up in technical standards alliances – An ambidextrous innovation perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    16. Yichen Wang & Christopher Marquis, 2025. "Does Product Market Competition Promote or Reduce Firms’ Corporate Social Responsibility Behavior? How Stakeholder Attention Shapes Responsiveness to Stakeholders," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 200(4), pages 867-896, September.
    17. Al-Atwi, Amer Ali & Amankwah-Amoah, Joseph & Khan, Zaheer, 2021. "Micro-foundations of organizational design and sustainability: The mediating role of learning ambidexterity," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(1).
    18. Koryak, Oksana & Lockett, Andy & Hayton, James & Nicolaou, Nicos & Mole, Kevin, 2018. "Disentangling the antecedents of ambidexterity: Exploration and exploitation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 413-427.
    19. Gama, Marina A.B. & Casnici, Cyntia Vilasboas Calixto & Bassi-Suter, Mariana & Gonzalez-Perez, Maria Alejandra & Fleury, Maria Tereza L., 2025. "The impact of corporate social responsibility in home countries on the financial resilience of emerging-market multinationals: An analysis on Brazilian MNEs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    20. Linda Argote & Sunkee Lee & Jisoo Park, 2021. "Organizational Learning Processes and Outcomes: Major Findings and Future Research Directions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(9), pages 5399-5429, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:riibaf:v:83:y:2026:i:c:s0275531926000322. 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: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ribaf .

    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.