IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i15p7774-d599278.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environmental Regulations and Corporate Green Innovation in China: The Role of City Leaders’ Promotion Pressure

Author

Listed:
  • Le Yang

    (Department of Public Finance, School of Public Finance and Taxation, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China)

  • Jiahao Zhang

    (Department of Administration, College of Philosophy, Law& Political Science, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 201418, China)

  • Yufeng Zhang

    (Department of Finance, Finance and Economics School, Jimei University, Xiamen 361031, China)

Abstract

China and other emerging market countries have suffered from the problem of environmental pollution while developing rapidly in the past few decades. In recent years, many countries have introduced strict environmental regulations in order to achieve sustainable development. This paper discusses the relationship between environmental regulations and corporate green innovation from the perspective of regional leaders’ promotion pressure. The empirical results show that direct policy regulation within the region stimulates green innovation on the part of enterprises, and the promotion pressure of city leaders has a further positive moderating effect on the positive correlation between environmental regulations and enterprises’ green innovation. The conclusion of the study proves that a strict environmental policy can promote the effectiveness of an environmental performance appraisal system in the sustainable development plans of cities and enterprises. This paper not only reveals the influence path of official promotion pressure on the sustainable development of enterprises in the administrative area from the micro perspective but also sheds some light that may improve government governance and promote the transformation of enterprises.

Suggested Citation

  • Le Yang & Jiahao Zhang & Yufeng Zhang, 2021. "Environmental Regulations and Corporate Green Innovation in China: The Role of City Leaders’ Promotion Pressure," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-21, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:15:p:7774-:d:599278
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/15/7774/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/15/7774/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Kun Wang & Yingkai Tang & Yaozhi Chen & Longwen Shang & Xuanming Ji & Mengchao Yao & Ping Wang, 2020. "The Coupling and Coordinated Development from Urban Land Using Benefits and Urbanization Level: Case Study from Fujian Province (China)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-18, August.
    3. Galindo, Miguel-Ángel & Méndez, María Teresa, 2014. "Entrepreneurship, economic growth, and innovation: Are feedback effects at work?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(5), pages 825-829.
    4. Zhi Wang & Qinghua Zhang & Li-An Zhou, 2020. "Career Incentives of City Leaders and Urban Spatial Expansion in China," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(5), pages 897-911, December.
    5. Popp, David & Newell, Richard G. & Jaffe, Adam B., 2010. "Energy, the Environment, and Technological Change," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 873-937, Elsevier.
    6. Yingyi Qian & Barry R. Weingast, 1997. "Federalism as a Commitment to Reserving Market Incentives," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 83-92, Fall.
    7. Yaolin Lin & Jiale Zou & Wei Yang & Chun-Qing Li, 2018. "A Review of Recent Advances in Research on PM 2.5 in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-29, March.
    8. Hering, Laura & Poncet, Sandra, 2014. "Environmental policy and exports: Evidence from Chinese cities," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 296-318.
    9. 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.
    10. Stock, James H & Wright, Jonathan H & Yogo, Motohiro, 2002. "A Survey of Weak Instruments and Weak Identification in Generalized Method of Moments," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(4), pages 518-529, October.
    11. Li, Hongbin & Zhou, Li-An, 2005. "Political turnover and economic performance: the incentive role of personnel control in China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(9-10), pages 1743-1762, September.
    12. Zhang, Kun & Zhang, Zong-Yong & Liang, Qiao-Mei, 2017. "An empirical analysis of the green paradox in China: From the perspective of fiscal decentralization," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 203-211.
    13. Zhejun Min & Sukanlaya Sawang & Robbert A. Kivits, 2021. "Proposing Circular Economy Ecosystem for Chinese SMEs: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-13, March.
    14. Davide Antonioli & Simone Borghesi & Massimiliano Mazzanti, 2016. "Are regional systems greening the economy? Local spillovers, green innovations and firms’ economic performances," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(7), pages 692-713, October.
    15. Yingkai Tang & Yaozhi Chen & Kun Wang & He Xu & Xiaoqi Yi, 2020. "An Analysis on the Spatial Effect of Absorptive Capacity on Regional Innovation Ability Based on Empirical Research in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-23, April.
    16. Grosman, Anna & Aguilera, Ruth V. & Wright, Mike, 2019. "Lost in translation? Corporate governance, independent boards and blockholder appropriation," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 258-272.
    17. Zubair, Siraz & Kabir, Rezaul & Huang, Xiaohong, 2020. "Does the financial crisis change the effect of financing on investment? Evidence from private SMEs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 456-463.
    18. Yingyi Qian & Chenggang Xu, 1993. "Why China's economic reforms differ: the M‐form hierarchy and entry/expansion of the non‐state sector," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 1(2), pages 135-170, June.
    19. Zhang, Huiming & Xu, Zhidong & Sun, Chuanwang & Elahi, Ehsan, 2018. "Targeted poverty alleviation using photovoltaic power: Review of Chinese policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 550-558.
    20. Pingping Dai & Yuanyuan Lin, 2021. "Should There Be Industrial Agglomeration in Sustainable Cities?: A Perspective Based on Haze Pollution," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-22, June.
    21. Xiang, Dong & Chen, Jiakui & Tripe, David & Zhang, Ning, 2019. "Family firms, sustainable innovation and financing cost: Evidence from Chinese hi-tech small and medium-sized enterprises," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 499-511.
    22. Liu, Haoming & Salvo, Alberto, 2018. "Severe air pollution and child absences when schools and parents respond," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 300-330.
    23. Yanjun Meng & Kun Wang & Yuanyuan Lin, 2021. "The Role of Land Use Transition on Industrial Pollution Reduction in the Context of Innovation-Driven: The Case of 30 Provinces in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-20, April.
    24. Kesidou, Effie & Wu, Lichao, 2020. "Stringency of environmental regulation and eco-innovation: Evidence from the eleventh Five-Year Plan and green patents," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    25. Wolfgang Keller & Arik Levinson, 2002. "Pollution Abatement Costs and Foreign Direct Investment Inflows to U.S. States," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(4), pages 691-703, November.
    26. Fan, Joseph P. H. & Wong, T. J., 2002. "Corporate ownership structure and the informativeness of accounting earnings in East Asia," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 401-425, August.
    27. El-Kassar, Abdul-Nasser & Singh, Sanjay Kumar, 2019. "Green innovation and organizational performance: The influence of big data and the moderating role of management commitment and HR practices," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 483-498.
    28. Simpson, R. David & Bradford, Robert III, 1996. "Taxing Variable Cost: Environmental Regulation as Industrial Policy," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 282-300, May.
    29. Fuxiu Jiang & Kenneth A Kim, 2020. "Corporate Governance in China: A Survey [The role of boards of directors in corporate governance: a conceptual framework and survey]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 24(4), pages 733-772.
    30. Xuanming Ji & Kun Wang & Tao Ji & Yihua Zhang & Kun Wang, 2020. "Coupling Analysis of Urban Land Use Benefits: A Case Study of Xiamen City," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-20, May.
    31. Jiang, Fuxiu & Ma, Yunbiao & Wang, Xue, 2020. "Multiple blockholders and earnings management," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    32. Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Puri, Manju, 2015. "Capital allocation and delegation of decision-making authority within firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(3), pages 449-470.
    33. Fan Wang & Lili Feng & Jin Li & Lin Wang, 2020. "Environmental Regulation, Tenure Length of Officials, and Green Innovation of Enterprises," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-16, 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. 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.
    2. Shuang Meng & Huan Yan & Jiajie Yu, 2022. "Global Value Chain Participation and Green Innovation: Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-17, July.
    3. Khwaja Naveed & Fahad Khalid & Cosmina Lelia Voinea, 2023. "Board gender diversity and corporate green innovation: An industry‐level institutional perspective," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(2), pages 755-772, March.
    4. Najid Ahmad & Fredj Jawadi & Muhammad Azam, 2023. "Do Multi-Market Institutions and Renewable Energy Matter for Sustainable Development: A Panel Data Investigation," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 62(4), pages 1393-1411, December.
    5. Yan Li & Yi Shi, 2022. "Dynamic Game Analysis of Enterprise Green Technology Innovation Ecosystem under Double Environmental Regulation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-33, September.
    6. Bowen Xiao & Chengyao Xu, 2023. "Can Policy Instruments Achieve Synergies in Mitigating Air Pollution and CO 2 Emissions in the Transportation Sector?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-24, October.
    7. 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.
    8. Melike Bildirici & Yasemin Asu Çırpıcı & Özgür Ömer Ersin, 2023. "Effects of Technology, Energy, Monetary, and Fiscal Policies on the Relationship between Renewable and Fossil Fuel Energies and Environmental Pollution: Novel NBARDL and Causality Analyses," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-27, October.
    9. Weizhou Su & Gaowen Lei & Sidai Guo & Hongche Dan, 2022. "Study on the Influence Mechanism of Environmental Management System Certification on Enterprise Green Innovation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-20, September.
    10. Haijie Wang & Yong Geng & Jingxue Zhang & Xiqiang Xia & Yanchao Feng, 2021. "Ecological Civilization Demonstration Zone, Air Pollution Reduction, and Political Promotion Tournament in China: Empirical Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-12, November.
    11. Qiong Zhou & Qian Tan & Huixiang Zeng & Yu-En Lin & Peng Zhu, 2023. "Does Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Promote Corporate Sustainable Development? A Quasi-Natural Experiment of “10-Point Soil Plan” in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-20, March.
    12. Yuanshuo Xu & Jiahe Liang & Zhaoyingzi Dong & Minjun Shi, 2022. "Can Environmental Regulation Promote Green Innovation and Productivity? The Moderating Role of Government Interventions in Urban China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-17, October.
    13. Yi Wang & Junke Feng & Nosheena Yasir & Yu Bai, 2022. "The Impact of Political Incentives Received by Key Local Officials on Enterprises’ Green Innovations for the Development and Construction of Ecological Civilization in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-24, September.

    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. Yi Wang & Junke Feng & Nosheena Yasir & Yu Bai, 2022. "The Impact of Political Incentives Received by Key Local Officials on Enterprises’ Green Innovations for the Development and Construction of Ecological Civilization in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-24, September.
    2. 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).
    3. Wang, Qian & Wong, T.J. & Xia, Lijun, 2008. "State ownership, the institutional environment, and auditor choice: Evidence from China," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 112-134, September.
    4. Zhang, Ming & Zhao, Yingxue, 2023. "Does environmental regulation spur innovation? Quasi-natural experiment in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    5. Dongmin Kong & Ling Zhu & Ni Qin, 2022. "Does corruption shape firm centralisation? Evidence from state‐owned enterprises in China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(3), pages 3365-3395, September.
    6. Filiou, Despoina & Kesidou, Effie & Wu, Lichao, 2023. "Are smart cities green? The role of environmental and digital policies for Eco-innovation in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    7. Nicolò Barbieri & Claudia Ghisetti & Marianna Gilli & Giovanni Marin & Francesco Nicolli, 2016. "A Survey Of The Literature On Environmental Innovation Based On Main Path Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 596-623, July.
    8. Yuan, Huaxi & Zou, Longhui & Feng, Yidai, 2023. "How to achieve emission reduction without hindering economic growth? The role of judicial quality," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    9. Li, Mangmang & Cao, Yuqiang & Lu, Meiting & Wang, Hongjian, 2021. "Political uncertainty and allocation of decision rights among business groups: Evidence from the replacement of municipal officials," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    10. Yu, Xiaolin & Wan, Kai & Du, Qunyang, 2023. "Can carbon market policies achieve a “point-to-surface” effect?—Quasi-experimental evidence from China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    11. Chen, Zhao & Kahn, Matthew E. & Liu, Yu & Wang, Zhi, 2018. "The consequences of spatially differentiated water pollution regulation in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 468-485.
    12. Zhuo, Chengfeng & Xie, Yuping & Mao, Yanhua & Chen, Pengqin & Li, Yiqiao, 2022. "Can cross-regional environmental protection promote urban green development: Zero-sum game or win-win choice?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    13. Dongmin Kong & Ni Qin, 2021. "Does Environmental Regulation Shape Entrepreneurship?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 80(1), pages 169-196, September.
    14. 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).
    15. Wu, Mingqin & Chen, Bin, 2016. "Assignment of provincial officials based on economic performance: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 60-75.
    16. Pingping Dai & Yuanyuan Lin, 2021. "Should There Be Industrial Agglomeration in Sustainable Cities?: A Perspective Based on Haze Pollution," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-22, June.
    17. Binbin Chang & Lei Chen, 2021. "Land Economic Efficiency and Improvement of Environmental Pollution in the Process of Sustainable Urbanization: Case of Eastern China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-23, August.
    18. Zengming Wu & Mengnan Zhu, 2022. "More air pollution control, less industrial land leasing? Empirical evidence from microland transactions," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(3), pages 647-658, April.
    19. Kong, Dongmin & Ma, Guangyuan & Qin, Ni, 2022. "The political economy of firm emissions: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    20. Antoine Dechezleprêtre & Misato Sato, 2017. "The Impacts of Environmental Regulations on Competitiveness," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 11(2), pages 183-206.

    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:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:15:p:7774-:d:599278. 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.