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Going Abroad and Going Green: The Effects of Top Management Teams’ Overseas Experience on Green Innovation in the Digital Era

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  • Shuang Meng

    (School of International Trade and Economics, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China)

  • Pengxiang Wang

    (School of International Trade and Economics, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China)

  • Jiajie Yu

    (Business School, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China)

Abstract

Green innovation has become one of the most important approaches to achieving sustainable development in modern business. Top management team (TMT)’s overseas experience, as one type of unique resources, constitutes the cognitive basis of the team and thus influences firms’ strategic decision-making. Based on the upper echelon theory, this study aims to investigate the effect of TMT’s overseas experiences on green innovation performances. By utilizing a panel dataset of Chinese listed firms, this study shows that TMTs’ overseas experience indeed promotes firms’ green innovation performance and that both firms’ digital transformation and regions’ digital economy development positively moderate the relationship between TMTs’ overseas experience and green innovation. These findings not only help managers better organize the TMT and green innovation strategy but also draw policymakers’ attention to the importance of the digital economy and sustainable development.

Suggested Citation

  • Shuang Meng & Pengxiang Wang & Jiajie Yu, 2022. "Going Abroad and Going Green: The Effects of Top Management Teams’ Overseas Experience on Green Innovation in the Digital Era," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-20, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:22:p:14705-:d:967434
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    Cited by:

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    2. Albérico Travassos Rosário & Joana Carmo Dias, 2023. "The New Digital Economy and Sustainability: Challenges and Opportunities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-23, July.

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