IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i15p6617-d1448551.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does CSR Improve the Quality of Economic Growth? Based on the Perspective of Green Innovation

Author

Listed:
  • Weihua Qu

    (Institution of Management and Decision, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030031, China
    School of Economics and Management, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030031, China)

  • Na Sun

    (School of Economics and Management, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030031, China)

Abstract

Taking into consideration existing research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and green innovation, this study categorizes green innovation into substantive and strategic types. For this study, we constructed a general equilibrium model that integrates the effects of CSR on substantive and strategic green innovation, exploring changes in emission reduction technologies caused by firms’ CSR efforts and their impact on economic growth quality. We derived the economic growth trajectory for substantive green innovation and strategic green innovation as a function of CSR. The theoretical model that we developed in this study shows that CSR can improve economic growth quality. To empirically test our theoretical model, we used data at the provincial level in China from 2013 to 2022; these empirical results are consistent with the theoretical model. In addition, robustness tests and endogeneity issues were conducted; our findings from these tests show that substantive green innovation acts as a transmission mechanism through which CSR promotes economic growth quality. Additionally, the credit preferences of financial institutions positively moderate the relationship between CSR and economic growth quality. This study provides valuable insights for firms aiming to fulfill CSR obligations and enhance their capability in substantive green innovation.

Suggested Citation

  • Weihua Qu & Na Sun, 2024. "Does CSR Improve the Quality of Economic Growth? Based on the Perspective of Green Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(15), pages 1-26, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:15:p:6617-:d:1448551
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/15/6617/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/15/6617/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ester Clementino & Richard Perkins, 2021. "How Do Companies Respond to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) ratings? Evidence from Italy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(2), pages 379-397, June.
    2. Panda, S. & Modak, N.M. & Basu, M. & Goyal, S.K., 2015. "Channel coordination and profit distribution in a social responsible three-layer supply chain," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 224-233.
    3. Rongyan Liu & Deqing Wang & Li Zhang & Lihong Zhang, 2019. "Can green financial development promote regional ecological efficiency? A case study of China," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 95(1), pages 325-341, January.
    4. Ding, Na & Gu, Leilei & Peng, Yuchao, 2022. "Fintech, financial constraints and innovation: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    5. Daron Acemoglu & Ufuk Akcigit & Douglas Hanley & William Kerr, 2016. "Transition to Clean Technology," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(1), pages 52-104.
    6. Hua Yu & Muhammad Salman Shabbir & Naveed Ahmad & Antonio Ariza-Montes & Alejandro Vega-Muñoz & Heesup Han & Miklas Scholz & Muhammad Safdar Sial, 2021. "A Contemporary Issue of Micro-Foundation of CSR, Employee Pro-Environmental Behavior, and Environmental Performance toward Energy Saving, Carbon Emission Reduction, and Recycling," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-15, May.
    7. Zhao, Jingfeng & Tang, Jianmin, 2018. "Industrial structure change and economic growth: A China-Russia comparison," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 219-233.
    8. Abdul Waheed & Qingyu Zhang, 2022. "Effect of CSR and Ethical Practices on Sustainable Competitive Performance: A Case of Emerging Markets from Stakeholder Theory Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 175(4), pages 837-855, February.
    9. Jing‐Lin Duanmu & Maoliang Bu & Russell Pittman, 2018. "Does market competition dampen environmental performance? Evidence from China," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(11), pages 3006-3030, November.
    10. Giorgio Petroni & Barbara Bigliardi & Francesco Galati, 2019. "Rethinking the Porter Hypothesis: The Underappreciated Importance of Value Appropriation and Pollution Intensity," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 36(1), pages 121-140, January.
    11. Helian Xu & Moga Tano Jilenga & Yuping Deng, 2019. "Institutional Quality, Resource Endowment, and Economic Growth: Evidence from Cross-Country Data," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(8), pages 1754-1775, June.
    12. Tahniyath Fatima & Said Elbanna, 2023. "Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Implementation: A Review and a Research Agenda Towards an Integrative Framework," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(1), pages 105-121, February.
    13. Shaojian Chen & Hui Mao & Junqin Sun, 2022. "Low-Carbon City Construction and Corporate Carbon Reduction Performance: Evidence From a Quasi-Natural Experiment in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(1), pages 125-143, September.
    14. Maxime MENUET & Alexandru MINEA & Patrick VILLIEU & Anastasios XEPAPADEAS, 2021. "Growth, Endogenous Environmental Cycles, and Indeterminacy," LEO Working Papers / DR LEO 2889, Orleans Economics Laboratory / Laboratoire d'Economie d'Orleans (LEO), University of Orleans.
    15. Moxi Song & Morgan X. Yang & Kevin J. Zeng & Wenting Feng, 2020. "Green Knowledge Sharing, Stakeholder Pressure, Absorptive Capacity, and Green Innovation: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1517-1531, March.
    16. Feng Zhang & Lei Zhu, 2019. "Enhancing corporate sustainable development: Stakeholder pressures, organizational learning, and green innovation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 1012-1026, September.
    17. Ben Arfi, Wissal & Hikkerova, Lubica & Sahut, Jean-Michel, 2018. "External knowledge sources, green innovation and performance," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 210-220.
    18. 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.
    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. Li Dong & Xin Zhang & Jinlong Chen, 2024. "Does Investor Sentiment Drive Corporate Green Innovation: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-20, April.
    2. Usama Awan & Shazia Nauman & Robert Sroufe, 2021. "Exploring the effect of buyer engagement on green product innovation: Empirical evidence from manufacturers," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 463-477, January.
    3. Chun Xue & Juanru Wang, 2024. "Proactive boundary‐spanning search, organizational resilience, and radical green innovation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 1834-1852, March.
    4. Zhe Xu & Ying Wang & Xiaoliang Shi & Yingying Qiu & Chunzi Su & Dan He, 2025. "The Impact of Environmental Subsidies and Enforcement on Green Innovation: Evidence from Heavy-Polluting Enterprises in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-25, February.
    5. 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.
    6. Xu, Nianhang & Li, Min & Xie, Rongrong & Chan, Kam C., 2024. "Double standards? The adverse impact of chairperson hometown ties on corporate green innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    7. Lu, Yuchen & Gao, Yuqiang & Zhang, Yu & Wang, Junrong, 2022. "Can the green finance policy force the green transformation of high-polluting enterprises? A quasi-natural experiment based on “Green Credit Guidelines”," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    8. Meng Li & Zengrui Tian & Qian Liu & Yuzhong Lu, 2022. "Literature Review and Research Prospect on the Drivers and Effects of Green Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-23, August.
    9. Pereira, Vijay & Nair, Asha KS. & Bhattacharyya, Som Sekhar, 2025. "Exploring and investigating the complementarity and multidimensionality of innovation for sustainability research: Past present and future," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    10. Lu Chen & Ming Yuan & Han Lin & Yilong Han & Youyou Yu & Caihui Sun, 2023. "Organizational improvisation and corporate green innovation: A dynamic capability perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 5686-5701, December.
    11. Bataineh, Mohammad Jamal & Sánchez-Sellero, Pedro & Ayad, Fayssal, 2024. "The role of organizational innovation in the development of green innovations in Spanish firms," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 527-538.
    12. Yang, Shoufu & Kong, Dongmin & He, Jiaqiong, 2025. "Social identity or social capital: Local CEOs and corporate ESG performance," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    13. Manjot Singh Bhatia, 2021. "Green process innovation and operational performance: The role of proactive environment strategy, technological capabilities, and organizational learning," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(7), pages 2845-2857, November.
    14. Chen, Yuhuilin & Yuan, Ruizhi & Guo, Xinran & Ni, Tao, 2024. "Do foreign acquisitions improve target firms’ green innovation performance?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    15. Chen, Yufeng & Ma, Yanbai, 2021. "Does green investment improve energy firm performance?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    16. Xie, Ronghui & Teo, Thompson S.H., 2022. "Green technology innovation, environmental externality, and the cleaner upgrading of industrial structure in China — Considering the moderating effect of environmental regulation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    17. Philippe Aghion & Roland Bénabou & Ralf Martin & Alexandra Roulet, 2023. "Environmental Preferences and Technological Choices: Is Market Competition Clean or Dirty?," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 1-20, March.
    18. Muhammad Haroon Shoukat & Kareem M. Selem & Dongmei Cao, 2024. "How do corporate social responsibility initiatives enhance sustainability performance? Evidence from tobacco firms," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(12), pages 31371-31399, December.
    19. Zhao, Xin & Benkraiem, Ramzi & Abedin, Mohammad Zoynul & Zhou, Silu, 2024. "The charm of green finance: Can green finance reduce corporate carbon emissions?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    20. William Makumbe, 2024. "Green Human Resources Management and Green Performance: A Mediation–Moderation Mechanism for Green Innovation and Green Knowledge Sharing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-13, December.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:15:p:6617-:d:1448551. 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.