IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i8p3660-d1637421.html

CEO Power and Green Innovation: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Huanyong Ji

    (Business School, Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing 102206, China)

  • Liu Yang

    (Business School, Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing 102206, China)

  • Chuande Lian

    (Business School, Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing 102206, China)

Abstract

The relationship between CEO power and risk-taking remains a controversial topic, with no consensus regarding whether CEO power promotes green innovation. To address this unresolved issue, this research explores the correlation between CEO power and green innovation, distinguishing between green product innovation and green process innovation. It also examines the moderating roles of media coverage and government regulation in these relationships. By using panel data on Chinese manufacturing for the period from 2010 to 2022, we draw several important conclusions. First, CEO power is found to be negatively associated with green product innovation but positively correlated with green process innovation. Additionally, media coverage and government regulation reinforce the positive impact of CEO power on green process innovation; however, they do not meaningfully affect the impact on green product innovation. These findings may represent valuable insights for firms and policymakers committed to sustainable development.

Suggested Citation

  • Huanyong Ji & Liu Yang & Chuande Lian, 2025. "CEO Power and Green Innovation: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-17, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:8:p:3660-:d:1637421
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/8/3660/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/8/3660/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ching‐Hsun Chang, 2018. "How to Enhance Green Service and Green Product Innovation Performance? The Roles of Inward and Outward Capabilities," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(4), pages 411-425, July.
    2. Yu Zhou & Hongzhang Zhu & Jun Yang & Yunqing Zou, 2021. "Does CEO Power Backfire? The Impact of CEO Power on Corporate Strategic Change," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-19, August.
    3. Javed, Muzhar & Wang, Fangjun & Usman, Muhammad & Ali Gull, Ammar & Uz Zaman, Qamar, 2023. "Female CEOs and green innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    4. Jing-Wen Huang & Yong-Hui Li, 2017. "Green Innovation and Performance: The View of Organizational Capability and Social Reciprocity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(2), pages 309-324, October.
    5. Siew-Boey Yeoh & Chee-Wooi Hooy, 2022. "CEO age and risk-taking of family business in Malaysia: The inverse S-curve relationship," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 273-293, March.
    6. repec:aen:journl:ej37-1-stucki is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Wei Li & Weining Li & Veikko Seppänen & Timo Koivumäki, 2023. "Effects of greenwashing on financial performance: Moderation through local environmental regulation and media coverage," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 820-841, January.
    8. Vasileiou, Efi & Georgantzis, Nikolaos & Attanasi, Giuseppe & Llerena, Patrick, 2022. "Green innovation and financial performance: A study on Italian firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(6).
    9. Sheikh, Shahbaz, 2018. "The impact of market competition on the relation between CEO power and firm innovation," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 36-50.
    10. 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.
    11. Yuan Ma & Guisheng Hou & Baogui Xin, 2017. "Green Process Innovation and Innovation Benefit: The Mediating Effect of Firm Image," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-15, September.
    12. Daxin Sun & Saixing Zeng & Hongquan Chen & Xiaohua Meng & Zhizhou Jin, 2019. "Monitoring effect of transparency: How does government environmental disclosure facilitate corporate environmentalism?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(8), pages 1594-1607, December.
    13. Marius Ley & Tobias Stucki & Martin Woerter, 2016. "The Impact of Energy Prices on Green Innovation," The Energy Journal, , vol. 37(1), pages 41-76, January.
    14. Lim, Elizabeth, 2018. "Social pay reference point, external environment, and risk taking: An integrated behavioral and social psychological view," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 68-78.
    15. Yuan, Baolong & Cao, Xueyun, 2022. "Do corporate social responsibility practices contribute to green innovation? The mediating role of green dynamic capability," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    16. Pfeffer, Jeffrey, 1997. "New Directions for Organization Theory: Problems and Prospects," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195114348.
    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. Wang, Jinren & Chen, Yizhi, 2025. "Does carbon risk promote green innovation in manufacturing companies?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 108(PA).

    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. He, Na & Yang, Junjie & Ren, Jiahui, 2024. "Pollution and green innovation: Evidence from CEOs’ early-life experience," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 65-79.
    2. Yalin Jiang & Wei Cai & Yu Wang, 2024. "Change starts within: does managerial ability matter to green innovation?," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-14, December.
    3. Zhiming Yang & Borui Guo & Xiao-Chen Yuan & Haofeng Lou & Dejian Gao & Tetsuo Noda, 2026. "Firm-level climate policy uncertainty and corporate green innovation: evidence from Chinese firms," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 10349-10371, April.
    4. Sher Jahan Khan & Amandeep Dhir & Vinit Parida & Armando Papa, 2021. "Past, present, and future of green product innovation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(8), pages 4081-4106, December.
    5. Xie, Xuemei & Han, Yuhang & Hoang, Thu Thao, 2022. "Can green process innovation improve both financial and environmental performance? The roles of TMT heterogeneity and ownership," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    6. Jiacai Xiong & Zelin Yang & Lijuan Xiao & Yushu Zhu, 2025. "Environmental judicial reform and corporate greenwashing: evidence from China’s environmental public interest litigation pilot," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-16, December.
    7. Raffaela Casciello & Rosalinda Santonastaso & Martina Prisco & Ilaria Martino, 2024. "Green innovation and financial performance. The role of R&D investments and ESG disclosure," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(6), pages 5372-5390, November.
    8. Xu, Yong & Zhao, Xin & Wang, Jian & Xie, Peijun, 2023. "Clarifying the dispute of corporate social responsibility: Evidence from green technological innovation," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    9. Xu, Liangguo & Lu, Xianglin & Zhang, Ziqing & Shu, Haicheng, 2025. "Green innovation, financialization, and ESG performance," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    10. Qiao, Penghua & Xie, Yusha & Fung, Anna & Feng, Keyou & Fung, Hung-Gay, 2025. "Optimizing smart supply chain for enhanced corporate ESG performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    11. Yan Ma & Gen‐Fu Feng & Zhu‐jia Yin & Chun‐Ping Chang, 2025. "ESG disclosures, green innovation, and greenwashing: All for sustainable development?," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 1797-1815, April.
    12. Xinyi Hua & Juelin Yin & Xueji Liang & Dima Jamali & Jintao Lu, 2026. "Are CEOs With High Self‐Perceived Status More Likely to be Green Innovation Advocates? Evidence From Chinese Private Enterprises," Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(2), pages 574-592, April.
    13. Han Long & Gen-Fu Feng & Chun-Ping Chang, 2023. "How does ESG performance promote corporate green innovation?," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 2889-2913, August.
    14. Zhu, Jialei & Xiong, Zhengde & Lu, Xinxin & Yao, Zhu, 2025. "Does ESG rating disagreement impede corporate green innovation?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    15. Liu, Minghao & Xu, Kun & Zhai, Lihong, 2024. "Bank-firm common ownership, green credit and enterprise green technology innovation: Evidence from Chinese credit markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    16. 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).
    17. Zhang, Cheng & Yu, JiaQi & Bai, Yiyi & Ho, Kung-Cheng, 2024. "The impact of CEO's green experience on digital transformation," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    18. Lu Zheng & Konstantinos Iatridis, 2022. "Friends or foes? A systematic literature review and meta‐analysis of the relationship between eco‐innovation and firm performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1838-1855, May.
    19. Yixuan Chen & Shanyue Jin, 2023. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Green Technology Innovation: The Moderating Role of Stakeholders," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-20, May.
    20. 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.

    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:17:y:2025:i:8:p:3660-:d:1637421. 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 The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask MDPI Indexing Manager to update the entry or send us the correct address (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.