IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0301598.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Customer discourse power and green innovation in industrial chain enterprises: A theoretical and empirical approach

Author

Listed:
  • Yanwen Liu
  • Rui Wang

Abstract

Leading enterprises in the industry chain play a demonstrative role, and promoting green innovation among leading enterprises is a meaningful approach to unlocking industry chain dividends. According to an analysis of the game process between customers and leading firms that incorporates the open innovation theory, we find a nonlinear role for the consumer discourse power in the leading firms’ innovation. Furthermore, using data from Chinese A-share listed companies between 2012 and 2021, we observe an inverted "U" relationship between customer discourse power and green innovation. Notably, this effect is more pronounced in leading non-technology-intensive enterprises, industries with a high degree of industrial innovation, or regions with a high marketization degree. Our analysis also reveals that leading enterprises’ client leads to financial limitations that influence green innovation. Additionally, leading enterprises play a driving role in achieving "joint progress" in green innovation with local non-leading firms, and this effect exhibits spatial spillover.

Suggested Citation

  • Yanwen Liu & Rui Wang, 2024. "Customer discourse power and green innovation in industrial chain enterprises: A theoretical and empirical approach," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(5), pages 1-25, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0301598
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301598
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0301598
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0301598&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0301598?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hao, Jing & He, Feng, 2022. "Corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and green innovation: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    2. Nick Johnstone & Ivan Haščič & David Popp, 2010. "Renewable Energy Policies and Technological Innovation: Evidence Based on Patent Counts," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 45(1), pages 133-155, January.
    3. Lee, Sang Mook & Jiraporn, Pornsit & Song, Hakjoon, 2020. "Customer concentration and stock price crash risk," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 327-346.
    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. Machokoto, Michael & Gyimah, Daniel & Ntim, Collins G., 2021. "Do peer firms influence innovation?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(5).
    6. Dhaliwal, Dan & Judd, J. Scott & Serfling, Matthew & Shaikh, Sarah, 2016. "Customer concentration risk and the cost of equity capital," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 23-48.
    7. Rennings, Klaus, 2000. "Redefining innovation -- eco-innovation research and the contribution from ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 319-332, February.
    8. Dong, Yizhe & Li, Chang & Li, Haoyu, 2021. "Customer concentration and M&A performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    9. Xu, Nianhang & Li, Xiaorong & Yuan, Qingbo & Chan, Kam C., 2014. "Excess perks and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 419-434.
    10. Liu, Xinghe & Xu, Huifeng & Lu, Meiting, 2021. "Do auditors respond to stringent environmental regulation? Evidence from China’s new environmental protection law," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 54-67.
    11. Zhengyang Bao & Difang Huang, 2022. "Reform scientific elections to improve gender equality," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(4), pages 478-479, April.
    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. Qiming Zhong & Qinghua Song & Chien-Chiang Lee, 2024. "Managing crash risks through supply chain transparency: evidence from China," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 10(1), pages 1-31, December.
    2. Mahla Afghahi & Farzaneh Nassirzadeh & Davood Askarany, 2024. "Exploring the impact of customer concentration on stock price crash risk," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, December.
    3. Cao, Feng & Zhang, Xueyan & Yuan, Rongli, 2022. "Do geographically nearby major customers mitigate suppliers’ stock price crash risk?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(6).
    4. Li, Na & Li, Guo & Xue, Jing, 2025. "Does ESG protect firms equally during crises? The role of supply chain concentration," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    5. Mu-Shu Yun & Lee-Young Cheng & Yan Zhao, 2023. "Customer concentration and target price accuracy," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 61(3), pages 995-1028, October.
    6. Jyun‐Ying Fu, 2023. "Customer concentration and corporate charitable donations: Evidence from China," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(1), pages 545-561, January.
    7. Hille, Erik & Althammer, Wilhelm & Diederich, Henning, 2020. "Environmental regulation and innovation in renewable energy technologies: Does the policy instrument matter?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    8. Christoph P. Kiefer & Pablo Del Río González & Javier Carrillo‐Hermosilla, 2019. "Drivers and barriers of eco‐innovation types for sustainable transitions: A quantitative perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 155-172, January.
    9. Orsatti, Gianluca & Pezzoni, Michele & Quatraro, Francesco, 2017. "Where Do Green Technologies Come From? Inventor Teams’ Recombinant Capabilities and the Creation of New Knowledge," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201711, University of Turin.
    10. Durán-Romero, Gemma & López, Ana M. & Beliaeva, Tatiana & Ferasso, Marcos & Garonne, Christophe & Jones, Paul, 2020. "Bridging the gap between circular economy and climate change mitigation policies through eco-innovations and Quintuple Helix Model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    11. Ren, Shenggang & Hu, Yucai & Zheng, Jingjing & Wang, Yangjie, 2020. "Emissions trading and firm innovation: Evidence from a natural experiment in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    12. Grafström, Jonas & Poudineh, Rahmat, 2023. "No evidence of counteracting policy effects on European solar power invention and diffusion," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    13. Giovanni Marin & Francesca Lotti, 2017. "Productivity effects of eco-innovations using data on eco-patents," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 26(1), pages 125-148.
    14. Che, Xiao-Jing & Zhou, P. & Chai, Kah-Hin, 2022. "Regional policy effect on photovoltaic (PV) technology innovation: Findings from 260 cities in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    15. Zhongju Liao & Yuhan Wu, 2025. "Formal institutions, informal institutions, and firms' environmental innovation: An application of the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis method," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 668-680, February.
    16. Valeria Costantini & Francesco Crespi, 2013. "Public policies for a sustainable energy sector: regulation, diversity and fostering of innovation," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 401-429, April.
    17. Aldieri, Luigi & Bruno, Bruna & Makkonen, Teemu & Vinci, Concetto Paolo, 2023. "Environmental innovations, geographically mediated knowledge spillovers, economic and environmental performance," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    18. Patricia Laurens & Christian Le Bas & Stéphane Lhuillery & Antoine Schoen, 2017. "The determinants of cleaner energy innovations of the world’s largest firms: the impact of firm learning and knowledge capital," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(4), pages 311-333, May.
    19. Xu, Kunliang & Shao, Yanmin & Hu, Yiwen, 2025. "Responding to perceived environmental policy uncertainty with green technological innovation engagement: Evidence from a text-based measure," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    20. Maximilian Gasser & Simon Pezzutto & Wolfram Sparber & Eric Wilczynski, 2022. "Public Research and Development Funding for Renewable Energy Technologies in Europe: A Cross-Country Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-28, May.

    More about this item

    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:plo:pone00:0301598. 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.