IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/empeco/v68y2025i2d10.1007_s00181-024-02660-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effect of media attention on corporate green technology innovation: mechanism and evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Jingjing Deng

    (Hunan Agricultural University)

  • Yi Li

    (Hunan Normal University)

  • Yu Ding

    (Post-Doctoral Scientific Research Work Station, China Merchants Bank)

  • Fengqi Liu

    (Nankai University)

Abstract

This study explores the effect of media attention on corporate green technology innovation. It uses the green patent application data of listed companies in China’s heavy polluting industries between 2006 and 2020, with negative media coverage as a proxy variable for media attention, and employs a staggered difference-in-differences model. The results demonstrate that negative media coverage significantly and positively affects corporate green technology innovation. The mechanism analysis results show that negative media coverage drives green technology innovation through consumer purchasing choice pressure. The role of negative media coverage in promoting corporate green technology innovation is more apparent in regions with a high level of marketization and strong environmental protection intentions among residents. State-owned enterprises and those adopting proactive environmental strategies primarily manifest the positive impact of negative media coverage on green technology innovation. This study provides a new perspective for understanding the role of media attention on corporate governance by introducing green technology innovation and new insights for guiding policymakers and managers to effectively implement green innovation.

Suggested Citation

  • Jingjing Deng & Yi Li & Yu Ding & Fengqi Liu, 2025. "Effect of media attention on corporate green technology innovation: mechanism and evidence from China," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 68(2), pages 697-727, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:68:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s00181-024-02660-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s00181-024-02660-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00181-024-02660-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00181-024-02660-6?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Clément de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultfœuille, 2020. "Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(9), pages 2964-2996, September.
    2. Kais Bouslah & Abdelmajid Hmaittane & Lawrence Kryzanowski & Bouchra M’Zali, 2023. "CSR Structures: Evidence, Drivers, and Firm Value Implications," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(1), pages 115-145, June.
    3. Sirilli, Giorgio & Evangelista, Rinaldo, 1998. "Technological innovation in services and manufacturing: results from Italian surveys," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(9), pages 881-899, December.
    4. Michael K. Bednar & Steven Boivie & Nicholas R. Prince, 2013. "Burr Under the Saddle: How Media Coverage Influences Strategic Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 910-925, June.
    5. Baloria, Vishal P. & Heese, Jonas, 2018. "The effects of media slant on firm behavior," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(1), pages 184-202.
    6. Banjo Roxas, 2022. "Eco‐innovations of firms: A longitudinal analysis of the roles of industry norms and proactive environmental strategy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 515-531, January.
    7. Alexander Dyck & Adair Morse & Luigi Zingales, 2010. "Who Blows the Whistle on Corporate Fraud?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(6), pages 2213-2253, December.
    8. Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C. & Zhao, Jun, 2020. "Doubly robust difference-in-differences estimators," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 219(1), pages 101-122.
    9. Cahan, Steven F. & Chen, Chen & Chen, Li & Nguyen, Nhut H., 2015. "Corporate social responsibility and media coverage," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 409-422.
    10. Foulon, Jerome & Lanoie, Paul & Laplante, Benoit, 2002. "Incentives for Pollution Control: Regulation or Information?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 169-187, July.
    11. Cragg, John G. & Donald, Stephen G., 1993. "Testing Identifiability and Specification in Instrumental Variable Models," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 222-240, April.
    12. Kammerer, Daniel, 2009. "The effects of customer benefit and regulation on environmental product innovation.: Empirical evidence from appliance manufacturers in Germany," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(8-9), pages 2285-2295, June.
    13. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    14. Ming Jia & Li Tong & P. V. Viswanath & Zhe Zhang, 2016. "Word Power: The Impact of Negative Media Coverage on Disciplining Corporate Pollution," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 138(3), pages 437-458, October.
    15. Campa, Pamela, 2018. "Press and leaks: Do newspapers reduce toxic emissions?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 184-202.
    16. Samira Tabrizian, 2019. "Technological innovation to achieve sustainable development—Renewable energy technologies diffusion in developing countries," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(3), pages 537-544, May.
    17. Tang, Pengcheng & Yang, Shuxiang & Yang, Shuwang, 2020. "How to design corporate governance structures to enhance corporate social responsibility in China's mining state-owned enterprises?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    18. Julian F. Kölbel & Timo Busch & Leonhardt M. Jancso, 2017. "How Media Coverage of Corporate Social Irresponsibility Increases Financial Risk," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(11), pages 2266-2284, November.
    19. Guo, Di & Guo, Yan & Jiang, Kun, 2016. "Government-subsidized R&D and firm innovation: Evidence from China," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(6), pages 1129-1144.
    20. Price, Joseph M. & Sun, Wenbin, 2017. "Doing good and doing bad: The impact of corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility on firm performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 82-97.
    21. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    22. Jianming Zhang & Gongqian Liang & Taiwen Feng & Chunlin Yuan & Wenbo Jiang, 2020. "Green innovation to respond to environmental regulation: How external knowledge adoption and green absorptive capacity matter?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 39-53, January.
    23. Chen, Zan & Jin, Jun & Li, Meng, 2022. "Does media coverage influence firm green innovation? The moderating role of regional environment," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    24. Wunhong Su & Chun Guo & Xiaobao Song, 2022. "Media coverage, Environment Protection Law and environmental research and development: evidence from the Chinese-listed firms," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(5), pages 6953-6983, May.
    25. Yu, Yin & Chi, Jing, 2021. "Political embeddedness, media positioning and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    26. Muninger, Marie-Isabelle & Mahr, Dominik & Hammedi, Wafa, 2022. "Social media use: A review of innovation management practices," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 140-156.
    27. Xu, Le & Fan, Meiting & Yang, Lili & Shao, Shuai, 2021. "Heterogeneous green innovations and carbon emission performance: Evidence at China's city level," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    28. Shao, Yanmin & Chen, Zhongfei, 2022. "Can government subsidies promote the green technology innovation transformation? Evidence from Chinese listed companies," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 716-727.
    29. Lv, Chengchao & Shao, Changhua & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2021. "Green technology innovation and financial development: Do environmental regulation and innovation output matter?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    30. Zhang, Hongwei & Shao, Yanmin & Han, Xiping & Chang, Hsu-Ling, 2022. "A road towards ecological development in China: The nexus between green investment, natural resources, green technology innovation, and economic growth," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    31. Li, Renyu & Ma, Zhongxin & Chen, Xirong, 2020. "Historical market genes, marketization and economic growth in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 327-333.
    32. Baker, Andrew C. & Larcker, David F. & Wang, Charles C.Y., 2022. "How much should we trust staggered difference-in-differences estimates?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(2), pages 370-395.
    33. An, Zhe & Chen, Chen & Naiker, Vic & Wang, Jun, 2020. "Does media coverage deter firms from withholding bad news? Evidence from stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    34. Jin-hui Luo & Zeyue Huang & Ruichao Zhu, 2021. "Does media coverage help firms “lobby” for government subsidies? Evidence from China," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 259-290, March.
    35. Li, Zhenghui & Huang, Zimei & Su, Yaya, 2023. "New media environment, environmental regulation and corporate green technology innovation:Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    36. Villani, Elisa & Linder, Christian & Lechner, Christian & Muller, Lina, 2021. "How do non-innovative firms start innovation and build legitimacy? The case of professional service firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 614-625.
    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. Li Fan & Weidong Xu, 2025. "Green Credit Policy, Analyst Attention, and Corporate Green Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-20, April.

    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. Melnik, Walter & Smyth, Andrew, 2024. "R&D tax credits and innovation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    2. Roth, Jonathan & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C. & Bilinski, Alyssa & Poe, John, 2023. "What’s trending in difference-in-differences? A synthesis of the recent econometrics literature," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 235(2), pages 2218-2244.
    3. John Xuefeng Jiang & Jing Kong, 2024. "Green dies in darkness? environmental externalities of newspaper closures," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 3564-3599, December.
    4. Yang Ding & Fernando Moreira, 2025. "Funding and productivity: Does winning grants affect the scientific productivity of recipients? Evidence from the social sciences and economics," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 130(3), pages 1831-1870, March.
    5. Jha, Chandan Kumar & Joshi, Swarup, 2023. "Municipal bankruptcies and crime," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    6. Ma, Rui & Guo, Fei & Li, Dongdong, 2024. "Can public data availability affect stock price crash risk? Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    7. Oana Borcan & James Merewood, 2022. "Positive Disruption? Meritocratic Principal Selection and Student Achievement," University of East Anglia School of Economics Working Paper Series 2022-11, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    8. Heller, David, 2024. "Financial market integration and the effects of financing constraints on innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(4).
    9. Heeyun Kim, 2024. "A Fad or the New Norm for Student Access Today? Evaluating Enrollment Outcomes of Holistic Admissions in South Korea," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 65(5), pages 1040-1064, August.
    10. Wang, Qianqian & Sun, Xinmeng & Xiong, Haoyang & Wang, Qi & Zhang, Bing, 2024. "Environmental taxes, environmental outsourcing, and pollution abatement: Evidence from Chinese industrial sewage discharge enterprises," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    11. Hampton, Matt & Totty, Evan, 2023. "Minimum wages, retirement timing, and labor supply," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    12. Liu, Xin & Xu, Hui, 2025. "Going green with digital media attention: Evidence from Chinese A-share listed companies’ environmental performance," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(PA).
    13. Luo, Lianfa & Cheng, Zhiming & Ye, Qingqing & Cheng, Yanjun & Smyth, Russell & Yang, Zhiqing & Zhang, Le, 2024. "Nonmonetary awards and innovation: Evidence from winning China's Top Brand Contest," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    14. Mikhail Mamonov & Anna Pestova & Steven Ongena, 2023. "“Crime and Punishment”? How Banks Anticipate and Propagate Global Financial Sanctions," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp753, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    15. Coraggio, Luca & Pagano, Marco & Scognamiglio, Annalisa & Tåg, Joacim, 2025. "JAQ of all trades: Job mismatch, firm productivity and managerial quality," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    16. Simone Balestra & Helge Liebert & Nicole Maestas & Tisamarie B. Sherry, 2021. "Behavioral Responses to Supply-Side Drug Policy During the Opioid Epidemic," NBER Working Papers 29596, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Mark Kattenberg & Bas Scheer & Jurre Thiel, 2023. "Causal forests with fixed effects for treatment effect heterogeneity in difference-in-differences," CPB Discussion Paper 452, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    18. Philipp Barteska & Jay Euijung Lee, 2024. "Bureaucrats and the Korean export miracle," Discussion Papers 2024-11, Nottingham Interdisciplinary Centre for Economic and Political Research (NICEP).
    19. Hans-Bernd Schaefer & Rok Spruk, 2024. "Islamic Law, Western European Law and the Roots of Middle East's Long Divergence: a Comparative Empirical Investigation (800-1600)," Papers 2401.14435, arXiv.org, revised Mar 2024.
    20. Bai, Min & Shen, Luxi & Li, Yue & Yu, Chia-Feng (Jeffrey), 2024. "Does legal justice promote stakeholder justice? Evidence from a judicial reform in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Media attention; Negative media coverage; Green technology innovation; Consumer choice pressure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • M21 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics - - - Business Economics
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

    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:spr:empeco:v:68:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s00181-024-02660-6. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.