IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/empeco/v68y2025i4d10.1007_s00181-024-02682-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does local green governance promote corporate green innovation? A new perspective from green officials

Author

Listed:
  • Hong Xu

    (Shandong Normal University)

  • Kai Lin

    (Huazhong University of Science and Technology)

  • Hui Wang

    (Hunan University)

  • Weifen Lin

    (South China Agricultural University)

  • Longzheng Du

    (Guangzhou College of Technology and Business)

Abstract

Substantial evidence highlights a significant relationship between local officials and corporate development. Currently, an increasing number of officials with environmental backgrounds are assuming local leadership roles. Therefore, it is essential to systematically assess the impact of “green officials” on corporate green technology innovation. Using a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) method based on firm-level data from 2006 to 2021 in China, this study investigates whether green governance based on green officials stimulates corporate green innovation by examining the impact of green officials on corporate green innovation. The research findings include: (1) Compared to conventional officials, green officials can promote a 12.7% increase in green innovation of local companies. Moreover, this effect has dynamic sustainability. And with the increase of the duration of environmental protection experience of green officials, there is a continuous enhancement effect. (2) The heterogeneity analysis reveals that the positive impact of green officials on corporate green technology innovation is not influenced by corporate ownership. However, the effect is more pronounced in companies with higher social responsibility. Additionally, companies in regions with environmental pressures place greater emphasis on the development of green invention patents. (3) Mechanism analysis indicates that green officials promote green innovation by providing environmental subsidies for companies, promoting corporate environmental investment, and attracting external green investors. These findings provide insights into how local officials can achieve green governance, promote corporate green innovation, and facilitate regional green development.

Suggested Citation

  • Hong Xu & Kai Lin & Hui Wang & Weifen Lin & Longzheng Du, 2025. "Does local green governance promote corporate green innovation? A new perspective from green officials," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 68(4), pages 1861-1892, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:68:y:2025:i:4:d:10.1007_s00181-024-02682-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s00181-024-02682-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00181-024-02682-0
    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/s00181-024-02682-0?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. Rehman, Shafique Ur & Kraus, Sascha & Shah, Syed Asim & Khanin, Dmitry & Mahto, Raj V., 2021. "Analyzing the relationship between green innovation and environmental performance in large manufacturing firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    2. 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.
    3. Du, Longzheng & Lin, Weifen, 2022. "Does the application of industrial robots overcome the Solow paradox? Evidence from China," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    4. Yi Wang & Junke Feng & Nosheena Yasir & Yu Bai, 2022. "The Impact of Political Incentives Received by Key Local Officials on Enterprises’ Green Innovations for the Development and Construction of Ecological Civilization in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-24, September.
    5. repec:hal:journl:hal-03562646 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Heinkel, Robert & Kraus, Alan & Zechner, Josef, 2001. "The Effect of Green Investment on Corporate Behavior," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 36(4), pages 431-449, December.
    7. Fatemi, Ali & Fooladi, Iraj & Tehranian, Hassan, 2015. "Valuation effects of corporate social responsibility," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 182-192.
    8. 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.
    9. Popp, David & Newell, Richard G. & Jaffe, Adam B., 2010. "Energy, the Environment, and Technological Change," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 873-937, Elsevier.
    10. Mingfeng Tang & Grace Walsh & Daniel Lerner & Markus A. Fitza & Qiaohua Li, 2018. "Green Innovation, Managerial Concern and Firm Performance: An Empirical Study," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 39-51, January.
    11. Hong, Harrison & Kostovetsky, Leonard, 2012. "Red and blue investing: Values and finance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(1), pages 1-19.
    12. Saira Begum & Muhammad Ashfaq & Enjun Xia & Usama Awan, 2022. "Does green transformational leadership lead to green innovation? The role of green thinking and creative process engagement," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 580-597, January.
    13. Fernanda Brollo & Tommaso Nannicini & Roberto Perotti & Guido Tabellini, 2013. "The Political Resource Curse," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(5), pages 1759-1796, August.
    14. 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.
    15. Deepak Hegde & Kyle Herkenhoff & Chenqi Zhu, 2023. "Patent Publication and Innovation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 131(7), pages 1845-1903.
    16. Francoeur, Claude & Lakhal, Faten & Gaaya, Safa & Ben Saad, Itidel, 2021. "How do powerful CEOs influence corporate environmental performance?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 121-129.
    17. Amore, Mario Daniele & Bennedsen, Morten, 2016. "Corporate governance and green innovation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 54-72.
    18. Philippe Aghion & John Van Reenen & Luigi Zingales, 2013. "Innovation and Institutional Ownership," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(1), pages 277-304, February.
    19. Hanming Fang & Honglin Ren & Danwen Song & Nianhang Xu, 2023. "Environmentally-Inclined Politicians and Local Environmental Performance: Evidence from Publicly Listed Firms in China," NBER Working Papers 31071, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Xuan Tian & Tracy Yue Wang, 2014. "Tolerance for Failure and Corporate Innovation," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(1), pages 211-255, January.
    21. Bill Francis & Iftekhar Hasan & Qiang Wu, 2015. "Professors in the Boardroom and Their Impact on Corporate Governance and Firm Performance," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 44(3), pages 547-581, September.
    22. Alexander Donges & Jean-Marie Meier & Rui C. Silva, 2023. "The Impact of Institutions on Innovation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(4), pages 1951-1974, April.
    23. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2023. "Simple approaches to nonlinear difference-in-differences with panel data," The Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 26(3), pages 31-66.
    24. Sun, Huaping & Edziah, Bless Kofi & Sun, Chuanwang & Kporsu, Anthony Kwaku, 2019. "Institutional quality, green innovation and energy efficiency," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    25. Sabrina T. Howell, 2017. "Financing Innovation: Evidence from R&D Grants," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(4), pages 1136-1164, April.
    26. Kirill Borusyak & Xavier Jaravel & Jann Spiess, 2024. "Revisiting Event-Study Designs: Robust and Efficient Estimation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 91(6), pages 3253-3285.
    27. Liliana B. Andonova & Michele M. Betsill & Harriet Bulkeley, 2009. "Transnational Climate Governance," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 9(2), pages 52-73, May.
    28. Timothy Besley & Jose G. Montalvo & Marta Reynal‐Querol, 2011. "Do Educated Leaders Matter?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(554), pages 205-205, August.
    29. Shao, Shuai & Yang, Zhenbing & Xu, Le & Yang, Lili, 2024. "Environmental protection experience of secretaries and effectiveness of environmental governance: Evidence from COD discharge in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 237-253.
    30. Kunapatarawong, Rasi & Martínez-Ros, Ester, 2016. "Towards green growth: How does green innovation affect employment?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(6), pages 1218-1232.
    31. Anthony Howell, 2020. "Agglomeration, absorptive capacity and knowledge governance: implications for public–private firm innovation in China," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(8), pages 1069-1083, July.
    32. Miao, Chenglin & Fang, Debin & Sun, Liyan & Luo, Qiaoling, 2017. "Natural resources utilization efficiency under the influence of green technological innovation," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 153-161.
    33. Dyer, Travis A. & Glaeser, Stephen & Lang, Mark H. & Sprecher, Caroline, 2024. "The effect of patent disclosure quality on innovation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(2).
    34. Chang, Xin & Fu, Kangkang & Low, Angie & Zhang, Wenrui, 2015. "Non-executive employee stock options and corporate innovation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 168-188.
    35. Hongbin Cai & Qiao Liu, 2009. "Competition and Corporate Tax Avoidance: Evidence from Chinese Industrial Firms," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(537), pages 764-795, April.
    36. Heyes, Anthony & Kapur, Sandeep, 2012. "Community pressure for green behavior," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 427-441.
    37. Claude Francoeur & Faten Lakhal & Safa Gaaya & Itidel Ben Saad, 2021. "How do powerful CEOs influence corporate environmental performance?," Post-Print hal-02976839, HAL.
    38. Sangiorgi, Ivan & Schopohl, Lisa, 2021. "Why do institutional investors buy green bonds: Evidence from a survey of European asset managers," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    39. Cesare Fracassi & Geoffrey Tate, 2012. "External Networking and Internal Firm Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(1), pages 153-194, February.
    40. Ni Xiong & Longzheng Du, 2023. "Can Confucian culture promote enterprise total factor productivity? Evidence from China," International Journal of Emerging Markets, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(2), pages 745-766, May.
    41. Cohn, Jonathan B. & Liu, Zack & Wardlaw, Malcolm I., 2022. "Count (and count-like) data in finance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 529-551.
    42. Luong, Hoang & Moshirian, Fariborz & Nguyen, Lily & Tian, Xuan & Zhang, Bohui, 2017. "How Do Foreign Institutional Investors Enhance Firm Innovation?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(4), pages 1449-1490, August.
    43. Jin, Hehui & Qian, Yingyi & Weingast, Barry R., 2005. "Regional decentralization and fiscal incentives: Federalism, Chinese style," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(9-10), pages 1719-1742, September.
    44. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    45. Doruk Cengiz & Arindrajit Dube & Attila Lindner & Ben Zipperer, 2019. "The Effect of Minimum Wages on Low-Wage Jobs," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(3), pages 1405-1454.
    46. Ruixue Jia & Masayuki Kudamatsu & David Seim, 2015. "Political Selection In China: The Complementary Roles Of Connections And Performance," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 631-668, August.
    47. Sun, Liyang & Abraham, Sarah, 2021. "Estimating dynamic treatment effects in event studies with heterogeneous treatment effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 175-199.
    48. Samuel Adomako & Joseph Amankwah‐Amoah & Albert Danso & George Obeng Dankwah, 2021. "Chief executive officers' sustainability orientation and firm environmental performance: Networking and resource contingencies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 2184-2193, May.
    49. Xie, Zhong & Lu, Wenling & Yu, Jing & Wu, Yanrui & Liu, Qing, 2022. "Development zones and green innovation: Evidence from Chinese listed companies," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    50. Rongbing Huang, 2023. "Auditing the environmental accountability of local officials and the corporate green response: evidence from China," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(34), pages 3950-3970, July.
    51. Bronwyn H. Hall & Dietmar Harhoff, 2012. "Recent Research on the Economics of Patents," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 4(1), pages 541-565, July.
    52. Popli, Manish & Ahsan, Faisal M. & Mukherjee, Debmalya, 2022. "Upper echelons and firm internationalization: A critical review and future directions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 505-521.
    53. Longzheng Du & Zhenglin Zhang & Taiwen Feng, 2018. "Linking green customer and supplier integration with green innovation performance: The role of internal integration," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1583-1595, December.
    54. Hohberger, Jan & Kruger, Heidi & Almeida, Paul, 2020. "Does separation hurt? The impact of premature termination of R&D alliances on knowledge acquisition and innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(6).
    55. Yang Yao & Muyang Zhang, 2015. "Subnational leaders and economic growth: evidence from Chinese cities," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 405-436, December.
    56. Jiang, Li & Bai, Yu, 2022. "Strategic or substantive innovation? -The impact of institutional investors' site visits on green innovation evidence from China," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    57. Gina Dokko & Steffanie L. Wilk & Nancy P. Rothbard, 2009. "Unpacking Prior Experience: How Career History Affects Job Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(1), pages 51-68, February.
    58. Shu Lin & Shu Tian & Eliza Wu, 2013. "Emerging Stars and Developed Neighbors: The Effects of Development Imbalance and Political Shocks on Mutual Fund Investments in China," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 42(2), pages 339-371, June.
    59. Ulrike Malmendier & Geoffrey Tate & Jon Yan, 2011. "Overconfidence and Early‐Life Experiences: The Effect of Managerial Traits on Corporate Financial Policies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(5), pages 1687-1733, October.
    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. Heller, David, 2024. "Financial market integration and the effects of financing constraints on innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(4).
    2. Dennis C. Hutschenreiter & Anna Toldrà -Simats & Bing Guo & David Pérez-Castrillo, 2023. "Institutional Blockholders and Corporate Innovation," Working Papers 1390, Barcelona School of Economics.
    3. Cheng, Maoyong & Meng, Yu & Zhang, Muyang, 2024. "Blessing or bane: The absence of a leader, political selection, and economic growth," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    4. Huang, Wei & Luo, Mi & Ta, Yuqi & Wang, Boxian, 2024. "Land expropriation, household behaviors, and health outcomes: Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    5. Balia, S.; & Brau, R.; & Pau, S.;, 2025. "One plus one makes less than two? Consolidation policies and mortality in the Italian NHS," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 25/02, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    6. Chuanlin Wang & Guowan Yan & Juan Ou, 2023. "Does Digitization Promote Green Innovation? Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-27, February.
    7. Kopyrina, Olga & Wu, Kai & Ying, Zhanyu, 2023. "Greening through central inspection: The role of legitimacy pressure and risk-taking," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    8. Elisa Facchetti & Lorenzo Neri & Marco Ovidi, 2021. "Should you Meet The Parents? The impact of information on non-test score attributes on school choice," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def113, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    9. Arold, W. Benjamin & Woessmann, Ludger & Zierow, Larissa, 2022. "Can Schools Change Religious Attitudes? Evidence from German State Reforms of Compulsory Religious Education," IZA Discussion Papers 14989, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Yuan Li & Nan Huang & Yang Zhao, 2022. "The Impact of Green Innovation on Enterprise Green Economic Efficiency," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-26, December.
    11. Lennon, Conor & Maclean, Johanna Catherine & Teltser, Keith, 2025. "Ridesharing and substance use disorder treatment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    12. Liu, Wenjun & He, Qian & Cao, June & Kamar, Amina, 2024. "Exploring the catalysts of eco-innovation: Employee ownership and sustainable practices," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    13. Yadav, Anil & McHale, John & Harold, Jason & O'Neill, Stephen, 2024. "Estimating effects of staggered intervention with count and binary outcomes: a simulation study," Research Technical Papers 4/RT/24, Central Bank of Ireland.
    14. Huang, Chenchen & Luo, Di & Mukherjee, Soumyatanu & Mishra, Tapas, 2022. "To Acquire or to Ally? Managing Partners’ Environmental Risk in International Expansion," MPRA Paper 121808, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 07 Jan 2023.
    15. Morteza Akbari & Hamid Padash & Zahra Shahabaldini Parizi & Haniye Rezaei & Elmira Shahriari & Ala Khosravani, 2022. "A bibliometric review of green innovation research: identifying knowledge domain and network," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 3993-4023, December.
    16. Fich, Eliezer M. & Nguyen, Tung & Petmezas, Dimitris, 2023. "The effects of terrorist attacks on inventor productivity and mobility," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(1).
    17. Datta, Nikhil & Machin, Stephen, 2024. "Government contracting and living wages > minimum wages," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 126800, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Zhang, Dan & Pan, Xiaofei & Ma, Shiguang, 2023. "The effects of institutional investors and their contestability on firm innovation: Evidence from Chinese listed firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(10).
    19. Bas Scheer & Wiljan van den Berge & Maarten Goos & Alan Manning & Anna Salomons, 2022. "Alternative Work Arrangements and Worker Outcomes: Evidence from Payrolling," CPB Discussion Paper 435, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    20. 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).

    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:4:d:10.1007_s00181-024-02682-0. 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.