IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/sustdv/v33y2025i5p7166-7184.html

Paving the Pathways Toward Sustainable Innovation: Underperformance Duration and Corporate Innovation Willingness

Author

Listed:
  • Jintao Lu
  • Zijun Guo
  • Sanjay Kumar Singh
  • Xiaolin yuan
  • Malin Song

Abstract

Growth enterprise markets (GEM) firms aiming to achieve sustainable innovation still face underperformance due to uncertainty in the business environment. In fact, as underperformance duration increases, many GEM firms still show a sustained and strong willingness to innovate, which has seldom been systematically explored in existing studies. Based on corporate behavior theory and stakeholder theory and using data of Chinese listed on the A‐share market from 2016 to 2021, the impact mechanism of underperformance duration on corporate innovation willingness was empirically examined by employing multiple regression analysis. The results show that the primary transmission mechanism through which the underperformance duration enhances innovation willingness is by inhibiting corporate social irresponsibility; earnings management motivation (EMM) and the degree of industry competition jointly moderate the relationship between underperformance duration and innovation willingness. This study offers practical insights for firms seeking to improve their financial performance, achieve sustainable innovation, and build sustainable development competitive advantage.

Suggested Citation

  • Jintao Lu & Zijun Guo & Sanjay Kumar Singh & Xiaolin yuan & Malin Song, 2025. "Paving the Pathways Toward Sustainable Innovation: Underperformance Duration and Corporate Innovation Willingness," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(5), pages 7166-7184, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:33:y:2025:i:5:p:7166-7184
    DOI: 10.1002/sd.3503
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.3503
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/sd.3503?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. Renneboog, Luc & Ter Horst, Jenke & Zhang, Chendi, 2008. "Socially responsible investments: Institutional aspects, performance, and investor behavior," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1723-1742, September.
    2. Mingming Feng & Xiaodan Wang & Jerry Glenn Kreuze, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility and firm financial performance," American Journal of Business, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 32(3-4), pages 106-133, August.
    3. Chao Hung Wang & Wei‐Jr Juo, 2021. "An environmental policy of green intellectual capital: Green innovation strategy for performance sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(7), pages 3241-3254, November.
    4. Stephen Brammer & Andrew Millington, 2005. "Profit maximisation vs. agency: an analysis of charitable giving by UK firms," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 29(4), pages 517-534, July.
    5. Cle‐Anne Gabriel & Kamran Shafique, 2024. "An ethical salience framework to achieve sustainable development goals," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(4), pages 3213-3225, August.
    6. Xin Cui & Shouyu Yao & Zhenming Fang & Hua Wang, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty exposure and earnings management: evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(3), pages 3937-3976, September.
    7. Yu-Shan Wang & Yi-Jie Chen, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility and financial performance: event study cases," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 12(2), pages 193-219, 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. Barontini, Roberto & Gioja, Luigi, 2025. "The market power of ESG index providers: The effects of rebalancing ESG-themed indices," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(PA).
    2. Amr S. Abdallah & Hala Amin & Mohammed Abdelghany & Ahmed A. Elamer, 2025. "Antecedents and consequences of intellectual capital: a systematic review, integrated framework, and agenda for future research," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 75(4), pages 3067-3118, December.
    3. Xueyan Dong & Jingyu Gao & Sunny Li Sun & Kangtao Ye, 2021. "Doing extreme by doing good," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 291-315, March.
    4. Hajar Mouatassim Lahmini & Abdelmajid Ibenrissoul, 2017. "Quel effet de la Responsabilité Sociétale de l'Entreprise sur la performance financière d'un opérateur minier/ Approche par l'Analyse Coûts-Bénéfices," Post-Print hal-01746022, HAL.
    5. Mónica García-Melón & Blanca Pérez-Gladish & Tomás Gómez-Navarro & Paz Mendez-Rodriguez, 2016. "Assessing mutual funds’ corporate social responsibility: a multistakeholder-AHP based methodology," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 244(2), pages 475-503, September.
    6. Awijen, Haithem & Ben Zaied, Younes & Ben Jabeur, Sami, 2025. "Mobilizing FDI in natural resources in the post-COP28 era: Spatial drivers, natural capital, and sustainability dynamics," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    7. Onur Kemal Tosun, 2017. "Is corporate social responsibility sufficient enough to explain the investment by socially responsible funds?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 697-726, October.
    8. Wang, Man & Wang, Xueting, 2025. "Geopolitical risk and corporate maturity mismatch," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    9. Dominique Diouf & Tessa Hebb & El Hadji Touré, 2016. "Exploring Factors that Influence Social Retail Investors’ Decisions: Evidence from Desjardins Fund," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(1), pages 45-67, March.
    10. Eng, Li Li & Fikru, Mahelet G. & Vichitsarawong, Thanyaluk, 2021. "The impact of toxic chemical releases and their management on financial performance," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    11. Shunsuke Managi & Tatsuyoshi Okimoto & Akimi Matsuda, 2012. "Do socially responsible investment indexes outperform conventional indexes?," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(18), pages 1511-1527, September.
    12. Moliterni, Fabio, "undated". "Do Global Financial Markets Capitalise Sustainability? Evidence of a Quick Reversal," SAS: Society and Sustainability 274853, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    13. Leite, Brian J. & Uysal, Vahap B., 2023. "Does ESG matter to investors? ESG scores and the stock price response to new information," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    14. Costanza Torricelli & Beatrice Bertelli, 2022. "ESG screening strategies and portfolio performance: how do they fare in periods of financial distress?," Centro Studi di Banca e Finanza (CEFIN) (Center for Studies in Banking and Finance) 0087, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia "Marco Biagi".
    15. Céline Louche & Daniel Arenas & Katinka Cranenburgh, 2012. "From Preaching to Investing: Attitudes of Religious Organisations Towards Responsible Investment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 110(3), pages 301-320, October.
    16. Heena Thanki & Sweety Shah & Harishchandra Singh Rathod & Ankit D. Oza & Dumitru Doru Burduhos-Nergis, 2022. "I Am Ready to Invest in Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) Options Only If the Returns Are Not Compromised: Individual Investors’ Intentions toward SRI," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-17, September.
    17. Cui, Xin & Wen, Lulu & Wang, Chunfeng & Fang, Zhenming & Yao, Shouyu, 2025. "Innovating under pressure: How geopolitical risk exposure drives energy innovation in firms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    18. Nian Zhang & Logaiswari Indiran & Zuraidah Sulaiman & Maria Anityasari, 2025. "Factors Influencing CSR in the Practice of “Zero-Waste City†and Its Impact on Eco-Innovation and Environmental Performance," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(3), pages 21582440251, August.
    19. José Luis Miralles-Quirós & María Mar Miralles-Quirós & José Manuel Nogueira, 2020. "Sustainable Development Goals and Investment Strategies: The Profitability of Using Five-Factor Fama-French Alphas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-16, February.
    20. Muñoz, Fernando, 2016. "Cash flow timing skills of socially responsible mutual fund investors," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 110-124.

    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:wly:sustdv:v:33:y:2025:i:5:p:7166-7184. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1719 .

    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.