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Does incentive-based green governance compensate for green innovation in enterprises? The role of green orientation

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Abstract

Government-led green governance, as a crucial tool for achieving green and sustainable development, has garnered significant attention among researchers worldwide. Nevertheless, research on incentive-based green governance and green orientation remains insufficient. This study adopts an evolutionary game theory framework to elucidate the mechanisms underlying incentive-based green governance and green orientation in facilitating green innovation. The effectiveness of this framework is then verified through the utilization of propensity score matching (PSM) and difference-in-differences (DID) methods using data from Chinese companies. The main findings include the following: (1) Government incentive-based green governance exhibits a compensatory effect on green innovation, which is validated through robustness testing. (2) Internal green orientation serves as an intermediary factor between incentive-based green governance and green innovation, while external green orientation exerts a positive regulatory effect. (3) Heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that the impact of incentive-based green governance on green innovation is more pronounced in non-high-pollution industries, high-tech corporations, and companies operating in areas with lower governance intensity. This study is conducive to illustrate the compensatory effect of government incentive-based green governance on green innovation and also provides reference for the government to issue targeted green governance policies.

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Funding

This research was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (grant No. 18BGL094), Shandong Social Science Planning Research Project (grant No. 21CGLJ30), Shandong Social Science Planning Research Project (grant No. 22CGLJ33) and Shandong Social Science Planning Research Project (grant No. 23CGLJ36).

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Contributions

FW: literature, methodology, software, formal analysis, investigation, resources, writing original draft, visualization. HF: writing, review and editing, guidance, funding acquisition, supervision.

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Correspondence to Hua Feng.

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Wang, F., Feng, H. Does incentive-based green governance compensate for green innovation in enterprises? The role of green orientation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 7443–7464 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31671-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-31671-6

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