Corporate social responsibility and green exploratory innovation - the moderating role of three environmental regulations

ABSTRACT

Corporate social responsibility(CSR) is becoming increasingly important in the field of corporate sustainability. However, despite the growing literature on CSR, there is a paucity of empirical evidence examining external environmental pressures. This paper aims to fill this gap by exploring the relationship between CSR and green exploratory innovation from the perspective of three types of environmental regulations: mandatory, market-driven, and voluntary regulations. Using Chinese-listed companies from 2010 to 2019 as original data, we examined the impacts of CSR on green exploratory innovation of firms and the moderating effects of the three regulations using a moderating effect model. The results concluded that CSR could significantly stimulate firms to engage in green exploratory innovation. Mandatory and market-driven regulations exhibited positive moderating effects, and market-driven regulations have a greater impact on CSR strategies. In contrast, voluntary regulations showed a negative moderating effect. Our study will be of great value to companies under external environmental pressure and will provide a new path to achieve sustainable development.

KEYWORDS:

• Corporate social responsibility
• green exploratory innovation
• environmental performance
• mandatory regulations
• market-driven regulations
• voluntary regulations

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pengyu Chen

Pengyu Chen, Ph.D. of Economics from Dankook University, Korea. Pengyu Chen’s research mainly focuses on the study of environmental economics, innovation, and corporate governance.

Abd Alwahed Dagestani

Abd Alwahed Dagestani, Ph.D. of Economics from Central South University, China. Abd Alwahed Dagestani’s research mainly focuses on the study of environmental economics and corporate governance.

SangKyum Kim

SangKyum Kim, professor of Economics from Dankook University, Korea. SangKyum Kim’s research mainly focuses on the study of tax, finance, and corporate governance.