Zhu Lei, Li Tong, Wang Chunyan, Huang Junhao
School of Accountancy, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, 250014, Jinan, China.
University of Wollongong, Northfields Ave, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia.
J Environ Manage. 2025 May;383:125413. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.125413. Epub 2025 Apr 24.
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance are gaining momentum to corporate sustainable development. Based on non-financial listed enterprises in China from 2013 to 2023, this paper empirically analyzes the impact of ESG performance on green innovation and shareholder activism's moderating role. We find that ESG performance effectively promotes corporate green innovation. Shareholder activism, represented by institutional investors' field survey and appointing directors, will strengthen this impact. Further analysis reveals "the superstar effect" on industrial ESG performance disparity as well as a more significant effect in non-heavy pollution enterprises and industries with fierce competition. We also examine ESG performance's greenization effect, resulting in lowered carbon dioxide emission and waste pollutants. This study contributes to extant research on the correlation of ESG performance and corporate green innovation, and additionally provide insights into shareholder activism from the perspective of institutional investors' active intervention in corporate governance.
环境、社会和治理（ESG）绩效对企业可持续发展的推动作用日益增强。基于2013年至2023年中国非金融类上市公司，本文实证分析了ESG绩效对绿色创新的影响以及股东积极主义的调节作用。我们发现，ESG绩效有效地促进了企业绿色创新。以机构投资者实地调研和提名董事为代表的股东积极主义将强化这种影响。进一步分析揭示了行业ESG绩效差异中的“超级明星效应”，以及在非重污染企业和竞争激烈行业中更为显著的影响。我们还考察了ESG绩效的绿化效应，结果是降低了二氧化碳排放和废弃物污染物。本研究为ESG绩效与企业绿色创新相关性的现有研究做出了贡献，此外还从机构投资者积极干预公司治理的角度为股东积极主义提供了见解。
