How green industrial policy affects the constancy of green technology innovation: a fresh proof from the innovation motivation perspective

Abstract

Abstract Green industrial policy is an important means to achieve coordinated development of the environment and industry. Enterprises are the primary bodies involved in the green transformation of the market. Thus, it is important for governments and policymakers to recognize the micro-effects of policy implementation on enterprise innovation. From the perspective of the green-tech innovation motivation of enterprises, this study distinguishes green enterprises using text mining analysis methods. Based on propensity score matching (PSM) samples and using panel data from 1,391 listed enterprises in China for the period of 2008–2019, a log log survival analysis model was constructed, and the effectiveness of green industrial policy on the green-tech innovation constancy of enterprises was dynamically analyzed. The results demonstrate that enterprises supported by the green industrial policy can significantly reduce the risk rate of stopping green-tech innovation constancy. Green industrial policy can significantly improve the constancy of the green technological innovation capabilities of enterprises. The innovation constancy of state-owned enterprises is higher than that of private enterprises. Furthermore, intermediary effect tests indicate that different types of green industrial policies stimulate enterprises to generate different innovation motivations. Command-control policies can promote substantive innovation constancy through the industrial competition effect and exert a significantly positive effect. Market-oriented policies can induce enterprises to perform strategic innovation constancy through fiscal incentives and financial investment effects and can produce significant negative effects. Based on these findings, this study proposes improvements in the policy construction of a long-term mechanism to strengthen the substantive innovation of enterprises. This study provides a theoretical basis and policy reference for improving the incentive efficiency of green industrial policies and promoting constant enterprise innovation under the Green and High-Quality Development Goals of China.