The Impact of Consumer Environmental Preferences on the Green Technological Innovation of Chinese Listed Companies

Abstract

Using the data of companies from heavily polluting industries listed on China’s A-share stock market from 2011 to 2022, this paper empirically investigates the impact of consumer environmental preference on green technological innovation. The results indicate that consumer environmental preference significantly promotes the green innovation of firms from heavily polluting industries. Moreover, consumer environmental preference imposes a higher influence on strategic green innovation than substantive green innovation. The mechanism tests suggest that consumer environmental preference encourages green technological innovation by strengthening the environmental protection concept and increasing R&D investment. Finally, we find that rising consumer environmental preference has a more prominent effect on the promotion of green innovation for enterprises in regions with higher levels of marketization and lower government environmental regulation, larger enterprises, and private enterprises.