Does Corporate Behavior Related to the Overseas Market Promote Enterprises’ Green Transformation?—Evidence from China

Abstract

Behavior related to the overseas market has become an essential method for enterprises to acquire international resources. We aimed to do so using a difference-in-differences (DID) approach with the collected data of companies from China’s high-polluting industries in the A-share market between 2011 and 2019. The present papers aims to find the influence of the behavior towards the enterprises’ green transformation. The research results showed the following: (1) The behavior related to the overseas market not only increased enterprises’ environmental protection investment but also promoted enterprises’ green technology innovation, which promoted enterprises’ green transformation. (2) The mechanism analysis shows that corporate investment in protection of the environment increased mainly through the improved consciousness for the responsibility of environment, while corporates’ green technology innovation not only requires the increased awareness for environmental responsibility but also requires enterprises to learn advanced environmental protection methods and knowledge. (3) The role of the behavior related to the overseas market in promoting the green transformation of enterprises was more obvious in state-owned enterprises, and the enterprises with relatively better business performance were more enthusiastic about green technology innovation because of the motivation of advantage creation; thus, the promoting effect of the behavior related to the overseas market on the enterprises’ green transformation was more obvious. This paper provides empirical evidence and policy implications to help promote the green transformation of enterprises.