Green technology innovation, ESG ratings and corporate sustainable performance: Empirical evidence from listed semiconductor companies in China

IF 4.8 2区经济学 Q1 BUSINESS, FINANCE

International Review of Economics & Finance Pub Date : 2025-03-17 DOI:10.1016/j.iref.2025.104061

Yong Wang , Yujiao Liu , Xihui Haviour Chen

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Green technology innovation is a crucial measure for semiconductor companies to tackle sustainability challenges. Drawing upon empirical evidence from 105 listed companies within the semiconductor industry, we compare the differences in the roles of green and traditional technology innovations on firms' sustainable performance, concentrating on the operating mechanism and external circumstances of green technology innovation. Results show that both green and traditional technology innovation can enhance enterprises' sustainable performance, with the former exhibiting more significant effects. Meanwhile, green technology innovation indirectly enhances sustainable and environmental performance by improving environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings, without indirectly improving financial performance. Additionally, online public opinion attention moderates the effectiveness of green technology innovation in enhancing firms' sustainable and environmental performance. Finally, the varying levels of corporate sustainable performance can potentially impact the enhancement effect of green technology innovation. Our research offers theoretical backing for semiconductor companies to formulate eco-friendly transformation and sustainable development strategies.

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绿色技术创新、ESG评级与企业可持续绩效：来自中国半导体上市公司的经验证据

绿色技术创新是半导体企业应对可持续发展挑战的关键措施。本文利用105家半导体行业上市公司的实证数据，比较了绿色技术创新与传统技术创新对企业可持续绩效的作用差异，重点研究了绿色技术创新的运行机制和外部环境。结果表明，绿色技术创新和传统技术创新都能提高企业的可持续绩效，但前者的效果更为显著。同时，绿色技术创新通过提高环境、社会和治理（ESG）评级间接提高了可持续和环境绩效，而没有间接改善财务绩效。此外，网络舆论关注调节了绿色技术创新在提高企业可持续和环境绩效方面的有效性。最后，不同水平的企业可持续绩效会对绿色技术创新的增强效应产生潜在影响。本研究为半导体企业制定生态转型和可持续发展战略提供了理论依据。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

International Review of Economics & Finance Multiple-

CiteScore

7.30

自引率

2.20%

发文量

253

期刊介绍： The International Review of Economics & Finance (IREF) is a scholarly journal devoted to the publication of high quality theoretical and empirical articles in all areas of international economics, macroeconomics and financial economics. Contributions that facilitate the communications between the real and the financial sectors of the economy are of particular interest.