Corporate Internationalization and Green Innovation

Abstract

The current research investigates whether corporate internationalization influences green innovation and how it does so. Although many previous studies have focused on the factors that drive green innovation, corporate internationalization as a potential driver and the mechanisms through which it affects green innovation remain underexamined. Using a dataset comprising 26,216 observations at the firm-year level on listed enterprises in China from 2007 to 2018, we demonstrate that corporate internationalization enhances firms' green innovation, with media attention acting as a key transmission channel. This positive effect appears stronger among government-controlled enterprises, large companies, and those characterized by more robust corporate governance practices. Further cross-sectional test reveals that the positive effect remains consistent across host countries with different levels of development, suggesting that internationalization plays a consistently supportive role in firms' green innovation efforts, regardless of the host country's development status. Moreover, the upgrading effect of corporate internationalization on green innovation significantly enhances corporate value.