Can competitive culture affect corporate green innovation bubbles?

Using data from Chinese A-share listed firms spanning 2009–2023, this study examines the interactions between competitive culture, financial mismatch, managerial myopia, executive green innovation, and corporate green innovation bubbles. Using a multi-stage analytical framework, we conduct baseline regressions with fixed effects to establish core relationships, followed by mediation tests and moderated regression analysis. Alternative estimators and subsample analyses confirm robustness, and stratified interaction models explore heterogeneity. Findings indicate that a hypercompetitive culture intensifies green innovation bubbles via the mechanism of financial mismatch. Managerial myopia significantly enhances the competitive culture–green innovation bubble interaction, while executive green perception weakens this relationship. Furthermore, competitive culture has a greater positive impact on green innovation bubbles in small firms, firms without environmental penalties, and pollution-intensive enterprises. These results emphasize three critical pathways. For policymakers, this study demands recalibrating antitrust frameworks to monitor green innovation. For corporations, this study underscores executive green literacy training to counteract myopic pressures. For researchers, this study pioneers a behavioral–finance–sustainability nexus model, thus advancing green finance theory beyond traditional efficient-market paradigms.