Abstract
Technological innovation activities are the most effective way to achieve corporate leapfrog development. Based on the Porter effect theory, this paper uses panel data on Chinese manufacturing firms from 2015 to 2018 to construct two-way fixed effects and threshold effects models to explore the impact mechanism of research and development (R&D) investment on corporate total factor productivity (CTFP) under heterogeneous environmental regulations. Baseline regression results indicate that R&D investment significantly promotes CTFP. Meanwhile, we also test the robustness of baseline regression results by replacing the dependent variable, shortening the time windows and adding omitted variables. Moreover, heterogeneity analyses indicate that the contribution of R&D investment to CTFP is more significant in the subgroup regressions of non-SOEs, CEO-dual enterprises and non-heavily polluting enterprises. Economic consequence analysis shows that R&D investment contributes to green innovation performance, financial performance and corporate social responsibility performance by increasing CTFP. Additionally, there is heterogeneity in the moderating effects of market-incentivized environmental regulation (MER), command-and-control environmental regulation (CER) and public participation environmental regulation (PER). MER and PER have moderated mediating effects, but CER does not have a moderated mediating effect. Extended analysis shows that according to the threshold effect test findings, two thresholds exist for MER and one threshold each for PER and CER in the relationship between R&D investment and CTFP. Our findings have important implications in that the government should adopt differentiated environmental regulation policies to support companies in actively carrying out innovation activities, thereby promoting high-quality development.
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs13762-024-05710-9/MediaObjects/13762_2024_5710_Fig1_HTML.png)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs13762-024-05710-9/MediaObjects/13762_2024_5710_Fig2_HTML.png)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs13762-024-05710-9/MediaObjects/13762_2024_5710_Fig3_HTML.png)
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The data will be available on request by corresponding author.
References
Bae J, Oh H, Kim S (2022) Advertising role of CSR and strategic investment in R&D: evidence from the biohealth industry. J Curr Issues Res Advert 44(1):105–121. https://doi.org/10.1080/10641734.2022.2131655
Baldi G, Bodmer A (2017) R&D investments and Corporate cash holdings. Econ Innov New Technol. https://doi.org/10.1080/10438599.2017.1378191
Bao Q, Chai H (2022) Environmental regulation, financial resource allocation, and regional green technology innovation efficiency. Discrete Dyn Nat Soc 2022:1–11. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/7415769
Bengoa M, Román VMS, Pérez P (2017) Do R&D activities matter for productivity? A regional spatial approach assessing the role of human and social capital. Econ Model 60:448–461. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2016.09.005
Chen W, Chen S, Wu T (2022a) Research of the impact of heterogeneous environmental regulation on the performance of China’s manufacturing enterprises. Front Environ Sci. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.948611
Chen J, Wang X, Shen W, Tan Y, Matac LM, Samad S (2022b) Environmental Uncertainty, environmental regulation and enterprises’ green technological innovation. Int J Environ Res Public Health 19(16):9781. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19169781
Chen M, Shi V, Wei X (2022c) Environmental regulations, R&D intensity, and enterprise profit rate: understanding firm performance in heavy pollution industries. Front Environ Sci. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.1077209
Dai L, Zhang J, Luo S (2022) Effective R&D capital and total factor productivity: evidence using spatial panel data models. Technol Forecast Soc Chang 183:121886. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.121886
Dechezleprêtre A, Sato M (2017) The impacts of environmental regulations on competitiveness. Rev Environ Econ Policy 11(2):183–206. https://doi.org/10.1093/reep/rex013
Ding X, Xu Z, Petrovskaya MV, Wu K, Ye L, Sun Y, Makarov VM (2023) Exploring the impact mechanism of executives’ environmental attention on corporate green transformation: evidence from the textual analysis of Chinese companies’ management discussion and analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30(31):76640–76659. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-27725-4
Edquist H, Henrekson M (2017) Do R&D and ICT affect total factor productivity growth differently? Telecommun Policy 41(2):106–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2016.11.010
Erdin C, Ozkaya G (2020) R&D investments and quality of life in Turkey. Heliyon. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04006
Ezzi F, Jarboui A, Zouari-Hadiji R (2020) Exploring the relationship between managerial emotional intelligence, R&D and CSR performance: a mediated moderation analysis. J High Technol Manag Res 31(2):100387. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hitech.2020.100387
Fan J, Teo T (2022) Will China’s R&D investment improve green innovation performance? an empirical study. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29(26):39331–39344. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-18464-5
Gao X, Dong Z (2022) Technological innovation and the complexity of imported technology: moderating effects based on environmental regulation. Front Environ Sci. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.996867
Guo X, Li K, Yu S, Wei B (2021) Enterprises’ R&D investment, venture capital syndication and IPO underpricing. Sustainability 13(13):7290. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137290
Hadlock CJ, Pierce JR (2010) New evidence on measuring financial constraints: moving beyond the KZ index. Rev Financ Stud 23(5):1909–1940. https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhq009
Han C, Zhang WG, Feng ZB (2017) How does environmental regulation remove resource misallocation-an analysis of the first obligatory pollution control in china. China Ind Econ 4:115–134. https://doi.org/10.19581/j.cnki.ciejournal.2017.04.007
Hansen BE (2000) Sample splitting and threshold estimation. Econometrica 68(3):575–603. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0262.00124
Huang MC, Liou MH, Iwaki Y (2020) The impact of R&D and innovation on global supply Chain transition: GTAP analysis on Japan’s public R&D investment. J Soc Econ Dev 23(S3):447–467. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40847-020-00113-1
Huang H, Qi B, Chen L (2022) Innovation and high-quality development of enterprises—also on the effect of innovation driving the transformation of China’s economic development model. Sustainability 14(14):8440. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148440
Igartua JJ, Hayes AF (2021) Mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: concepts, computations, and some common confusions. Span J Psychol 24:E49. https://doi.org/10.1017/sjp.2021.46
Jiang Y, Qin S, Xu Y (2022) Impact of green credit policy on sustainability performance of high-pollution enterprises. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29:79199–79213. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-21315-6
Kim SI, Kim KT (2020) The differentiated CSR activities and corporate value. Asian Rev Account 29(1):19–41. https://doi.org/10.1108/ara-05-2020-0067
Lee M, Choi M (2015) Analysis on time-lag effect of research and development investment in the pharmaceutical industry in Korea. Osong Public Health Res Perspect 6(4):241–248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phrp.2015.07.001
Levinsohn J, Petrin A (2003) Estimating production functions using inputs to control for unobservables. Rev Econ Stud 70(2):317–341. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-937x.00246
Li J, Wu X (2022) The S-shaped relationship between R&D investment and green innovation after cross-border merge and acquisition: evidence from China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29(36):55039–55057. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19739-1
Li X, Yang Y (2022) The relationship between air pollution and company risk-taking: the moderating role of Digital Finance. Front Environ Sci 10:988450. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.988450
Li X, Cheng B, Li Y, Duan J, Tian Y (2022) The relationship between enterprise financial risk and R&D investment under the influence of the COVID-19. Front Public Health. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.910758
Liu Z, Ling Y (2022) Structural transformation, total factor productivity and high-quality development. China Econom 17(1):70–82. https://doi.org/10.19602/j.chinaeconomist.2022.01.06
Lu XD, Lian YJ (2012) Estimation of total factor productivity of industrial enterprises in China:1999–2007. China Econ Q 11(02):179–196. https://doi.org/10.13821/j.cnki.ceq.2012.02.013
Lv K, Zhu S, Liang R, Zhao Y (2023) Environmental regulation, breakthrough technological innovation and total factor productivity of firms–evidence from emission charges of China. Appl Econ. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2023.2175776
Mbanyele W, Wang F (2021) Environmental regulation and technological innovation: evidence from China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29(9):12890–12910. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14975-3
Michelino F, Lamberti E, Cammarano A, Caputo M (2015) Open innovation in the pharmaceutical industry: an empirical analysis on context features, internal R&D, and financial performances. IEEE Trans Eng Manage 62(3):421–435. https://doi.org/10.1109/tem.2015.2437076
Mulaessa N, Lin L (2021) How do proactive environmental strategies affect green innovation? The moderating role of environmental regulations and firm performance. Int J Environ Res Public Health 18(17):9083. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18179083
Nandy M (2020) Is there any impact of R&D on financial performance? Evidence from Indian Pharmaceutical Companies. FIIB Bus Rev 9(4):319–334. https://doi.org/10.1177/2319714520981816
Olley GS, Pakes A (1996) The dynamics of productivity in the telecommunications equipment industry. Econometrica 64(6):1263. https://doi.org/10.2307/2171831
Qiu W, Zhang J, Wu H, Irfan M, Ahmad M (2021) The role of innovation investment and institutional quality on green total factor productivity: evidence from 46 countries along the “Belt and Road.” Environ Sci Pollut Res 29(11):16597–16611. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16891-y
Salim R, Hassan K, Rahman S (2019) Impact of R&D expenditures, rainfall and temperature variations in agricultural productivity: empirical evidence from Bangladesh. Appl Econ 52(27):2977–2990. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2019.1697422
Shah IH, Kollydas K, Lee PY, Malki I, Chu C (2022) Does R&D investment drive employment growth? Empirical evidence at industry level from japan. Int J Financ Econ. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.2677
Shang Y, Song M, Zhao X (2022) The development of China’s circular economy: from the perspective of environmental regulation. Waste Manag 149:186–198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2022.05.027
Shao L, Liu Q (2022) Decision-making and the contract of the complementary product supply chain considering consumers’ environmental awareness and government green subsidies. Int J Environ Res Public Health 19(5):3100. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19053100
Shi Y, Yang C (2022) How does multidimensional R&D investment affect green innovation? Evidence from China. Front Psychol. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.947108
Tsamadias C, Pegkas P, Mamatzakis E, Staikouras C (2018) Does R&D, human capital and FDI matter for TFP in OECD countries? Econ Innov New Technol 28(4):386–406. https://doi.org/10.1080/10438599.2018.1502394
Voutsinas I, Tsamadias C (2014) Does research and development capital affect total factor productivity? Evidence from Greece. Econ Innov New Technol 23(7):631–651. https://doi.org/10.1080/10438599.2013.871169
Wang QY (2015) Fixed-effect panel threshold model using Stata. Stata J 15(1):121–13410
Wang J, Zhang Q, Li Q (2020) R&D investment and total factor productivity: an empirical study of the listed companies in the coastal regions of China. J Coastal Res 106(sp1):13. https://doi.org/10.2112/si106-004.1
Wang X, Fan M, Fan Y, Li Y, Tang X (2022a) R&D investment, financing constraints and corporate financial performance: empirical evidence from China. Front Environ Sci. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2022.1056672
Wang L, Long Y, Li C (2022b) Research on the impact mechanism of heterogeneous environmental regulation on enterprise green technology innovation. J Environ Manag 322:116127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.116127
Woo Y, Kim E, Lim J (2017) The impact of education and R&D investment on regional economic growth. Sustainability 9(5):676. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9050676
Wu YQ, Li J, Ma JC (2022) The effect of innovation investment on environmental total factor productivity. Math Probl Eng 2022:1–13. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/3100174
Wu J, Segerson K, Wang C (2023) Is environmental regulation the answer to pollution problems in urbanizing economies? J Environ Econ Manag 117:102754. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2022.102754
Xiao Z, Peng H, Pan Z (2021) Innovation, external technological environment and the total factor productivity of enterprises. Account Finance 62(1):3–29. https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.12779
Xu J, Liu F, Shang Y (2020) R&D investment, ESG performance and green innovation performance: evidence from China. Kybernetes 50(3):737–756. https://doi.org/10.1108/k-12-2019-0793
Yan J, Feng L, Denisov A, Steblyanskaya A, Oosterom J-P (2020) Complexity theory for the modern Chinese economy from an information entropy perspective: modeling of economic efficiency and growth potential. PLoS ONE 15(1):e0227206. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227206
Yang B, Zhao Q (2023) The effects of environmental regulation and environmental protection investment on green technology innovation of enterprises in heavily polluting industries—based on threshold and mediation effect models. Front Environ Sci. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2023.1167581
Ye HY, Jiang S (2020) The impact of technological innovation on industrial green growth under the constraints of heterogeneous environmental regulations. West Forum Econ Manag 31(4):38–46. https://doi.org/10.12181/jjgl.2020.04.05
Yu X (2017) The mechanism of environmental regulation policy and its practice changes-based on the evolution of environmental regulation policy from 1978 to 2016. Forum Sci Technol China 12:15–31. https://doi.org/10.13580/j.cnki.fstc.2017.12.002
Yu F, Shi Y, Wang T (2020) R&D investment and Chinese manufacturing smes’ corporate social responsibility: the moderating role of regional innovative milieu. J Clean Prod 258:120840. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120840
Yu F, Jiang D, Wang T (2022) The impact of green innovation on manufacturing small and medium enterprises corporate social responsibility fulfillment: the moderating role of regional environmental regulation. Corp Soc Responsib Environ Manag 29(3):712–727. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2231
Zhang Y, Chen H, He Z (2022) Environmental regulation, R&D investment, and green technology innovation in China: based on the PVAR model. PLoS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275498
Zhao X, Jia M (2022) Sincerity or hypocrisy: can green M&A achieve corporate environmental governance? Environ Sci Pollut Res 29(18):27339–27351. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17464-9
Zhong QL, Liao GM, Lu ZF (2016) Does R&D investment improve the firm productivity? Based on the instrumental variable analysis of talent introduction policy. J Account Econ 30(5):3–16. https://doi.org/10.16314/j.cnki.31-2074/f.2016.05.001
Zhou B, Wu J, Guo S, Hu M, Wang J (2020) Environmental regulation and financial performance of Chinese listed companies. PLoS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244083
Acknowledgements
The authors want to thank our editor and reviewers for their valuable comments and advice. The authors also want to acknowledge China Scholarship Council and the contribution of Professor Boris I. Sokolov to this paper.
Funding
This research was funded by the China Scholarship Council (Grant Nos. 202008090357, 202210280044, 202210280022, 202008090178).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Xiaowei Ding: conceptualization, investigation, methodology, formal analysis, data curation, writing—original draft, and writing—review and editing and corresponding author. Yaqiong Zhang and Yongguang Fu contributed equally to this work: supervision, visualization, validation, and writing—review and editing. Zhenpeng Xu: conceptualization, supervision, and writing—review and editing. All the authors provided critical feedback and helped shape the research, analysis, and manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Editorial responsibility: Maryam Shabani.
Appendix
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Ding, X., Zhang, Y., Fu, Y. et al. R&D investment and corporate total factor productivity under the heterogeneous environmental regulations: evidence from Chinese micro firms. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-024-05710-9
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-024-05710-9
Keywords
- Environmental regulation constraints
- Research and development investment
- Corporate total factor productivity
- Impact mechanism
- Moderated mediating effect
- Threshold effect